Quick Navigation
- Attendees
- 1. Review of June Minutes
- 2. Presentation: Connecting the Culm — Network Rail Weather Resilience & Climate Change Adaptation
- 3. Feedback on Forum for the Future Report: Engaging the Business Sector on Resilience
- 4. Recommendations to Climate Partnerships
- 5. Any Other Business
Attendees
- Emily Reed Devon Climate Emergency Secretariat (Chair)
- Doug Eltham Devon County Council (Environment)
- William Jackson-Nichols Devon Climate Emergency Secretariat
- Richard Sweatman Local Resilience Forum
- Deborah Jones Public Health Devon
- Tom Dauben Environment Agency
- Sara Gibbs Public Health Devon
- Cara Naden Somerset Council
- Dafydd Thomas Network Rail
- Liza Oxford Plymouth City Council
- Nick Paling Bioregional Learning Centre
- Donna Sibley North Devon and Torridge Councils
1. Review of June Minutes
Emily provided updates on previous action points:
- No confirmation yet regarding the Network Rail Devon Adaptation Pathways Workshop. Dafydd Thomas reported that the workshop is delayed due to new government requirements to use government-owned buildings. The Met Office is being considered, but availability is limited. October is now the likely date.
- Feedback from the last meeting on potential mandatory local authority adaptation reporting was shared with Defra and well received.
- No group response was submitted to the Flood and Coastal Erosion Funding Reform consultation due to limited feedback. Tom Dauben offered to share his correspondence with Defra for reference.
- An invitation from West Country Rivers Trust to join a trip to Brussels was mentioned. Interested members should contact Emily.
ACTION: Dafydd to confirm venue and date for the Devon Adaptation Pathways Workshop.
ACTION: Tom to share his Defra correspondence with Emily.
2. Presentation: Connecting the Culm — Network Rail Weather Resilience & Climate Change Adaptation
Dafydd outlined Network Rail’s adaptation strategy, focusing on natural flood management (NFM) and resilience projects.
Case studies included:
- Church Stretton flood site: successful NFM intervention with biodiversity and maintenance benefits.
- Connecting the Culm catchment: phase one aims to store 180,000 m³ of water; phase two will expand interventions.
- Evenlode catchment: led by farming cluster, focusing on river re-meandering and asset protection.
Challenges include funding mechanisms and integrating NFM into existing engineering standards.
Emphasis on collaboration with local authorities, landowners, and farming clusters.
Discussion Highlights:
- Cara Naden raised concerns about tree removal and embankment stability.
- Tom Dauben offered collaboration and shared tools developed by the Environment Agency.
- Sara Gibbs and Doug Eltham highlighted health, community, and multi-stakeholder benefits.
- Richard Sweatman raised coastal erosion concerns and requested updates on resilience planning.
ACTION: Dafydd to liaise with Tom Dauben for collaboration and shared tools.
ACTION: Emily to facilitate conversations through the CIG about further collaboration opportunities to support rail resilience.
ACTION: Richard to follow up on coastal erosion resilience and share relevant updates.
3. Feedback on Forum for the Future Report: Engaging the Business Sector on Resilience
Key findings:
- SMEs and microbusinesses are underserved in resilience engagement.
- Engagement is fragmented and often superficial.
- Trusted intermediaries and peer-led approaches are more effective.
- Tourism, hospitality, and construction sectors are under-engaged.
- Timing of engagement post-incident may be effective but needs careful handling.
Discussion Highlights:
- Doug Eltham suggested using the report to design a support programme and monitor funding opportunities.
- Sara Gibbs emphasised the importance of framing and suggested linking with the Combined County Authority (CCA) business subgroup.
- Tom Dauben shared a resource (Flood Hub) being adopted regionally to support business engagement.
- Richard Sweatman highlighted the overlap with the Local Resilience Forum’s whole society resilience work.
ACTION: Emily to share the report with local authority economy teams and relevant forums.
ACTION: Group to monitor funding opportunities for business resilience support.
ACTION: Consider forming a Priority Action Group under Devon Climate Emergency to progress business engagement.
ACTION: Richard to explore a joint subgroup on business resilience within the Local Resilience Forum.
4. Recommendations to Climate Partnerships
Support multi-stakeholder collaboration on natural flood management.
Communicate the need for business resilience support and integration into existing services.
Recommend forming a Priority Action Group focused on business engagement and resilience.
Encourage cross-sector collaboration and data sharing to identify co-located infrastructure risks.
5. Any Other Business
Cara Naden shared links to national adaptation campaigns and resources: Strategic Adaptation for Emergency Resilience (SAFER) Campaign, lead by the Climate Majority Project https://climatemajorityproject.com/ and reminded the group of the Local Climate Adaptation Tool: https://lcat.uk/.
Donna Sibley raised concerns about climate change integration in national landscape management plans. Emily shared that she had met with the national landscape managers to discuss climate action plans.
Sara Gibbs reported on regional health surveillance related to climate impacts (e.g., vector-borne diseases, heat health).
Emily Reed noted progress on adaptation monitoring indicators with the university, to be discussed at a future meeting.
ACTION: Emily to consider agenda time for health-related climate impacts.
