(a)

the report introduced the Climate Emergency Action Plan for 2022 and the planned specific actions to address climate change issues during 2022; the Climate Emergency Action Plan sets out the strategic direction for the City Council and its partners in relation to climate change for Plymouth; it was a demonstration of the City Council’s commitment to lead the City towards net zero carbon by 2030;

(b)

the Climate Emergency Action Plan 2022 was a dynamic, living document that was prepared annually; the Plan maintained the five key areas for action established by the first plan to ensure that it was fit for purpose as actions were ramped up through the three strategic phases of the journey to zero carbon emissions by 2030;

(c)

initially, the response to the climate emergency required quick and decisive action to reverse the on-going increases in carbon emissions; this period of activity was identified as the ‘emergency response phase’; there were two further stages in the Council’s journey towards net carbon net zero carbon;

(d)

the ‘transitional phase’ would focus on the delivery of more substantial carbon reduction projects, a reshaping of policy and a realignment of resources to meet the 2030 net zero carbon challenge; the final phase, known as the ‘acceleration phase’, would drive a significant shift towards net zero carbon living, working and travelling, ramping up still further decarbonisation actions and initiatives;

(e)

the Climate Emergency Action Plan 2022 was intended to be the last of the current ‘emergency phase’; it outlined over 114 realistic, achievable and deliverable actions the City Council was committed to delivering during 2022, in order to make tangible progress in this period of urgent response; detailed case studies provided by partners in Plymouth Net Zero Partnership have been included in this third Climate Emergency Action plan to illustrate the growing momentum behind climate emergency work across Plymouth.

(f)

sought clarification on the following key points -

?

as to the rationale, why the plan was still in the emergency response phase when the timetable indicated that in 2022, it would be moving into the transitional phase and whether there were any implications arising from this;

?

as to how the Council was incentivising businesses, to support the Action Plan (as it was recognised that the climate was everyone’s responsibility not just the City Council’s);

?

whether the waste structure could be changed to enable the use of glass bottles rather than plastic ones (as in Europe, a small refund was made on glass bottles once they had been returned);

?

how residents could engage with the BRIC Project to help mitigate flooding in the Lipson Vale and St Levan areas, and how the community groups would work;

?

on the support that the Council was providing to small businesses in the City, that were not part of either the Chamber of Commerce or the Federation of Small Businesses;

?

as to whether a list of all electric charging points across the City could be provided;

?

that given the future challenges with ad hock funding for transport, infrastructure, cycling and walking, would there be the same commitment given to improving the infrastructure, in order to negate the need to use cars and promote the use of public transport, cycling and walking (in particular along Royal Parade);

?

on the need to understand the budget implications of the yet funded for established Climate Emergency Investment fund;

(g)

raised -

?

that within the engagement and responsibility section of the Action Plan, six actions could be identified for the general public; whilst partnership working was important, so was the domestic market; this thread did not appear to pull through all areas of the Plan;

?

that the actions in the engagement and responsibility section of the Action Plan, related mainly to schools and raising awareness; it was considered that most people were aware of the climate issues and therefore the actions needed to be based around supporting and facilitating change;

?

whilst engagement work was being undertaken with schools, did this include being part of the City’s Plastic Free City pledge, as it was known that one school was still using single use plastic;

?

whilst school children were important in this process (as creating environmental citizens) they were not the decision makers within households and as such there was a need to include actions for the adult population, in order to support, encourage and facilitate change;

?

that future plans should include more actions for the general public (the Council’s website could be updated to include a ‘support tool’ for the public) and that the actions needed to be more transformative;

?

the lack of contextualised information contained within the Action Plan which was important to highlight where progress had been made and was continuing;

?

the importance of including the case studies, as climate issues were not owned by the City Council but by the City and commended those studies that had been included in the Action Plan;

?

whilst there was no reference to the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service in the Action Plan, the Council was encouraged to work with them, as the Service had its own environmental strategy;

?

the Council’s need to be brave in the transitional phase and lobby Government to get more regulative powers and incentives on a national level, in order to be able to level up on issues such as mobility; 

?

that there needed to be a more consistent narrative across the City with regard to the National Marine Park and the climate agendas, in order to get the message out to those communities that were not engaged.

(h)

information be provided on the BRIC Project to Committee Members, outside of this forum;

(i)

a list of electric charging points in the City is provided outside of this forum to Committee Members;

(j)

a response be provided to all Committee Members regarding the current position on the transport measures for Royal Parade;

(k)

investigative work would be undertaken with the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service regarding the climate work it was undertaking for inclusion in the Council’s future action plans.

(1)

support and endorse the Climate Emergency Action Plan 2022, noting that the Climate Emergency Investment Fund had yet to be funded or established;

(2)

contextualise prior actions within the Climate Emergency Plan in 2022;

(3)

support Plymouth Climate Emergency Action Plan by asks to Government through local MPs and national channels;

(4)

provide the public with a Plymouth Climate Emergency Action Plan website support tool by May 2022.