DCE Response Group (DCERG) Minutes- 9th September 2024

Attendees

Meg Booth – Devon County Council (Chair)
Doug Eltham – Devon County Council (Environment Group)
Betty Tsang – Devon Climate Emergency
David Edmondson – Torbay Council
Polly Frost – Devon County Council (Economy and Enterprise)
Victoria Hatfield – Exeter City Council
Matthew Bell – Devon Air Ambulance
Joanna Chamberlain – University of Exeter
Jason Ball – Mid Devon District Council
John Amosford – Devon County Council (Public Health)
Daisy Bowmer – Devon County Council (Planning)
Donna Sibley – North Devon and Torridge Councils
Claire Gibson – University of Plymouth
Mark Kentell  – North Devon District Council
Ben Carwardine – Wales and West Utilities

1.    Minutes of the previous meeting and matters arising

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

2.    National Planning Policy Framework consultation

Daisy Bowerman presented the government’s current consultation on revising the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), focusing on Chapter 9, which addresses climate change, flooding, and coastal change. Key points aspects of the consultation include:

• Onshore Wind Projects: The proposal to reintegrate large onshore wind projects into the nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIP) regime, meaning planning applications would be considered by the Secretary of State rather than local authorities.
• Support for Renewable Energy: Proposed changes to the NPPF to enhance support for renewable and low-carbon energy, including the removal of restrictive footnotes related to wind turbines.
• Habitat Protection: Consideration of additional protections for habitats like peat soils, which are crucial for carbon sequestration, in the context of renewable energy development.
• Threshold Increases: Proposals to increase NSIP thresholds for onshore wind from 50 MW to 100 MW and for solar projects from 50 MW to 150 MW, allowing more projects to be handled by local authorities.
• Climate Change Mitigation: Questions on how national planning policy can better address climate change mitigation and adaptation, and the readiness of tools for accurate carbon accounting.
• Flood Risk Management: Gathering views on potential improvements in managing flood risk through planning.
• Agricultural Land: Discussion on ensuring development supports food production without compromising agricultural land.
• Water Infrastructure: Consideration of improvements in planning routes for new strategic water infrastructure.

Daisy emphasized the importance of responding to the consultation and shared the link to the consultation.

ACTION: Secretariat to circulate information about how the questions in the consultation relate to proposals and expectations in the Devon Carbon Plan for partners to include in their consultation responses.

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.

Claire suggested that the group might not be giving enough attention to the task force’s feedback and emphasized the need for the group to address flagged concerns. The group discussed a proposal to have the task force chair or other representative attend meetings quarterly to provide direct feedback and ensure better alignment between the task force and the response group. This was supported.

ACTION: Secretariat to discuss governance improvements with the chair of the task force, Claire Pearce.

Polly highlighted the recurring issue of needing additional finance for people, resources, or capital projects, suggesting that the group could take more action on this front. Doug and Meg suggested setting up task groups on a task-and-finish basis to address specific recurring issues like finance, rather than relying on existing groups, which hasn’t been as effective as hoped when the current governance arrangements were setup.

ACTION: Secretariat to propose how task and finish groups could be used to aid collaboration on key issues.

3.2  Economy and Resources, Devon Carbon Plan Progress Report

• Household Waste Collection Alignment: Progress has been made in aligning Devon’s household waste collection services, which will be legislatively required by 2026. This alignment is on track and considered a success.
• Social Value and Floating Offshore Wind: Polly emphasized the significant opportunity presented by the social value funds associated with floating offshore wind projects. She noted that these projects will bring substantial investment to the region, and there is a need to harness this social value to support the objectives of the carbon plan and other local aspirations. Polly suggested that while it might be premature to fully understand the scale, it is crucial to start planning how to access and utilize these funds effectively. Donna emphasized that North Devon and Torridge councils do not want the legacy of floating offshore wind in the Celtic Sea to be limited to small-scale projects like village halls with solar panels. They aim for a more significant impact. She mentioned that they have had extensive conversations with the Crown Estate to ensure that the social value derived from these projects is substantial and aligns with broader strategic goals, including the carbon plan and adaptation strategy.
• Net Zero Transition Support for Businesses: Polly pointed out that several districts have allocated funds through the Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF) to support businesses in transitioning to net zero. However, she noted that the uptake of these funds has not been as high as expected. The grants, typically around £20,000, are intended to help businesses with various aspects of the net-zero transition, such as supply chain adjustments and energy efficiency improvements. Polly suggested that the current offer might need better marketing or adjustments to meet business needs more effectively. Donna added that one barrier to accessing these grants is the financial burden placed on businesses upfront, which they then have to claim back. A solution to this issue is being addressed by Chris Fuller and Domini Dunbrook at North Devon District Council.
• Skills and Training: Meg highlighted the importance of working with Petroc, particularly in addressing skills issues in North Devon. She noted that there have been challenges in providing the necessary training resources locally, which has sometimes required going out of the county. Meg suggested that there is an opportunity to tie in more closely with Petroc to address these training needs. Donna mentioned that Petroc has a new principal, making it a good time to have these conversations and strengthen collaboration.

ACTION: Donna offered to ensure that the right people are in touch to facilitate a further conversation about skills provision in North Devon. 

• Regional Bank: Claire mentioned that South West Mutual, a proposed regional bank, has indicated that it is not currently viable. This raises the question of whether to keep the action item open and marked as red or to close it and find an alternative approach to achieve the same outcomes. 

ACTION: Secretariat to engage the Task Force in understanding whether there is an alternative way of achieving the same outcomes.

Appendix 1 – Project Progress Report

Project Progress Report

Period: August to September 2024

1.    Partnership Update

1.1  General Communications

Follower numbers have resumed growth following a decline in July 2024, mostly accounted for by the newsletter which performed best. Though follower numbers declined slightly on X and Linked In. The strategy on these platforms will be reviewed by the new Climate Emergency Support Officer. 

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.

• Plymouth City Council has secured £458,353 from the Salix Grant and Climate Emergency Investment Fund for building retrofit works at Harewood House in Plympton.
• Exmoor National Park Authority has announced they have halved their carbon emissions since declaring a climate emergency in 2019, putting them on track to reach their organisational goal of net zero by 2030. 
• Devon County Council has been awarded £200K from the Local Net Zero Capacity and Development Fund for a decarbonisation plan for Heathfield Industrial Estate in Bovey Tracey and to explore the development of solar energy on landfill sites.
• Exeter Police Community Support Officers have been using electric bikes to cut emissions and improve engagement with the community.

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.

Economy and Resources has seen one further action become rated as green from amber this month and one of the red actions become marked as completed, the government have been engaged on the issue and there are no further routes to pursuing it.

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. No change to the RAG ratings this month.

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.

September Update: The Transport Planning team have collated examples of where Action T11 is being implemented elsewhere. This will be shared with the Climate Task Force later this month.

• 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.