DCE Response Group (DCERG) Minutes- 7th August 2024

Attendees

Meg Booth – Devon County Council (Chair)
Doug Eltham – Devon County Council (Environment Group)
Emily Reed – Devon Climate Emergency
Betty Tsang – Devon Climate Emergency
David Eaton – Teignbridge District Council
Chris Clarke – Wales and West Utilities
David Edmondson – Torbay Council
Mark Burton – Devon County Council (Economy and Enterprise)
Polly Frost – Devon County Council (Economy and Enterprise)
Victoria Hatfield – Exeter City Council
Matthew Blythe – East Devon District Council
Joanna Chamberlain – University of Exeter
Lesley Newport – Environment Agency
Eileen Russell – Wales and West Utilities
Jason Ball – Mid Devon District Council

1.    Minutes of the previous meeting and matters arising

Emily Reed reported on the actions from the previous meeting: 

Meg and Emily met to discuss concerns raised by the Climate Impacts Group that the current focus of Southwest Water on water quality could be detracting from longer-term plans to complete the Water Resources Management Strategy.

Emily reported that she had been informed by Southwest Water that the Water Resources Management Strategy publication has been delayed due to the election but is expected later this year. The Secretariat has been invited to join the Water Resources Management Stakeholder group to ensure climate change concerns are reflected in regional strategies. 

Emily shared that she had approached the Transport Planning Team for examples of how they are reallocating road capacity to sustainable modes. She is awaiting a response.

The minutes were accepted to be a true record. No further questions asked.

2.    Labour’s environmental commitments

Doug Eltham presented on the new Labour Government’s environmental commitments, which include the following: 

• Green Prosperity Plan: Investment in green industry and future jobs.
• Energy Commitments:
  • Establish Great British Energy, a publicly owned company.
  • Double onshore wind, triple solar power and quadruple offshore wind by 2030, and a focus on hydrogen and marine energy.
  • Onshore Wind ban overturned, with Devon County Council exploring new turbine sites.
  • Improvements in planning for solar, particularly around grid infrastructure.
  • Chris Stark appointed to the Task Force for Clean Power.
  • No new licences for gas and coal exploration; new coal mining in Cumbria unlikely to proceed.

• UK Finance Institutions: Expectation to develop and implement credible transition plans.
• Flood Risk Management: Improving flood risk management and resilience.
• Housing: 1.5 million new homes promised, with a focus on energy efficiency and climate adaptation.Signals that the speed of retrofit will be ramped up through the Warm Homes Plan. 
• Transport: Additional powers for local authorities to control bus services.
• Water: More requirements for water companies.

As part of the presentation Doug highlighted some of the recommendations made in the Climate Change Committee’s Progress Report to government: 

• Tree Planting and Peatland Restoration: Emphasis on ramping up efforts.
• Decarbonization of Public Sector Buildings: Need for a comprehensive program, as current competitive funding is inefficient.
• Adaptation: Legislative support needed to ensure adaptation is a key part of policy making.

Meg Booth expanded on transport issues: Devon County Council have been speaking with the government regarding bus franchises and highlighting the unique challenges of rural bus services. The Council has received positive feedback from the Department for Transport on Devon’s progress on the Bus Service Improvement Plan.

David Eaton suggested engaging with new MPs about the Devon Carbon Plan and related initiatives. 

ACTION: The Secretariat to come up with proposals for how to engage the new MPs to ensure their awareness of the Devon Climate Emergency partnership and its strategies.

David Edmondson welcomed the potential for a shift back towards regional planning and collaboration on housing and energy projects. 

The meeting also noted the government’s review of the Environmental Improvement Plan and the cancellation of the Restoring Your Railways fund, though they are hopeful some will still be funded as they have strong business cases.

3.    Progress Reports

3.1  General Progress Report

The progress reported appended to these minutes was circulated ahead of this meeting and considered by the Group.

No questions were asked.

3.2  Built Environment, Devon Carbon Plan Progress Report

Emily Reed highlighted the following in the Built Environment Progress Report: 

• Retrofit Strategy: Energy Saving Devon is exploring funding options for a retrofit strategy.
• Low Carbon Skills Funding: Devon County Council has secured funding to assess buildings for retrofit.
• Planning Conditions: The Devon Planning Officers Group continues to collate examples of best practice policies from around the country which could be drawn on to help deliver the Devon Carbon Plan actions. Home England are speaking with Devon to highlight what else Planning Authorities can do to support carbon reduction.
• Anchor Institutions: Ongoing projects like low carbon student accommodation at Exeter University and the Appledore Clean Maritime Innovation Centre. 

David Edmondson inquired about whether the partnership could achieve economies of scale for procuring building assessments. Doug Eltham said that Devon is using in-house services through Norse, which are available on the open market. The potential for economies of scale through the One Public Estate initiative was also discussed.

ACTION: Doug to put David in touch with Southwest Norse.

Meg Booth raised the challenge of assigning a RAG (Red, Amber, Green) status to broad projects, with David Eaton and Polly Frost discussing the importance of quantifiable indicators but noting that there weren’t any ratings which felt wrong currently. Emily replied that monitoring indicators are being worked on with the University.

Matthew Blythe highlighted the pressure on those developing local plans due to upcoming changes in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) which will need to be incorporated and the need for clarity on building standards. 

ACTION: Meg to discuss action B17 regarding opportunities to rationalise streetlight provision with Highways England.

4      Net-Zero Delivery Problems and Successes      

David Edmondson shared that a successful internal workshop on decarbonization priorities took place, which helped raise understanding and commitment among directors and executives. The Greener Way for the Bay is also going through Council at present.

Polly Frost mentioned the development of carbon management plans with tenants in Plymouth and South Devon Freeport, using the PAS 2080 framework. 

Matthew Blythe reported on successful carbon literacy training for East Devon members and the approval of £100,000 for low-cost loans for green measures through Lendology. 

Joanna Chamberlain announced the launch of a 1.1 MW PV array at Dury Arts and highlighted the Climate Ambassador scheme by STEM Learning, which supports schools in developing climate action plans. The University are also shifting to focus on insetting and discounting offsetting.

ACTION: Mark Burton to put Joanna in touch with others working on insetting.

Doug Eltham and Emily Reed discussed a support initiative for the Natural Environment Educators in Devon network and for broader climate education, which aims to collate and make available curriculum and estates management materials for schools. 

Meg Booth noted the ongoing waste education efforts, with many schools visiting the Plymouth Energy from Waste plant. 

David Edmondson mentioned that the Devon Housing Commission report has been published.

Lesley Newport reported on the rollout of EV charging points and driver training for efficient use of electric vehicles in their operations delivery side.

Appendix 1 – Project Progress Report

Project Progress Report

Period: July to August 2024

1.    Partnership Update

1.1  General Communications

Total followers dropped this month for the first time since the start of the project, albeit by only 25 followers. The new Climate Emergency Support Officer started on the 8^th July, it is anticipated that this extra capacity will increase followers over the coming months once she has settled in. 

Figure 1- DCE Online Following

1.2  Partners’ Notable Activity

Activity is recorded centrally on the Taking Action pages of the Devon Climate Emergency website.

• North Devon Council have been able to revoke the Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) for Braunton, marking a key milestone in the district’s efforts to enhance air quality. This has been facilitated by technological improvements to cars, including increasing numbers of EVs.
• Devon County Council commenced work on a new contraflow bus lane in Exeter city centre in June. Once completed, it will improve bus journey times in the city.
• Works are underway to improve biodiversity and education outcomes of the Lower Hoopern Valley, a 38 acre plot to the south of the University of Exeter’s Streatham Campus.
• Teignbridge District Council has launched The Teignbridge Climate Hub, a central resource for members of the public and business alike to find out how they can contribute to a net zero Devon. 
• Torridge District Council has announced plans to establish a community woodland at the Gatefield Amenity Grassland in Bideford.
• Local Community Energy groups in Devon are offering free Retrofit Advice home visits until the end of March 2025. 

2.    Oversight of the Devon Carbon Plan

The Progress Reports detailing known activity against each action are on the website. A summary of the number of actions categorised by each RAG status is provided below, split by theme.

Note that each theme of the carbon plan is reviewed every 6 months, which means the RAG status will not change significantly within the monthly periods of this progress report.

NO CHANGE IN STATUS THIS MONTH

Blue = Completed
Green = Generally progressing well
Amber = Progressing but geography or scope is limited
Red = Not started or activity significantly limited
Grey = Not yet assessed

The first phase of monitoring indicators are online. The University of Exeter is helping to expand the indicator set, which will be added to the web page incrementally.

In July, the University delivered their report to the secretariat proposing indicators to monitor progress towards the 60 milestones in the Devon Carbon Plan. Work is commencing with the Tactical Group’s involvement to update the monitoring indicators to reflect their proposals.

3.    Oversight of the Devon, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Climate Adaptation Strategy

The Climate Impacts Group is continuing its programme to review all the risks and near-term actions each year.

At the June meeting of the Climate Impacts Group, it was recommended that the Response Group seek reassurance from Southwest Water that the immediate issues of coastal water quality and cryptosporidium are not detracting focus from the preparation of the Water Resources Management Strategy.

Update: Meg and Emily met to discuss the concerns of the Climate Impacts Group regarding Southwest Water (SWW). It was decided that this issue should remain on a watching brief until the end of 2024, following correspondence from SWW that the Water Resources Management Strategy is now expected later this year due to delays caused by the election. Additionally, the Devon Climate Emergency Secretariat will attend the West Country Water Resources Multi-Sector Working Group, which SWW have invited it to, to ensure that climate change issues are being adequately considered.

4.    Feedback from the Climate Task Force

The Devon Climate Task Force held its latest quarterly meeting in June and made the following recommendations, to be considered by the Response Group in July.

• The Task Force considers the recent decision by the Exeter Highways and Traffic Orders Committee (HATOC) to end the Active Streets Trial in Heavitree and Whipton as a major setback to providing safe infrastructure for walking, wheeling, and cycling, contrary to the Devon Carbon Plan. The Task Force recommends that the Response Group give urgent attention to updating plans for achieving Action T11 (Reallocate road capacity to sustainable modes), to avoid further delays on progress towards Goal TB (Using active, shared and public transport is safe, efficient and affordable). They urge the Response Group to consider the national evidence of the effectiveness of Low Traffic Neighbourhood measures in future schemes, which demonstrate benefits for active travel and air quality in the areas.

August Update: Emily has approached the Transport Planning team to collate examples of where Action T11 is being implemented elsewhere. 

• The Task Force would like to see further progress on action F10 (Explore how the County Farms estate could be used to demonstrate low-carbon agriculture.) They also encourage other partners that own land that is farmed to do the same.

August Update: Devon County Council is looking at further opportunities to enhance this activity.

• Housebuilders have mandatory requirements to put in electric vehicle chargers. But in Devon some housebuilders are being told by National Grid there will be significant delays before the chargers can be connected – some as late as 2027. The partnership should consider how this situation can be improved.

August Update: There may be an opportunity to feedback to government via the recently-launched consultation on the National Planning Policy Framework.

Updates on the Climate Task Force recommendations from March:

• Consider understanding what is needed to move each action from amber to green.

August Update: No progress this month. Will be looked at shortly now there is extra capacity due to the appointment of the Climate Emergency Support Officer which will free-up some of Emily’s time.  

• Mass-market retrofitting of buildings is still not happening quickly enough because the costs are high and the revenue savings are small in comparison. A retrofit summit should bring together key players to have a deep conversation about long-term solutions and to prepare a retrofit strategy.

August Update: The Energy Saving Devon partnership submitted an expression of interest in response to an invitation from the MCS Foundation to pilot a support package for local areas to develop retrofit strategies. This would deliver a series of four full-day workshops. Unfortunately we were not successful. Further funding opportunities will be looked for to take this project forward.

• The role of spatial planning in net-zero is not being delivered fully. Need to revisit conversations with the Devon and Cornwall Planning Officers Group (DCPOG) to refresh the needs of planning teams and subsequently reengage Team Devon.

August Update: Doug attended the DCPOG on June 6^th. It was agreed for a sub-group to prepare examples of how planning authorities have incorporated policies that implement the policy asks of the Devon Carbon Plan into Local Plans. These examples will be used as a checklist by planners when updating Local Plans. A sub-group has been identified but has yet to meet due to capacity to coordinate this. Will hopefully meet in September.

5.    Devolution Update

In the light of the announcement of the general election, Torbay Council and Devon CC are seeking clarity from Government officials on how the legislative process for setting up the Devon and Torbay Combined County Authority will be affected.

Discussions about how to prioritise the £16m capital spend in 2024/25 are continuing, much of which will contribute to net-zero.