Attendees
| Mark Rice Emily Reed Doug Eltham Donna Sibley George Arnison Jess Pryer Emmanuelle Marshall Ed Mellor Lesley Newport Rhys Hobbs Sara Gibbs Louise Sawyer Stephen Swabey Zoe Sydenham Victoria Hatfield Tom Dauben Harriet Googe | Environment Agency (Chair) Devon Climate Emergency Devon County Council (Natural Environment) Torridge District and North Devon Councils Environment Agency Met Office Plymouth City Council DCIoS Local Resilience Forum Environment Agency Cornwall Council Public Health Devon Devon and Cornwall Police Council of the Isles of Scilly Plymouth City Council Exeter City Council Environment Agency Environment Agency |
Apologies
| John Galt Laurence Couldrick Paul Lunt Paul Minshull Richard Sweatman Alex Rainbow Richard Saville Nick Paling Claire Below Carolyn Cadman Maria Van Hove Jacqui Warren Ruth Rockley Stacy Griffiths Anya Gopfert James Cooper James Kershaw | Devon County Council (Flood and Coastal Risk) Westcountry Rivers Trust University of Plymouth Cornwall Council Devon and Cornwall Police  Cornwall Council Cornwall Council South West Water Cornwall Council South West Water Public Health, Exeter University and Torbay Council Torbay Council Cornwall Council Wales & West Utilities  Environment Agency / Torbay Council Environment Agency Devon County Council |
1. Minutes of the previous meeting
The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed as an accurate record.
All matters arising are scheduled for discussion on the main agenda.
2. Third National Adaptation Programme
Rhys gave an update on the Third National Adaptation Programme which has been published. The NAP3 sets out the key actions for 2023 to 2028. This report forms part of the 5-yearly cycle of requirements laid down in the Climate Change Act 2008. The narrative is starting to take the focus away from planning to action. It looks overseas where the UK has interests.
The vision is bold as it talks about wanting to be ‘fully’ adapted. Yet can that situation ever be achieved? Can we ever plan for the extreme events, when we don’t know how extreme they will be?
One action is to provide climate change projections to each upper tier authority.
A further notable action is about trying to track the extent of private investment in adaptation activity.
The actions identify which organisations will be responsible for delivery. Stephen suggested some reports have indicated that a new role is expected to coordinate strategic-level adaptation activity between government departments.
The Group discussed the need for funding to deliver the national programme but also the DCIoS Climate Adaptation Strategy.
ACTION: Emily to add a standing agenda item for group members to note funding opportunities.
3. Adaptation Strategy ConsultationÂ
Emily advised that we have received about 220 responses. Most of the responses support the adaptation strategy.
The majority are from individuals – 23 were from organisations. Organisations included local authorities, town & parish councils, community and faith groups. Two businesses responded so there is clearly work to do to engage the business community further on adaptation.
Younger audiences are underrepresented in the responses.
Concern about climate change is prominent amongst the respondents across a range of issues such as drought, food security, international migration.
Most of the respondents are from the Devon area rather than Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. Mark asked whether this could be skewed due to population.
Despite the funded advertising campaigns on social media, in newspapers and radio, most people heard about the consultation via local networks (e.g. Whatsapp) and newsletters.
Emily advised the secretariat will prepare a consultation report to share with the Group around the 17th August. This document will describe the proposed amendments to the strategy in response to the consultation comments.
The Group AGREED for informal feedback on the proposed amendments to be submitted by the meeting of the Group on the 27th September.
4. Resilient Farming FuturesÂ
Emily has arranged for a presentation from Rothamsted about their new Resilient Farming Futures programme to provide new knowledge and tools to embed ‘resilience’ into UK agriculture.
