Issue - meetings

The Chair stated that the Committee had received a Deputation from Ben Griffiths for consideration –copy interleaved

Ben Griffiths outlined the deputation as follows –

We welcome the climate emergency declaration, Vision 2030 and its Action Plans with many commitments tied to specific months, it is a shame that some are opaque and some do not include timelines. We have identified 80 commitments due in 2020/21. This includes 31 which have already passed their due date. For all the commitments which already which have passed their new due date we would like to be able to check whether they have been met, or not met, or partially met, or if we must, we can note the Council has not provided information about progress on that commitment.

One of those commitments we know hasn’t been met. There was no action plan for the circular economy produced in December 2020. I am grateful that when I asked about this two months ago, Keith Townsend, Corporate Director admitted a mistake was made. Also Vision 2030 states that a tree budget would be developed by March 2020 but there is still no tree budget. I have asked Mr Townsend who has admitted a mistake was made. It is not surprising or terrible if a few commitments were mistakes or subsequently slip a little, especially during the COVID outbreak. But it is critical the Council is open and accountable and I am grateful that Mr Townsend has acknowledged that any amendments to commitments should be made in an open and transparent way. On 30 December 2020, I asked him how that openness and transparency will be demonstrated but I have not received a reply. The Council was keen to announce the publication of Vision 2030 but I have not seen any public explanation of the current position on the circular economy action plan or the tree budget

We are calling on the Council to be entirely explicit about progress and to make information easily accessible to the community so we can all work together to tackle the climate emergency

1.    The ERSC (Environment and Regeneration Scrutiny Committee) should receive a report at every meeting on progress on all the commitments that are supposed to have been met. This should be in plain English so we can all understand and should provide alternative dates where dates in Vision 30 are not met. Reports should be published before the meetings so Councillors and members of the public can prepare questions

2.    The Council website should make sure that a simple to progress on all the commitments that are supposed to be met is displayed whenever people search for Vision 2030. It is not acceptable to display Vision 2030 without acknowledging where the commitments are not being met. That is a recipe for creating frustration and distrust

3.    A monthly email update should be prepared giving additional information in plain English about progress on all the commitments  that are supposed to have been met. This should go to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 427