Devon Climate Emergency Tactical Group minutes of meeting 13th May 2021.
You can download a PDF of the minutes here.
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Attendees
Doug Eltham Devon County Council
Hannah Oliver Devon Climate Emergency
Emily Reed Devon Climate Emergency
Adam Williams South Hams and West Devon Councils
John Amosford Public Health Devon
Harry Barton Devon Wildlife Trust
Jacqui Warren Torbay Council
Jason Ball Mid Devon District Council
William Elliott Teignbridge District Council
Janet Williams Torridge District Council
Louise Sawyer Devon and Cornwall Police
Mark Saunders North Devon District Council
Andy Seaman University of Exeter
Lynda Wookey Exeter City Futures
Andy Bell North Devon UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Foundation
Rob Passmore North Devon UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Foundation
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Apologies
David Rose South West Water
Neil Hamlyn Local Resilience Forum
Sara Gibbs Public Health Devon
John Golding East Devon District Council
Samantha Davies University of Plymouth
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1. Minutes of the Previous Meeting
The minutes were AGREED to be a true record of the discussion.
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2. Devon Environment Investment Platform
Rob Passmore and Andy Bell gave a presentation on the Natural Capital Marketplace under development in the North Devon Biosphere Reserve. It will function as a supermarket of natural capital products in the Biosphere area and elsewhere in Devon available for purchase by any organisation looking to invest in the natural environment for a range of reasons e.g. corporate social responsibility, net-zero commitments etc. It is hoping to launch in May 2022 and by the end of 2022 it is hoped it will have attracted £50m into an investment fund.
ACTION: Partners to get in touch with Rob and Andy with any known natural capital projects that could benefit from investment from the fund.
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3. Community Renewal Fund
The Group discussed the opportunity for the Community Renewal Fund to help implement actions in the Interim Devon Carbon Plan. Timescale is short to get submissions in by the 18th May. Bids looking at low-carbon skills, building retrofit and the natural environment are expected from various partners and community organisations in the county.
The group AGREED that preparing opportunities for next year’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund would be prudent.
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4. Timetable for the Interim and Final Devon Carbon Plans
Doug reported that legal advice has indicated that the process for preparing the Final Devon Carbon Plan could be subject to a judicial review if the extra stage of public consultation on the recommendations from the Devon Climate Assembly is removed in in the interest of speeding up the process.
ACTION: The secretariat will revisit the timetable to look for other opportunities to speed up the process and report back at the next meeting before a further recommendation is made to the Response Group.
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5. Project Progress Report
Doug invited questions on the Progress Report appended to these minutes.
Emily asked for partners to help publicise the Devon Climate Emergency’s presence at the Devon County Show on the weekend of the 3/4th July and for any volunteers to help support the stand.
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6. Net-Zero Date
There was not time at the meeting to discuss the net-zero date, which will be carried forward to the next session.
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Appendix 1 – PROJECT PROGRESS REPORT
Period: April 2021 to May 2021
Status Indicator key:
Red = Serious issues that requires Response Group intervention;
Amber = Minor issue that will initially be managed by the secretariat, but the Response Group should be aware;
Green = No issue.
1. Project Management Update
1.1 General Project Communications – Green
Newsletters continue to be issued on schedule and social media followings are growing.
COP 26
Partnership communications activity to coincide with the G7, the citizens assembly and COP26 continue to be developed. This will involve crowd funding competitions from South Hams, West Devon and Devon County Council. The Devon County Council competition is preparing its assessment criteria at the moment.
County Show
The Devon County Show is expected to proceed on 1/2/3/4 July and the Devon Climate Emergency will be featured on the Devon County Council stand. Hannah and Emily are developing the messages and materials to be shared. Jason Ball from Mid Devon DC is going to be part of the rota.
Youth Engagement
Hannah and Emily are evaluating options for youth engagement to along three strands – 1) raising awareness of the DCE initiative generally, 2) how to engage on issues to be discussed by the Assembly, and 3) providing curriculum support for schools longer term (generally making use of existing resources such as the Let’s Go Zero campaign and UN Climate Teachers initiative).
2 Net-Zero Task Force Update
2.1 Interim Carbon Plan – GREEN
The drafted consultation report summarising the 1321 submissions on the draft Interim Devon Carbon Plan has been shared with the Tactical Group and Response Group for comment. This will be brought to the Response Group for sign-off in June incorporating amendments from partners.
Amendments are now being made to the Interim Devon Carbon Plan by the secretariat. A subsequent draft is expected to be available for partners’ comment during June, dependent upon resources required to arrange the citizens’ assembly.
2.2 Citizens’ Assembly – GREEN
The Assembly Project Team has met twice to plan the detail of the Assembly. The Team comprises representatives from Involve, the Net-Zero Task Force, the Secretariat, Torbay Council and South Hams and West Devon Councils.
Invitations were sent to 14,000 homes across Devon on the 11th May. This has included a selection of adult and children’s residential care homes. Briefing packs have been sent to local authorities’ customer service centres and councillors as well as all Parish Councils to ensure awareness of what is planned.
The Assembly Project Team is in the process of refining the six issues presented in the draft Interim Devon Carbon Plan to determine exactly how these will be deliberated. There will not be enough time to address all of the issues, even if grouped, and so the Team is looking at which of the issues are able to be addressed through other initiatives already running in the county, such as the Ruby Country Farming Futures Forum.
3. Climate Impacts Group Update
The Group, having collated risks from the local analysis and a review of the national risk register, continue to compile information about:
a) The key organizations that are currently involved in mitigating or planning for the impacts arising from each risk
b) Additional stakeholders who have an interest in each risk but who are not directly responsible
c) Existing controls and reporting mechanisms for each risk.
This process will identify the gaps in local preparedness for these risks. Actions required to fill these gaps will form the basis of the Devon, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Climate Adaptation Plan.
It was reported last month that the timetable for preparing the Adaptation Plan has slipped due to resource availability in the partner organisations.
At the April Climate Impacts Group meeting it was agreed to make use of volunteer time from graduates looking for work experience to progress this project, as well as explore opportunities for accessing national funding for time-limited staff resource via the Environment Agency for resilience-focussed aspects of the work. A subsequent meeting has been held between the secretariat and the Environment Agency which is promising: an update on this will be provided at the next meeting.
4. Summary Comments
The Interim Devon Carbon Plan Consultation Report is now with the Tactical Group for comment and the Plan itself is being updated.
The Devon Climate Assembly planning has started and is on schedule.
Potential additional resource for the Climate Impacts Group has been identified and is looking promising.
