Issue - meetings

As detailed in the recommendations.

Councillor Roberts introduced the Council’s Response to the Challenge of Climate Change and the Achievement of Carbon Neutrality by 2030 report and said the Council had a longstanding commitment to protecting the environment. Action plans had been in place for some years to reduce the Council’s ‘carbon footprint’ as part of that commitment.

            As part of the international campaign to do more, and in support of the Welsh Government (WG) challenge for the public sector to be carbon neutral by 2030, the Council was reviewing its plan with some urgency, with the following planned for 2020:

·         Develop the third and fourth solar parks;

·         Look into building a new waste transfer station in Buckley powered by renewable energy to further increase recycling rates and divert more material away from landfill;

·         Continue to ensure the Council’s fleet of vehicles was ‘green’;

·         Continue the installation of a network of charging points for electric vehicles across the County;

·         Continue to invest in energy efficiency measure across all of the Council’s buildings;

·         Calculate the Council’s complete carbon footprint to enable prioritisation of short, medium and long term actions to reduce it further;

·         Working with WG and Transport for Wales, the Council will develop multi model transport solutions of railway, bus and cycle ways, along with Park and Ride facilities; and

·         Implement a 15 year Urban and Woodland tree strategy to increase tree cover across the County by 4% by 2033.

Flintshire was in a good position to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 and he asked for the support of the public to help in achieving the outlined aims.

The Chief Officer (Planning, Environment and Economy) commented on the importance of the 12 areas, which were outlined in the report, which would help to shape the Council’s response to WG’s challenge, and the Council was making progress in the bulk of those areas.

All Members welcomed the report, commenting on the importance of working with public sector organisations and the need for monitoring the levels of carbon reduction.  They thanked all officers involved in the work undertaken so far.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the establishment of a Response to Climate Change Strategy Board be supported;

(b)       That the recruitment of a Programme Manager to coordinate the Council’s response to Climate Change be supported;

(c)        That the progress undertaken so far to reduce the Council’s carbon footprint be supported; and

(d)       That a public statement of commitment and intent on the Council’s position, activities to date and intended actions, e.g. carbon reduction, plastics reduction, renewable energy, greening be issued.