Attendees
| Liza Oxford | Plymouth City Council |
| Doug Eltham | Devon County Council (Environment) |
| Claire Below | Cornwall Council |
| Sara Gibbs | Public Health Devon |
| Jen Manning | Dartmoor National Park Authority |
| Deborah Jones | Public Health Devon |
| Ed Mellor | DCIoS Local Resilience Forum |
| Paul Minshull | Cornwall Council |
| Emily Widdecombe | Westcountry Rivers Trust |
| Emily Reed | Devon Climate Emergency (Secretariat) |
| Louise Sawyer | Devon and Cornwall Police |
| Nick Paling | South West Water |
| Donna Sibley | Torridge and North Devon Councils |
1. Minutes of the previous meeting
The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed as an accurate record.
2. Review of Risks CIG 44 – 48 + 63
Six risks from the Health and Built Environment section of the regional Climate Adaptation Strategy were scheduled for review at today’s meeting. [Every risk in the Strategy is scheduled for review once a year]. The risks discussed were:
- Risk 44: Risks to health from private water supply (e.g. potential interruptions in household water supply from wells or boreholes). [Excludes public drinking water and wastewater services from South West Water].
- Risk 45: Risks to cultural heritage and assets in the DCIoS region.
Claire Below shared that Cornwall Council have produced a Heritage Assets at Risk (HARIT) tool, which looks at where heritage assets are in Cornwall and cross references this against current and future climate risk. It is focused on flooding and coastal erosion. It has highlighted significant risks to heritage assets in Cornwall from climate change, with implications for tourism and the cultural heritage of Cornwall.
The group didn’t think a change of scoring for this risk was needed but wished to document Cornwall’s work as context for this risk on the risk register.
- Risk 46: Risks to health and social care delivery.
- Risk 47: Risks to EDUCATION services.
Clarification was made that this risk relates to all education settings.
- Risk 48: Risks to PRISON services.
- Risk 63: Risks to people, communities and buildings from wildfires.
No changes regarding the magnitude and likelihood of the risks were raised by the group.
ACTION: Emily to update the risk register accordingly.
3. Review of Actions
Three actions in the Action Plan (Appendix 6 of the Strategy) were reviewed at this meeting. Ahead of the meeting, Emily circulated a table that has collated local activity that is helping to implement each action. Comments on this were requested.
CCA2: Define a regional approach (e.‘. ‘One Health’) to prevent the emergence of zoonotic diseases (infectious diseases transmitted between animals and people).
Devon Public Health has queried with UKHSA whether the regional response might benefit from a dedicated action orientated regional group to bring together stakeholders on zoonotic diseases. However, UKHSA’s view is that that currently the threat is monitored at a national level and contingency plans are being put in place nationally, and if there was indication of a need to step up the regional response further then structures could be put in place, proportionate to the threat.
Deborah expressed concern that activity to prevent zoonotic disease is not progressing at the desired rate. For instance, small holders may not receive the attention required for effective prevention. Paul added this was especially true for small holders with mixed stock as this increases the risk of interspecies transmission.
Action: Emily to highlight that more needs to be done to reduce the risk of zoonotic diseases to the Devon Food Partnership.
Action: Emily to add World Zoonoses day to the communications plan as an opportunity to raise awareness.
CCA3: Raise awareness on the impacts of anti-microbial resistance and prevention measures (e.g. reducing antibiotics use in livestock)
Devon and Cornwall local authority health protection teams (as part of PARG) are working together to:
- Scope what prevention work is ongoing in healthcare at the current time (with an intention to expand this scoping to One Health and consider best practice ideas across the region).
- Widely share comms (as led by UKHSA) for Antimicrobial Awareness Week (18-24 Nov 2024) – reaching out to One Health colleagues including pharmacy, veterinary and farming contacts as well as via our internal and public facing media.
CCC1: Work with partners, including universities, to examine the effects of climate change on crime rates and the potential for civil disorder.
Louise updated the group that Devon and Cornwall Police are working with Rowena Hill, Professor of Resilience, Emergencies and Disaster Science at Nottingham Trent University. Rowena supports the Climate Change (Civil Contingencies) & Adverse Weather portfolio for the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) and is the Chair of the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) Academic Collaboration, Evaluation and Research Group. Together they are looking to submit a bid for funding to support research to understand the future impacts on emergencies services (policing and fire) as a consequence of climate change.
Action: Claire to share the contact at Cornwall Council who leads on prevention of violence against women and girls, so that they can be included in conversations regarding links to climate impacts such as heat waves.
4. Feedback for Proposals of an In-Person Meeting
The group discussed proposals that had been circulated for an in-person meeting. There was consensus that the meeting needed to result in actionable outcomes. There was support for the proposed agenda.
ACTION: Emily to confirm the most popular date for the in-person meeting in December by email.
5. Met Office Winter Weather Ready Campaign
Emily shared the link to the Met Office Winter Weather Ready Campaign resources for reference by the group.
6. Chronic Risk Register
Ed from the Local Resilience Forum shared that Mark Rice has been sent a copy of the national Chronic Risk Register, to inform his role as the chair.
