Issue - meetings

The Board received a presentation on Climate Change, including the 10:10 commitment and what it would mean to Bromsgrove District Council (BDC), from the Joint Climate Change Manager.  The presentation included background information on the Climate Change Act 2008 and what had been done over the past year to establish what the emissions for BDC were.  The Joint Climate Change Manager gave statistical information relevant to BDC and explained why action on Climate Change needed to be taken.

During the presentation Members asked questions on various points including:

·  How the CO2 emissions were calculated

·  The current BDC building

·  Available data for the County

·  Why, if it was such an important issue it was not being dealt with at national level

·  Domestic usage and any actions being taken by strategic housing services

The Joint Climate Change Manager advised Members that Climate Change was one of the few issues that political parties had a consensus on and that BDC had four priorities, one of which included Climate Change.  The Board commented that although it was an important issue, they felt that many people did not understand it and therefore were not interested in making the necessary changes.

The Director of Policy, Performance and Partnership advised Members that a Climate Change Strategy for BDC was currently being prepared and gave background information and explained that a number of associated strategies needed to be in place before the Council’s overall position could be clarified.  However, it was anticipated that a draft strategy would be available in the summer and this would be available for the Scrutiny Board to comment on if they felt it appropriate.

The Joint Climate Change Manager advised that for 2009/10 and 2010/11 BDC had a reduction target of 2% (National Indicator NI185) year on year and a community reduction target of 3% year on year.  She confirmed that currently there was no Government funding available to assist the Council in reaching its targets, nor was there a penalty if the target was not reached.  The Joint Climate Change Manager commented that, as had happened with recycling targets, this situation was likely to change in the future and measures may be introduced to encourage local authorities to meet their climate change targets.

It was noted that a proposed motion submitted to the Council on 20th January 2010 seeking support for the 10:10 Campaign had resulted in the matter being referred to the Scrutiny Board to consider.  The presentation therefore also contained information on 10:10 and the Joint Climate Change Manager gave a brief overview of what was involved in signing up to this agreement and received questions from Members of the Board.  The aim was to reduce emissions by 10% in one year or as close to 10% as possible.  The campaign stated that “by reducing emissions you’ll be cutting costs, getting ahead of the curve and helping Britain show the rest of the world how it’s done.”    The Joint Climate Change Manager confirmed that although the request was to reduce  ...  view the full minutes text for item 66