To consider the Motion on Notice received from Councillor Eburne:

Background

Climate change is recognised as the predominant threat to human security, necessitating a response from local authorities in their community leadership role. Part of that response must come from our work in protecting and enhancing the natural habitat of the District, which supports biodiversity, including the trees which absorb carbon dioxide.  Council has a direct role as a landowner, and an indirect role as the Local Planning Authority.  We risk losing habitat through lack of detailed conditions on planning permissions and sometimes through lack of enforcement of those conditions, such as mitigation schemes.

Motion

Council recognises that the accelerating rate of species extinction is now a biodiversity emergency, an intrinsic element of the crisis of climate change. Species losses over the past century are 100 times higher than pre-human background rates.¹ These impacts will be severely compounded by climate change.²

This Council pledges that:

1.     a task force reviews recognised and potential wildlife corridors in the District, and brings forward proposals to enhance these corridors.

2.     additional arboricultural and bio-diversity advisory resources are made available, as necessary, to:

·       Support the task force

·       Provide more input to support planning officers

·       Strengthen the role of public realm team

·       provide advice to parishes and other community landowners.

3.     additional resources and biodiversity proposals during 19/20 would need to be funded from the Growth and Efficiency Fund and then considered in preparing the budget for future years.

Proposer:  Councillor Rachel Eburne

Seconder: Councillor Daniel Pratt

Notes:

¹ Ceballos G, Ehrlich PR, Rodolfo Dirzo R (2017) Population losses and the sixth mass extinction. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114 (30) E6089-E6096

² IPBES. 2019. Global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services of the Intergovernmental Science- Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. E. S. Brondizio, J. Settele, S. Díaz, and H. T. Ngo (editors). IPBES Secretariat, Bonn, Germany

14b.1     The Chair invited Councillor Eburne to introduce the motion under item 14b.

14b.2     Councillor Eburne said that biodiversity was raised in many areas including Parish Councils, in planning committees and by the general public. The Council had a responsibility to residents, and she explained how biodiversity could be exercised on many levels.  For example, leaving grass uncut in areas of Public Realm, leaving green corridors around new building sites and to consider this in planning and housing applications. This could not be achieved without resource and the motion included details on how this could be achieved. She MOVED the MOTION, as detailed in the Agenda which was SECONDED by Councillor Pratt.

14b.3     Councillor Pratt outlined the reason for his support. The Council recognise that the threat and the level of loss of biodiversity. The new taskforce would advise planning officers in the cooperation of green infrastructure and he described how this may be achieved and the benefits of such improvements.  Members of the public had been forthcoming in supporting the improvement and services. He asked Members to vote for the motion to provide the Council with the support for implementing sustainability going forward and to put Suffolk on the map as UK’s greenest county.

14b.4     Members debated the motion and it was generally agreed that biodiversity was an important part in improving sustainability of the district.  Some Members thought that efforts had already been made by the diverse methods of farming and the production of local food and drink.   Others felt that care had to be exercised when deciding how to manage biodiversity. 

14b.5     Councillor Eburne thanked Members for their support for the Motion and she hoped to see benefits quickly, not just for planning issues but across the district.  An update would be provided to Council in six months’ time.

14b.6     The Motion was put to Members for the vote and was CARRIED UNAMIOULSY.

It was RESOLVED:

That Council recognised that the accelerating rate of species extinction was now a biodiversity emergency, an intrinsic element of the crisis of climate change. Species lost over the past century are 100 times higher than pre-human background rates.¹ These impacts would be severely compounded by climate change.²

Accordingly calls on the Cabinet:

1.     to establish a task force to review recognised and potential wildlife corridors in the District and bring forward proposals to enhance these corridors.

2.     to provide additional arboricultural staffing resources as necessary.

3.     to bring bio-diversity advisory roles back in-house and strengthen as necessary.

These staff would:

Support the biodiversity task force

Provide more input to support planning officers

Strengthen the public realm team.

In addition, they would be available to provide advice to parishes and other community landowners.

Additional staffing and biodiversity proposals would be funded from the Growth and Efficiency Fund, available under spend in the current financial year and considered in preparing the budget for future years.

Notes:

¹ Ceballos G, Ehrlich PR, Rodolfo Dirzo R (2017) Population losses and the sixth mass extinction. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114 (30) E6089-E6096

² IPBES. 2019. Global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services of the Intergovernmental Science- Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. E. S. Brondizio, J. Settele, S. Díaz, and H. T. Ngo (editors). IPBES Secretariat, Bonn, Germany