Agenda item

To receive an introduction to the Countywide Climate Change Coordinator team, and update on Climate Leadership Gloucestershire themes and projects.

5.1       Afriqnmun Lovejoy and David Sharman gave a brief presentation to introduce this item. The following points were noted:

·         CLG had been in existence since November 2021 and brought together all local authorities in Gloucestershire as well as the NHS, Police and Local Enterprise Partnership to act together on shared climate ambitions and countywide action.

·         The associated Greener Gloucestershire Action Plan aimed to be agreed and published in February 2024.

·         There were 10 CLG themes and associated thematic leads. In line with previous discussions, the areas covered within these themes were broad as no one area was more important than the other and needed equal attention.

·         Being considered at the November meeting were bids for: a Green Skills Coordinator, a green economy supplier platform to stimulate in-county skills provision, development of a Gloucestershire Local Area Energy Plan and a bid writer post as a shared resource across the county.

·         At the meeting in February, there will be a discussion around a communication plan for CLG as the Group recognise the need to increase its visibility locally and nationally.

·         Councillors were welcome to join a meeting of the CLG Engagement sub-group to discuss opportunities to engage the public as previously discussed at today’s meeting, as well as join CLG in an observer capacity.

5.2       In response to a question, it was advised that the Food and Farming theme was more in its infancy compared to the other themes, but it was certainly an intention of that theme to address production and regenerative farming in the county. There was a challenge as to finding the best way to engage with farmers and landowners directly on these issues and the theme leads were exploring utilising existing groups and forums who were already regularly engaged with farmers and landowners, to start those conversations.

5.3.      A member questioned whether the bid writer post previously mentioned would be available to community groups as well. It was advised that funding for this post was only a proposal at this stage, so the detail had not been worked out but if approved, access for community groups was a great idea to consider. It was added that the Community Fund available via CLG was also a good way for groups to access smaller pots of money for local projects.

5.4       Considering the theme around retrofitting, a member asked what support was in place for residents who could not afford to retrofit their own homes. It was advised that this area of the theme was actually more developed which is why there was less focus within CLG’s action plan. Severn Wye Energy Agency Ltd had a Warm and Well project which was aimed at tackling fuel poverty in Gloucestershire and had a very clear and well established offer of support in place. It was added that working with landlords in retrofitting rented property was on CLG’s radar but was a more complex area to address.

5.5       Noting the final slide on member engagement it was suggested that officers could consider producing a ‘member toolkit’ aimed at supporting members to do outreach within their local communities and encourage engagement with CLG themes and workstreams. This could be a hard copy presentation pack or digital materials which would help members feel confident and have enough knowledge available to engage and signpost residents/community leads.