PROGRESS REPORT
You can filter the table below to view the latest progress on Priority Actions in the Devon Carbon Plan.
Going forward themes will be reported on twice a year. Themes that have been reported on so far are:
- Built Environment
- Transport
- Economy and Resources
- Food, Land and Sea
Please check back on this page in the coming months for a progress report on the Energy and Cross Cutting Themes Priority Actions.
The actions have been rated as either red, amber, green or completed:
[RED] = Not started or activity significantly limited.
[AMBER] = Progressing but geography or scope of implementation may be limited.
[GREEN] = Generally progressing well.
Progress Report
| Theme | Ref. | Action | Progress Status | What progress has been made on this action in the last quarter? | Are there any issues hampering delivery of this action? | What action do you anticipate next quarter? | Date of Update |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Theme | Ref. | Action | Progress Status | What progress has been made on this action in the last quarter? | Are there any issues hampering delivery of this action? | What action do you anticipate next quarter? | Date of Update |
| Cross Cutting Themes | C6 | C6 Development plans to demonstrate how they will shape places in ways that contribute to radical reductions in greenhouse gas emissions as a primary planning objective, including drawing on the principles of 20-minute neighbourhoods and One Planet Development. | Awaiting update | ||||
| Economy and resources | R1 | Deliver targeted communication to empower people and businesses to adopt more sustainable consumption habits, prevent waste and shift to a culture of sharing, reusing and recycling. | Green | The Devon Climate Emergency social channels are used to promote behaviour change across all themes of the Carbon Plan. This teams up with subject-specific comm's campaigns working on active travel, recycling, energy and wildlife, for example. Community organisations focussed on sustainability and 'transition' issues are active in many towns and villages and are delivering behaviour change messages as part of their core activity. A record of known organisations is collated by the DCE secretariat. The design and scoping work for an enhanced Devon-wide community engagement service is underway, being led by Devon County Council. This will expand the existing Community Action Group (CAG) initiative. The research phase to understand the gaps in community support that need filling by the project has concluded. It identified a need for capacity building support for community groups delivering behaviour change messages to be expanded across the whole of the county. From April '22 to March '23 CAG's 22 active groups helped avoid nearly 300 tonnes of carbon emissions through preventing waste going to landfill/incineration. In May 2023, the Devon County Council Waste Team coordinated The BIG FIX, promoting mending of broken items primarily through repair cafe events. The Devon Waste Education Programme continues to work with many of Devon’s schools, educating children and school staff about the importance of re-use, recycling and composting. Plymouth City Council has launched its Climate Connections website, established a Climate Ambassadors scheme and piloted a carbon literacy course for the community to upskill newly appointed Community Builders. All have been provided with targeted communications assets for outreach. South Hams District Council has granted Sustainable South Hams £22,000 to help develop the group to support the rapid development of new sustainability projects in communities across the district. The Share Shed, which helps people to borrow things they only need occasionally at a low cost, has been supported to expand the geography of its service through the Climate Infrastructure Fund. West Devon Borough Council has been promoting re-use and zero waste projects, such as a Crowdfunder for Tavistock Refillery Zero Waste Shop. East Devon District Council have run a number of communication and engagement campaigns, such as Plastic Free July, East Devon Together promoting community groups and Second-hand September. The NFU is running its 'Pledge 2040' campaign, asking farmers to work towards making their farms net-zero by 2040. Guidance is provided to help farmers on the journey. Partner organisations have been holding in person events, such as the Torbay Earth Hour celebrations and Devon Climate Emergency's presence at the County Show this year. | In person events have been made more difficult and at times more expensive due to the increased threat of disruptive and potentially aggressive protesters. Furthermore, capacity to attend in person events limits the level of face to face communication that occurs. | The research for the Community Action Groups intitiave will now be used to design the programme for 2023/24 . An additional extension is being planned for delivery from April 2024. Funding for this is being provided by Devon County Council. Devon Climate Emergency are collaborating with the Devon County Council Waste Team on a campaign in July to raise awareness and evoke action to reuse and adopt green behaviours when having days out with family and/or friends during Summer. | 23/07/2023 |
| Economy and resources | R5 | Support immature industries and new models that have the potential to contribute to delivering net-zero. | Green | Six projects from a range of sectors received funding through Devon County Council's Green Innovation Fund in 2022. In total over £750,000 was distributed. These included a new-to-market heating system; development of batteries for electric boats; recycling of electric vehicle batteries; seaweed farming; and targeted advice for farmers. £300k from Innovate UK's Fast Followers funding has been won by Devon County Council in 2023 to develop new investment opportunities in innovative, net-zero activty. £15.6m from the Government's Levelling Up fund is being used to create Clean Maritime Innovation Centre in Appledore, expected to open in 2025. South Hams District Council has £1m of Shared Prosperity Funding being used in part to test new technologies in agriculture, pilot innovative approaches to decarbonising the marine and construction sectors, and develop community energy projects. As a legacy to the £500k Devon Agri-Tech Accelerator, which conclude in December 2022, the Devon Agri-Tech Alliance supports Devon’s agricultural sector by making innovation easier and more accessible. It facilitates a community of research organisations, tech developers, farmers and other agricultural businesses so that those working on the ground can help shape future research and collaborate with tech developers to ensure that research and tech solutions are practical and relevant. £73k has been received from Defra's Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund to develop green investment opportunities to restore the River Culm to good health. The funding will engage with potential providers and buyers of ecosystem services via a Habitat Bank. £1.5m received from government to fastrack the Great south West's 'UK's Natural Powerhouse' prospectus, identifying innovative net-zero opportunities in blue and green infrastructure and agri-tech. Devon County Council delivered a Community Energy Fund, distributing £250k to six projects, including the Power Allotments project. Six projects received funding from Devon County Council's Natural Capital Challenge Fund, catalysing economic and net-zero opportunities from rewilding, carbon sequestration and regenerative agriculture and countryside skills development. | The Devon Devolution Deal will progress that currently includes opportunties to support immature industries and opportunities for net-zero. Fast Followers project will appoint a Net-Zero Innovation and Green Finance Manager. | 23/07/2023 | |
| Economy and resources | R17 | Encourage food supply-chain businesses to implement the Courtauld Commitment using the free toolkit. | Amber | The Devon Food Partnership (DFP) has published the Devon Good Food Strategy 2023 - 2028. It includes reducing food waste in its vision and includes priorty 6.6 to "Achieve recognition and implementation of the food waste hierarchy throughout the supply chain – from field to fork". Detail about how to achieve this has yet to be developed. However, the DCC Waste Team are represented on the DFP. The DFP has been developing its social media presence and website to promote opportunities to reduce food waste, such as sharing funding available. | 23/07/2023 | ||
| Economy and resources | R19 | Anchor institutions to embed local social and environmental value further into tendering procedures. | Amber | The DCE Secetariat has met with the Devon and Cornwall Procurement Partnership. It has been agreed that once the post of Low Carbon Procurement Officer is filled at Devon County Council (currently vacant), that person will help the Partnership baseline current practices. Processes do exist, hence this is not 'red', but the quality of those processes needs exploring. | Inflation is putting pressure on the procurement spending power of organisations, with budgets not often keeping pace meaning that acheiving additional social and environmental value can be under increased pressure. In some instances local supply chains require further development in order to be in a position to supply large organisations. The post of Low Carbon Procurement Officer at Devon County Council is vacant. | The post at Devon County Council should be filled and can then support the Devon and Cornwall Procurement Partnership to collect information from each of its members about the extent to which existing procurement practices embed social and environmental value. Devon and Cornwall Police are delivering sustainable procurement training to SW police procurement group in July, who procure on behalf of the five SW police forces. | 23/07/2023 |
| Economy and resources | R21 | Provide schools with curriculum support on net-zero issues. | Amber | The Devon Climate Emergency web pages include resources for schools, which has recently been updated with a resource pack based on the Net-Zero Visions project. The Devon Waste Education Programme continues to work with many of Devon’s schools, educating children and school staff about the importance of re-use, recycling and composting. The Devon Local Nature Partnership web pages include resources for schools, evidence on the benefits of outdoor education, and a (non-exhaustive) list of environmental education practitioners in Devon. As well as access to join NEED which runs networking events and, new for this year, monthly webinars. | The Net-Zero Visions resource pack will be promoted through the Sustainability Bulletin that goes to all schools in Devon in September 2023. £25,000 has been made available by Devon County Council for NEED to engage with educators to understand exactly what support they need. The brief for this work will be prepared and issued to a consultant. NEED are looking into updating and improving the list of environmental education practitioners in Devon on their website. | 23/07/2023 | |
| Economy and resources | R22 | Provide net-zero training and reskilling opportunities. | Green | A report by the South West Net Zero Hub, working with the region’s Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPS), has found that significant investment in skills and improvements to the supply chain are needed to improve current installation rates for heat pumps and insulation, else targets to reduce emissions will be missed. However, the latest wave of Train4Tomorrow Skills Bootcamps launched in June, 2023. They offer a range of fully-funded training courses of up to 16 weeks across a variety of sectors. Skills bootcamps include: Modern Construction Methods, Regenerative Farming, Data Analyst, Digital Skills for the Workplace, Cloud Computing, Digital Marketing, Marine Engineering, Welding, Civils and Groundworks, Electrical Vehicles, Retrofit, Floating Offshore Renewables and many more. | Train4Tomorrow Skills Bootcamps will continue. | 23/07/2023 | |
| Economy and resources | R23 | Provide a net-zero-transition support service to businesses. | Green | The Low Carbon Devon project has come to the end of its funded period. It has supported a range of enterprises that are shifting to sustainable practices and filling gaps in emerging green markets through pairing them with researchers at the University of Plymouth and arranging internships for students within the organisations. Decarbonise Devon was launched in late 2022 to provide guidance to SMEs on reducing carbon emissions and energy costs. The expertise of Decarbonise Devon is set to support SMEs throughout the process, from planning and project management to accessing finance and finding trustworthy contractors. Dearbonise Devon received a Green Innovation Fund grant from Devon County Council. This is now the principal offer to businesses in Devon. Earlier in 2023 South Hams District Council was awarded £1 million in UK Shared Prosperity Funding for targeted business and community support programmes and is now in delivery. The Devon and Plymouth Chamber provide online resources via their Net-Zero Hub. The Heart of the South West Growth Hub collates net-zero offers for business into one location on its website, as does the Devon Climate Emergency website. Devon County Council are supporting farm businesses to reduce carbon through the Future Farm Resilience Programme, for those interested in exploring this element of the programme, as well as through the Agri-tech Alliance. | The follow on project to Low Carbon Devon will be announced by the University of Plymouth in Autumn 23. Decarbonise Devon will continue to develop its pipeline of businesses. Funded by UK Shared Prosperity (UKSPF) South Hams will continue to engage the agricultural sector around regenerative farming practices and access to local markets, as well as working with the local Marine sector, community energy groups, SMEs and the construction sector on decarbonisation capacity. Torbay have secured UKSPF and will imminently be delivering a new 2 year business engagement programme – Torbay Net Zero. Supporting over 250 businesses with resource efficiency advice, audits and bespoke action plans and some capital grants. Devon County Council will be delivering green business support in Exeter until March 2025 as part of the wider SPF funded support, this is currently being procured. | 23/07/2023 | |
| Energy Supply | E1 | Develop an Energy Plan for Devon to deploy renewable energy generation to meet future energy needs. | Awaiting update | ||||
| Energy Supply | E1.1 | Update assessments of the accessible renewable energy resources available in Devon | Awaiting update | ||||
| Energy Supply | E1.2 | Identify opportunities for renewable energy and storage deployment on land owned or managed by Devon Climate Emergency partners. | Awaiting update | ||||
| Energy Supply | E1.3 | Identify locations for renewable energy and energy storage informed by the emerging Land Use Framework and environmental and social sensitivities. | Awaiting update | ||||
| Energy Supply | E1.4 | Explore opportunities to create economic benefit from offshore technologies along Devon’s two coastlines. | Awaiting update | ||||
| Energy Supply | E1.5 | Consider the role of nationally significant energy infrastructure (including that developed outside Devon), flexibility markets, and storage technologies, and how these could change the total energy required to be generated in Devon. | Awaiting update | ||||
| Energy Supply | E1.6 | Consider the potential role and feasibility of a green-hydrogen industrial cluster. | Awaiting update | ||||
| Energy Supply | E1.7 | Appraise the potential for low carbon heat networks in new development to make best use of existing heat producers e.g. the Energy from Waste facility in Exeter, and as a retrofit opportunity in off-gas areas. | Awaiting update | ||||
| Energy Supply | E8 | Work with government to enable timely and cost-effective grid upgrades. | Awaiting update | ||||
| Built Environment | B1 | Expand whole-house retrofit by working with social landlords to aggregate their housing stock and collectively procure retrofit. | Red | Since the ERDF-funded 'Zero Energy Buildings Catalyst' project delivered retrofitted homes with Exeter City Council, North Devon Homes and Sanctuary Housing between 2018 - 2020, no further progress has been reported. | Additional resource is required. | The Energy Saving Devon service (see action B6) will start to develop a Retrofit Strategy. Engaging social housing providers in that Strategy will be fundamental to increasing market demand for retrofit. Funding opportunities will continue to be monitored. | 23/06/2023 |
| Built Environment | B6 | Establish a Devon-wide energy advice service. | Green | The Energy Saving Devon website is live. www.energysavingdevon.org.uk This enables people who are able to afford to retrofit their property to prepare a bespoke desk-top retrofit report. It also signposts people to their local community energy organisation to receive further support for retrofit assessment, design and coordination. A telephone triage service for Energy Saving Devon is being established with the Centre for Sustainable Energy. Households eligible for grant support will be identified. | The Devon CC Energy Manager, who had been coordinating this activity, is no longer in post. Whilst the process of recruiting to the post is underway, temporary resource is being provided by staff employed via the Temp Bank and overseen by Doug Eltham. | The triage service will be operational. The Energy Saving Devon Board, comprising the local authorities, community energy organisations, Lendology and Trading Standards, will start the preparation of a Retrofit Strategy to coordinate the next phases of development of the service. | 23/06/2023 |
| Built Environment | B13 | Demonstrate the viability of building net-zero carbon homes using modern construction techniques by reviewing the opportunity for local authorities to use their own land in partnership with a developer. | Green | Exeter City Council, through its own development company, has awarded the tender to build the first 35 of 91 units at Whipton Barton. Mid Devon District Council is currently undergoing a feasibility study and plans to build 8 ZedPod units in Tiverton at site currently occupied by garages and car parking. The units will be carbon neutral. North Devon District Council has transferred land in Ilfracombe to a community trust. The homes built are planned to be sustainable and net-zero. East Devon District Council has established a new team tasked with the delivery of affordable and social housing across the district. Included within this is the council's desire to increase its portfolio via in-house development of carbon neutral housing. The team has developed a pipeline of 200+ potential units. The vast majority will be built on land that is in public ownership; garage sites, toilet blocks, non-fee paying car-parks, infill sites etc. but also negotiating on an an open market plot. | The unprecedented supply chain pressures, the construction industry has had to deal, with caused by Brexit, the Pandemic and the war in Ukraine, has led to significantly increased construction costs. ECC has listened to contractors to better understand their issues which resulted in the following: 1. Break the project down into smaller phases. This reduces the length of time forecasted cost increases or decreases would have to be assessed. 2. Provide a Bill of Quants that all tenderers could use to save all contractors having to measure the project to price it. 3. Use a different collaborative form of contract that shares risk and reward fairly. | Active partners have been invited to present to the Response Group to share experiences with other local authorities. | 23/06/2023 |
| Transport | T1 | Continue the roll out of the Connecting Devon and Somerset programme. | Green | The Connecting Devon and Somerset Programme has made superfast broadband accessible to over 290,000 homes and businesses in the region. Phase 2 will deliver this to remaining hard to reach premises such as those on Dartmoor and Exmoor. This additional coverage means that 96% of Devon’s homes and businesses will have access to superfast-broadband by the end of 2024. Openreach is entering the final stages of its current collaboration with Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) – having provided access to Full Fibre connectivity to more than 1,800 premises in the region. Communities that Openreach are working in include Coffinswell, Ifracombe, Kentisbury Ford, Oakford, Parracombe, Rackenford, Shaugh Prior, Watermouth and Woolacombe. Airband is currently delivering full fibre broadband to more than 6,000 premises in Central Devon, North Devon, Torridge and West Devon, and homes and businesses in earmarked areas of East Devon, as well as areas of Mid Devon, South Hams and Teignbridge. | The weather has presented complications with fallen trees knocking out overhead cables in Dulverton. Securing wayleave (land access) agreements with local landowners is also a time-consuming element of the build, but Openreach has praised the support they’ve received from local landowners and highways departments. | In the coming months Openreach is expected to start in Brayford, Butterleigh, Cadbury, Cadeleigh, Cheriton Fitzpaine, Filleigh, North Molton, Silverton, South Molton, Stockleigh Pomeroy and Thorverton. Design and survey work has also been undertaken in Clapworthy Mill, Meeth, South Zeal, Throwleigh, Satterleigh and Warkleigh. | 23/08/2023 |
| Transport | T6 | Develop Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans (LCWIPs). | Green | LCWIPs have been prepared for Plymouth and Torbay, and are in progress for Exeter, Heart of Teignbridge, South Hams and West Devon, East of Exeter, Mid Devon, and 'Barnstaple, Bideford and Northam'. A county-wide LCWIP encompassing rurul cycling and walking issues is also underway. South Hams District Council and West Devon Borough Council are producing their own LCWIPs using Shared Prosperity Fund funding. PJA have been commissioned in partnership with Cycling UK (who are leading on the behavioural insights portion of the commission). Exeter LCWIP has been through public consultation and will be presented to Exeter HATOC on Monday 24 July for endorsement. Once the Exeter LCWIP is endorsed by the HATOC, the LCWIPs for Exeter, Heart of Teignbridge and 'Barnstaple, Bideford and Northam' will be taken to October Devon County Council Cabinet (DCC) for formal approval. Torbay was successful in a bid to Active Travel England which will allow a new crossing at Shiphay Lane, which is a key part of Torbay's LCWIP. A number of community groups are actively interested in participating in the development of and progressing local travel plans and have started discussions in their communities, such as Credition COP26 Action Team and PL:21 Transition Town Initiative. | Further progress on Countywide, East of Exeter and Mid Devon, gearing up to public consultation on at least one of these. Preparation of DCC Cabinet report for the 3 complete LCWIPs. PL:21 Transition Town Initiative (Ivybridge) are awaiting the results of grant applications from National Lottery and GWR Communities Fund for projects. The Crediton COP26 Action Team continue to develop a feasibility study for the Boniface Trail (Crediton to Exeter). | 23/08/2023 | |
| Transport | T8 | Support community bike rental schemes | Red | Beryl has launched e-bike hire in Plymouth. The scheme currently has 128 bikes, which will rise to 510. Exeter and parts of East Devon did have Co-Bikes. See Issues. | Co Cars/ Co Bikes has gone into administration. DCC are urgently considering alternative car clubs and bike hire schemes as they remain an important part of the integrated transport offer for people in Devon and contributing towards tackling climate change. This will particularly affect Exeter's bike rental scheme, but will also impact East Devon. | Further detail on what options are available to replace Co Bikes and decision on the way forward. | 23/08/2023 |
| Transport | T18 | Protect and enhance funding for local bus routes, to ensure people can access services, employment and events without requiring a car. | Amber | Government introduced the national £2 fare initiative which has been extended through to October 2023. In March 2021 the Government required the establishment of a statutory 'Enhanced Partnership' arrangement for buses across all local authority areas outside London. The partnerships prepare Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIP) and Enhanced Partnership Schemes to deliver the BSIPs. Plymouth, Torbay and Devon have Enhanced Partnerships, BSIPs and Enhanced Partnership Schemes in place. Devon's BSIP has received £15.6m from government (having requested £34m). New services funded by the BSIP include the X30 between Seaton and Exeter, and the 85 that has been extended through to Tavistock from Barnstaple. Plymouth BSIP has received £0.8m from government. Torbay's BSIP has received £0.4m from government. Torbay applied to government's Zero Emission Bus Regional Area scheme for electric buses, but this was not successful. Despite financial and operational difficulties, largely due to COVID recovery, passenger numbers on buses in Devon remain steady. | Longer term continued financial investment remains a challenge either locally or from national Government. The lower number of National Bus Pass holders travelling will also have an impact. | We expect to see continued improvements to bus patronage due to government's longer term commitments on lower fares. | 23/08/2023 |
| Transport | T32 | Develop EV Charging Strategies to deploy the right chargers in the right place. | Green | EV charging strategies are in place or being prepared by Devon County Council (DCC), South Hams District Council (SHDC), West Devon Borough Council (WDBC) and Exeter City Council. SHDC and WDBC consultations have concluded and final reports are being updated. The DCC strategy has completed a public consultation and the document is now being being updated as a result. East Devon have decided not to develop their own strategy following the DCC EV strategy. Exeter City Council has commissioned Cenex to write an updated EV Strategy (the council's first was prepared in 2014). Plymouth City Council and Torbay Council do not have charging strategies yet however in Plymouth the deployment of EV charging infrastructure is strong. | Briefing with DCC portfolio holders to update them on latest progress, Strategy to go to DCC Scrutiny Committee in Autumn. SHDC and WDBC docuements will be taken to both Councils later in 2023 for approval. Draft Exeter strategy to be produced and to be presented to Exeter City Council Executive Committee for approval. | 23/08/2023 | |
| Transport | T33 | DCE partners to use their assets to provide publicly-accessible EV charging and shared mobility infrastructure. | Amber | DCE partners have installed 241 publicly-accessible charging bays across Devon, Plymouth and Torbay at August 2023. A record of these is kept on a Google map on the Devon Climate Emergency website. The £1.3m EU-funded DELETTI project is continuing the installation of charging infrastucture in 38 off-street car parks across Devon, providing 160 charging bays in partnership with Scottish Power and the district councils and national park authorities. However, deployment in some areas, such as Torbay has been too slow. This project is now coming to an end and will be replaced by the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure project funded by government to March 2025. This has awarded £7m capital to the Devon County Council area, £2.4m to Plymouth and £1m to Torbay. This project commences in autumn 2023. The funding also provides revenue money to increase capacity within local authorities to deliver the capital works (£0.7m for Devon, £0.4m for Plymouth and £0.3m for Torbay). This will substantially increase the rate of delivery. The Rapid Charging Devon project is continuing to install off street and on street charging in Exeter and East Devon provided by Wenea. Many of these had been implemented in partnership with co-cars. Following the launch of Connect Plymouth, there will be an additional 300 ev charging bays across Plymouth provided by Wenea. The BMW "Recharge in Nature" partnership has confirmed it will fund EV charge points in Dartmoor and Exmoor. On Dartmoor, these are expected to be at Postbridge, Princetown and Meldon. | Grid capacity and disruption of public realm to upgrade the connections, as well as issues arising from lack of communication channels between multiple private installers in relation to remaining grid capacity at certain locations. The demise of Co Cars and the vacant charging bays this now leaves needs resolving. Reliance on Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) funding, which is administered by top tier authorities, for rollout of EV charge points in lower tier authorities. | Further chargers will continue to become live. | 23/08/2023 |
| Transport | T35 | DCE partners and organisations in the County to transition their fleets to Ultra Low Emission Vehicles. | Green | South Hams District Council and West Devon Borough Council have 4 EV’s so far and are working out a forward fleet plan for staggered replacement based on existing leases and end of life for owned vehicles. South West Water (SWW) has 16 EVs as of February 2023 and the tranistion continues. The fleet expansion will mean that around 150,000 miles are being travelled in EVs as opposed to other SWW vehicles. North Devon Council are conducting a four-week trial of an electric van in order to assess its suitability. Exeter’s solar farm and battery storage facility has gone live and is now powering the city’s electric fleet of vehicles. There are 28 chargers ranging from 40kW to 11kW in capacity located at the Exton Road depot, including three electric refuse vehicles. Exmoor National Park Authority have purchased two EVs. East Devon Council have converted approximately a third of their Streetscene fleet to EVs and are due to change more to EVs as they come up for replacement. Additionally, more charging infrastructure will be added to their offices for onsite use. Teignbridge District Council is taking a decision paper to Cabinet next month for grid upgrades at depots to enable 20 – 30 electric vehicles to be brought onto the vehicle fleet from April 2024. Devon County Council has 17 EVs in its fleet and is purchasing an additional 15 in 2022/23. Their target is for 100% of cars and small vans to be electric by 2030. A trial of Hydro-Treated Vegetable Oil fuel in construcrtion equipment is underway. | Having the budget available to purchase electric vehicles and the reliability of new electric refuse vehicles. | SWW will add a further 37 EVs to the fleet by the end of this year. Exeter City Council will be investigating alternative forms of fuels for fleet vehicles. Devon County Council will place an order for a further 15 electric vehicles. | 23/08/2023 |
| Food, Land and Sea | F1 | Support the Devon Food Partnership | Green | The Devon Food Partnership (members include Food Plymouth and Torbay Food Alliance) was set up in 2021 and in 2023 published the Devon Good Food Strategy 2023 - 2028. The Food Strategy includes a chapter on "Food for the Planet" which lists strategic priorities that are well aligned with the actions in the Devon Carbon Plan. The partnership has held a number of events including co-hosting the Devon Food Insecurity Summit at the University of Exeter. A Plymouth Food Action Plan 2023-2026 has also been developed this year by Food Plymouth and also includes actions on the theme "Food for the Planet" as recommended by the Sustainable Food Places movement. | The Devon Food Partnership will be holding action planning sessions in order to flesh out how the strategic priorities can be achieved. | 23/09/2023 | |
| Food, Land and Sea | F7 | Look to set-up a Devon Farm Advice Service. | Amber | The Devon Local Nature Partnership (DLNP) undertook a review of Devon Farm Advice between January and May 2022. This has been published on the DLNP website and shared with the DCC economy team to inform the commissioning of future farm advice. Some farm advice is currently available through the Future Farming Resilience project which aims to support the farming community through its transition from the Direct Basic Payment Scheme towards the Environmental Land Management Scheme. This includes workshops and one-to-one support covering themes including: woodland creation, environmental schemes, business diversification and grant schemes. A new programme to support farm businesses in West Devon and the South Hams to improve their productivity through regenerative farming methods has been launched. The Agri-innovation programme, which is being funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and delivered by Business Information Point (BIP), aims to help farm businesses to maximise their potential through regenerative and innovative practices which promote healthy soil and reduce carbon emissions. Forty farms will be supported, including with thirty hours of one-to-one support for each farm. | The scope of the Future Farming Reilience project could have a stronger focus on regenerative practices and greenhouse gas emissions reduction, as is the case for the Agri-innovation programme. Further funding is needed to expand this provision beyond South Hams and West Devon. | This findings of the review of Farm Advice will feed into the development of the Devon, Plymouth and Torbay Local Nature Recovery Strategy, in which high quality advice to famers on nature recovery will be an important output. | 23/09/2023 |
| Food, Land and Sea | F9 | Support the testing and adoption of low-carbon agricultural practices. | Green | The Devon Agri-Tech Alliance (DATA), supported by Devon County Council, in collaboration with the University of Plymouth, Duchy College and BIP brings together farmers, agricultural businesses, research organisations and tech developers to network and for knowledge exchange. | DATA will continue to meet for workshops. Overtime the scale of the alliance will need to grow to connect with more farmers including arable, livestock and horticulture. | 23/09/2023 | |
| Food, Land and Sea | F13 | Develop a Land Use Framework | Amber | The Food, Farming and Countryside Commission (FFCC), funded by the Environment Agency and the Geospatial Commision worked with stakeholders across Devon to learn how a Land Use Framework (LUF) could help balance the demands on land. A prototype data visualisation tool has been developed to help land managers and land use influences make better land use decisions. | Currently unclear how this will become an implementable LUF in Devon beyond the report in September. | The FFCC is due to publish their report on the learnings from the Devon Land Use Framework pilot in September and will arrange events both in Devon and nationally to discuss what comes next. | 23/09/2023 |
| Food, Land and Sea | F14 | Develop a Local Nature Recovery Strategy and create and implement a Nature Recovery Network. | Green | In March 2023 DEFRA issued guidance on the preparation of Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS's). Devon County Council (DCC) has been confirmed as the Responsible Authority (RA) for the LNRS. They have a project plan and a project monitoring system in place and have met with the official Supporting Authorities (other Local Authorities in Devon plus the two National Parks and Natural England) to discuss governance arrangements. DCC have consulted over the vision and framework for the LNRS with numerous stakeholders including NGOs, statutory bodies, the marine and farming sectors. As part of this they issued and analysed the results of a public questionnaire, and also one for the conservation sector. A major conference was held in June to discuss aspects of the LNRS and its development. DCC has started to assemble the data necessary for the spatial mapping of the LNRS which will show both areas of existing nature value, and those priority areas for enhancement, restoration and creation. A small working group assists with this. The schedules of and descriptions of priority species and habitats for Devon are being updated, including priority actions to maintain and enhance their status. | This is a complex task which is new to everyone, learnings continue to be made in how best to develop and present the LNRS, and when and how to engage key stakeholders. The issuing of guidance from DEFRA was many months later than originally expected. The guidance notes that DEFRA and Natural England will continue to issue guidance of a number of specific areas but we do not have a timetable for the release of this guidance. This means that work is being carried out in advance of official guidance which risks having to change and adapt later, though hopefully in details rather than fundamentals. | It is hoped that a good draft of the LNRS will be in place by late Spring 2024. The next six months will see very substantive activity. In particular, work will be completed on species and habitats and then this and other information and consultations used to develop a Description of the project area (Devon), to identify Opportunities and start to Prioritise both in relation to spatial and thematic areas. All of this will need to be done with extensive consultation in particular with landowners and managers as well as other key partners. A dialogue will be maintained with RAs in neighboring counties to ensure that cross-border landscapes are dealt with in a consistent manner. Discussions will continue and conclude with designers about how to best present, and maximise the profile and dissemination of the eventual LNRS. | 23/09/2023 |
| Food, Land and Sea | F15 | Design and implement a Trees for Devon initiative. | Green | The Woodland Trust and Devon County Council has been coordinating the development of a draft Devon Tree and Woodland Strategy by a steering group, supported by consultants Eunomia. The strategy will cover Devon county as a whole, including the geographic areas of Torbay and Plymouth. A draft strategy was circulated to stakeholders in August for comment. A Plymouth and South Devon Community Forest is also under development and planned to connect the city to the moor in a mosaic of forest habitats. It is being supported by the England Community Forest, Trees for Climate Programme, supported by Defra through the Nature for Climate Fund. | The Devon Tree and Woodland Strategy will be finalised and can then begin to be endorsed by organisations in Devon. According to the Action Plan, activity in the first three months should include the formation of working groups, the set up of a communication network, establishment of Local Government Strategy Champions and the appointment of a Coordinator to oversee the strategy delivery. A register of projects across the County will also be set up. The Plymouth and South Devon Community Forest will be consulting residents and landowners in coming months. South Hams and West Devon will be developing a tree plan in coming months. | 23/09/2023 | |
| Food, Land and Sea | F18 | Support the development of carbon storage accreditation schemes for a range of carbon rich terrestrial, coastal and marine habitats. | Amber | The Woodland Carbon Code and Peatland Code remain the only officially accredited carbon codes in operation. Organisations in the Devon Climate Emergency partnership have been monitoring and exploring additional carbon storage accreditation schemes in development. The Sustainable Soils Association with FWAG South West have been working on a UK Farm Soil Carbon Code. A new accreditation scheme for "Wilder Carbon" has been developed by Kent Wildlife Trust, however no projects in Devon are currently registered under the scheme. A number of stakeholders in Devon, including the Farm Carbon Toolkit, are in discussions to develop a Small Farm Carbon Offset scheme. Plymouth City Council have reviewed natural capital finance opportunities and vehicles, including a carbon trading fund. | A number of the schemes in development (Eel Grass codes and Saltmarsh codes) are facing challenges including the costs of verification relative to the small areas likely to be accredited in any one place and the high project costs. Additionally, some areas of carbon storage require further scientific research. Plans for piloting an Eel Grass carbon code in the Plymouth Sound has concluded that a business case based solely on carbon is not currently viable. | Given that all these carbon storage accreditation schemes are taking a long time, Devon County Council are looking to work with a couple of Devon farmers to pilot quantifying carbon from land management practices with a view to pursue unaccredited mechanisms in the short term. | 23/09/2023 |
| Food, Land and Sea | F19 | Work with government to design an effective Environmental Land Management Scheme that will ensure food production alongside carbon storage and other public goods. | Green | Ten phase one ELM test and trials took place in Devon, finishing summer 2021. Subsequently, a report was compiled by the Devon Local Nature Partnership for Defra on the key Devon-wide issues and learning points. Currently there are two Landscape Recovery Round 1 schemes running in Devon - East Dartmoor Landscape Recovery Area and Killerton Three Rivers Landscape Recovery, creating naturally functioning rivers in parts of the catchments of the Culm, Clyst and Crannybrook on the National Trust estate. Additionally, the Holnicote River Corridor Project covers part of our county. These all form part of the ELMS third tier funding, and will seek to restore and recreate habitat across areas of up to 5,000ha. Each of the Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and National Parks in the County are alsoinvolved in the Farming in Protected Landscapes schemes which form part of the Agricultural Transition. | Organisations within the Devon Climate Emergency partnership continue to engage with government as required regarding the roll out of ELMS. | 23/09/2023 | |
| Food, Land and Sea | F23 | Develop and implement a South Devon Marine Natural Capital Plan. | Amber | Work on a South Devon Marine Natural Capital Plan has not started. However, natural capital approaches have been taken on a few sites, such as on the Exe. There remains a desire to develop a South Devon Marine Capital Plan when the resources can be secured. Some inquiries have been made by the Devon Maritime Forum to undertake a pilot on the Exe Estuary, however this has not been progressed. The National Marine Park is being established in the Plymouth Sound, a bid has been made to the National Lottery Heritage Fund to support their activities. | Funding remains the barrier to undertake this work. | The Devon Maritme Forum will remain vigilant for funding opportunities. | 23/09/2023 |
