Attendees
Emily Reed, Devon Climate Emergency
Doug Eltham, Devon County Council
John Amosford, Public Health Devon
Louise Sawyer, Devon and Cornwall Police
Lucinda Brook, Plymouth City Council
Alice Gent, Exeter City Council
Collette Germon, Devon Partnership NHS Trust
William Elliott, Teignbridge District Council
Donna Sibley, North Devon and Torridge District Councils
Jacqui Warren, Torbay Council
Apologies
Clare Jones, Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Alex Mitchell, East Devon District Council
Adam Williams, South Hams and West Devon Councils
Catherine Causley, East Devon District Council
Helen Hicks, University of Exeter
Morag Aiken, South West Water
Jason Ball, Mid Devon District Council
Andy Seaman, University of Exeter
David Rose, South West Water
Matthew Blythe, East Devon District Council
Luke Mitchell, Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Julia Wordley, Devon and Cornwall Police
Tracy Hendren, East Devon District Council
1. Minutes of previous meeting
The minutes were AGREED to be a true record of the discussion.
2. Future Approaches to Partnership Working                                   Â
Emily invited the group to share their thoughts on the format of the Tactical Group meetings and how this might evolve in future.
It was agreed that the meetings were useful to keep up to date with what others are doing.
The group discussed how to better share what they are working on. It was proposed to look for synergies between partner’s work plans and look for opportunities for collaboration on delivery at a future meeting.
Lucinda shared that she would like to explore green leasing but doesn’t currently have capacity to. Louise responded that she has been working on incorporating sustainability requirements into leasing agreements and could share her learnings.
John suggested that having a place to share documents as examples, for instance fleet strategies, would be useful.
It was agreed that more time spent on partners sharing updates would be useful. To allow for this, in future it will be assumed that attendees have read the Progress Report ahead of time, with questions then asked at the meeting.
A face-to-face meeting was also suggested to encourage greater collaboration and exchange.
ACTION: Emily to schedule meeting time for partners to share projects they are working on and have planned, in order to explore opportunities for collaboration.
ACTION: Emily to set up a place for the Tactical Group to share files.
ACTION: Emily to schedule an annual face-to-face meeting of the Tactical Group.
ACTION: Emily to arrange 30 minute catch up meetings with individual partners every six weeks.
3. Project Progress Report
The progress reported appended to these minutes was considered.
John asked if there was any progress with engaging colleagues in Planning to explore further action which could be taken on climate change through Local Plans and supplementary guidance.
Doug reported that he met with George Marshall, the chair of the Devon and Cornwall Planning Officers Group (DCPOG). Subsequently, Doug will attend the DCPOG on the 6th June to discuss how we can support planning officers, considering the opportunities of the Devolution Deal.
John has been discussing how planning can better support public health with the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID).
Donna shared that they have received high quotes for compiling the evidence base for their local plan, which are not affordable. A new evidence base needs to be collated as the evidence used by other authorities to support sustainability ambitions are now out of date so can’t be drawn on. Local viability assessments are also needed.
Jacqui informed that Torbay is also looking at their evidence base and their approach, especially how to include operational emissions. A shared evidence base of need could be useful, with subsequent local viability testing.
John suggested public health intelligence is incorporated into plans. The health intelligence teams can help with this. All to contact John if this would like to be pursued.
ACTION: Doug to report back from the meeting of the Planning Officers Group.
ACTION: Emily to schedule another slot to exchange partner activity on climate adaptation at a future meeting.
4. Energy and Cross Cutting Themes Progress Report
Emily highlighted some actions in the thematic Progress Report.
E1 – The Southwest Net Zero Hub is giving 50% match funding for a consultant to help with stages 1 to 3 of the Catapult energy planning. This covers stakeholder engagement, data gathering and modelling the existing energy system. Devon County Council, Plymouth and Torbay have all approved contributions to make up the remaining funds needed. The hub is going out to tender, aiming to appoint in June and for work to start in July.
E1.6 – North Devon and Torridge have received £100k from the Southwest Net Zero Hub for a green hydrogen road map.
E1.7 – The Southwest Net Zero Hub is offering heat network training. Learnings from Jon Selman at Plymouth’s pilot of an advanced heat network promise to be interesting.
Torbay has secured Levelling-Up funding for Brixham to look at cooling and heating for the fish market. Torbay are also looking at submitting a Climate Action Fund bid concerning youth engagement.
Appendix 1: Project Progress Report
Period: April to May 2024
Partnership Update
General Communications
The newsletter continues to see the strongest growth of all platforms. The open-rate dipped this month to 34% from 45% (10 – 20% is considered good), possibly due to the time of day it was sent. Furthermore, Twitter/X saw a very slight reduction in followers (a loss of 12). Â
Figure 1. DCE Online Following
Eight partners have confirmed £2k contributions towards the Climate Engagement role – these are from seven local authorities and Wales & West.
The secretariat received permission to recruit into the role and for Devon CC to host via the University of Exeter Graduate Business Partnership scheme. The role was advertised in April and interviews took place in early May. The successful candidate has been informed. Partners offering funding have been invoiced.
Partners’ Notable Activity
Activity is recorded centrally on the Taking Action pages of the Devon Climate Emergency website.
Note that due to the absence of the Climate Engagement post we’ve been unable to get all stories on the website. We have been logging those sent to us so that when resource increases we can get them online.
- The UK’s first ‘habitat bank’ has launched in Devon helping to provide opportunities for increases in biodiversity and carbon sequestration.
- The first tree and woodland strategy for Devon has been published, helping safeguard and increase Devon’s tree cover.
- The South West Peatland Partnership is undertaking a £13 million project to restore peat bogs on Dartmoor.
- The Big Fix is taking place across Devon in May to repair a range of items and reduce waste.
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.
Blue = Completed
Red = Not started or activity significantly limited
Amber = Progressing but geography or scope is limited
Green = Generally progressing well
Grey = Not yet assessed
Built Environment
Common Issues
- Finance required to expand geography.
- Finance required for more people resource, particularly spatial planning.
Economy and Resources
Common Issues
- Clearer guidance from government on aspects of waste management needed.
- Finance required for more people resource.
Energy Supply
Common Issues
- Government appetite to address issues e.g. grid capacity, planning for wind.
- Availability of capital finance.
Food, Land and Sea
Common Issues
- Complexity of agendas, e.g. Land Use Framework and Local Nature Recovery Strategy
- Finance required to expand geography and scope
Transport
Common Issues
- Public concern about EVs and reallocating highway space for sustainable modes
- Grid capacity
- Availability of capital finance
Cross-Cutting Themes
Common Issues
- Finance required for more people resource, particularly spatial planning
- Finance required to expand geography
The first phase of publishing the monitoring indicators went live on 3rd April. The University of Exeter is helping to expand the indicator set, which will be added to the web page incrementally.
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.
The most common issue reported is needing to get better information about the extent to which communities are preparing for change. This is being explored with stakeholders.
Update on feedback from the Climate Task Force
The Climate Task Force held its latest quarterly meeting in March and made the following recommendations, which were considered by the Response Group in April.
- Consider understanding what is needed to move each action from amber to green.
Update: No progress this month. Will be looked at following 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.
Update: The Energy Saving Devon partnership is preparing an expression of interest (led by Devon CC) in response to an invitation from the MCS Foundation to pilot a support package for local areas to develop retrofit strategies. A series of four full-day workshops would be delivered in the autumn if Devon is offered the support package.
- 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. Initially the Secretariat will speak with the chair of the DCPOG.
Update: Doug has a meeting scheduled with the chair of the DCPOG in May ahead of its next meeting on June 6th.
Devolution Update
Devon County Council and Torbay Council considered the results of the consultation at the end of April 2024 and prepared a Consultation feedback report. The final proposal for the was submitted to Government on 1 May 2024. This includes a table listing the powers and functions that will be devolved to the CCA: Devon and Torbay Combined County Authority – Final Proposal. See Section 4, page 15 for specific commentary on net-zero, however net-zero is a general thread throughout the document.
The next step is for the Government to draft and approve the regulations (a legal Order) to create the DT CCA. It is expected that this process will be complete in Autumn 2024.
Discussions about how to prioritise the £16m capital spend in 2024/25 are underway, much of which will contribute to net-zero.
Local Net-Zero Fund
The Tactical Group was aware of six bids from the area submitted to the South West Net-Zero Hub’s Local Net-Zero Fund. Projects known to be successful are.
- Devon CC’s project to look at advanced feasibility for solar PV on redundant landfill sites.
- Devon’s CC’s project with Teignbridge looking at further energy efficiency works for leisure centres, street-scale decarbonisation for housing, and decarbonisation of heat and power for an industrial estate.
The status of these bids are not yet known:
- North Devon and Torridge are exploring a hydrogen economy map linking to their clean maritime innovation corridor.
- South Hams and West Devon are considering feasibility for rapid EV charging at specific locations, providing electric boat charging from remote pontoons, and partnering with the community energy sector to progress a wind project.
- Exeter is designing a bid to develop the Green Accord supply-chain greening product.
- Torbay is contemplating bids to expand the pilot of a water source heat pump in Brixham harbour, solar feasibility and housing decarbonisation (talking to Teignbridge about this).
Summary Comments
- Communications activity and collation of partners’ activity against actions in the Carbon Plan has reduced due to resourcing of the secretariat but capacity will increase soon once the new Climate Emergency Support Officer, who is currently being recruited, is in post.
- The success of at least two of the Local Net Zero Fund bids means progress on some of the energy issues facing the county will be accelerated.
