21 QUESTIONS BY COUNCILLORS IN ACCORDANCE WITH COUNCIL PROCEDURE RULES PDF 77 KB
The Chairman of the Council, the Chairmen of Committees and Sub-Committees and Portfolio Holders to answer any questions on any matters in relation to which the Council has powers or duties or which affect the District of which due notice has been given in accordance with Council Procedure Rule No. 13.
Minutes:
Question 1 - Councillor Hinton to Councillor Malvisi, Cabinet
Member for the Environment.
Firstly: Based on the Secretary of State decision on the matter of Swaledale Council v Quinn Estates Ltd and Mulberry Estates (Sittingborne) Ltd concerning the conditions and matters of their planning decision concerning in particular “Climate Change”
A.) What is the relevance of this Council’s decision to declare a “Climate Emergency” in respect of any meaningful actions that we can take to help achieve any result?
B.) How can the Cabinet’s decision to spend thousands of pounds on an audit of the trees in the District have any relevance?
Response:
A) The Climate Emergency that the world faces is so immense, and thoroughly entwined in every decision we make as human beings that it will not be solved solely by planning legislation. It will be tackled by us, you and I, our communities, our businesses all taking responsibility for the emissions we create and doing what we can to reduce that. Of course, our emerging Joint Local Plan pushes us further towards this goal, and this Council will continue to push further where we can. Just like we are in other areas such as:
- moving our fleet to Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil
- decarbonising our leisure centre buildings,
- piloting a water filtration system at Kingfisher Leisure Centre to
reduce water use and reduce energy consumption
- building solar car port
- moving to green energy tariffs
- investing in energy efficiency initiatives for our council homes
- creating an energy prospectus for Suffolk
- focusing on sustainable travel
…to name but a few!
B) This Council recognises the increasing pace with which natural habitat is being lost and that it too, has now become a biodiversity emergency. A biodiversity Task Force was established in July 2020. Whilst it would have been easy for the group to consider many ambitions, it was acknowledged by the Task Force that their focus should be on achievable actions that they have control or influence over. These centre on understanding and enhancing wildlife corridors and enhancing the Councils’ arboricultural and environmental resources and expertise. Trees provide a multitude of benefits to people. Whilst some of the social and aesthetic benefits can be difficult to measure, there are tools which help quantify and value some of the environmental benefits provided by trees, including carbon storage, carbon sequestration, stormwater reduction, and pollution removal. We have limited data on the numbers of trees on Babergh land (current estimate 10,000 trees) and even less information about the trees that cover the rest of the district.
Our tree officers are managing an incredible natural capital asset, but until now we have had no way of quantifying what the combined asset is worth in terms of financial value or what the trees are providing us as ecosystem services. The tree canopy survey work will give us a complete picture and also makes the information easily available for all to see and understand.
Supplementary question from Councillor ... view the full minutes text for item 21