Agenda item

Cabinet Member: Cabinet Member for Sustainable Croydon, Councillor Muhammad Ali

Officer: Interim Corporate Director Sustainable Communities, Regeneration & Economic Recovery Sarah Hayward

Key decision: Yes

(Report to follow)

The Leader of the Council delegated authority to the Cabinet to make the following decisions:

RESOLVED: To

1.    Consider the progress made in the creation of the appended draft Croydon Carbon Neutral Action Plan, the scope and scale of detail contained within the Plan and the associated delivery timetable.

2.    Approve the adoption of the draft Croydon Carbon Neutral Action Plan, appendix 1 to this report and acknowledge that the plan is a ‘live document’ which will be updated on an ongoing basis following reports to Members for Page 3 Agenda Item 4 approval.

3.    Agree to receive an annual report on the Plan and track progress on delivering actions outlined in the proposed Croydon Carbon Neutral Action Plan to achieve its ambition of being carbon neutral by 2030.

4.    Note the steps that the Council has taken, and the approach it intends to take, to identify resources and progress funding streams for the delivery of draft Croydon Carbon Neutral Action Plan in response to the Climate Emergency commission’s recommendations.

5.    Note the proposed allocation of £1.1M from the CIL Local Meaningful Proportion to finance the Sustainable Croydon initiatives split equally over 2022/23 and 2023/24 which is currently being assessed via internal processes.

Cllr Hamida Ali (Chair) invited Cllr Muhammad Ali (Cabinet Member for Sustainable Croydon) to introduce the item.

Cllr Ali reminded colleagues of the history of previous recommendations. He outlined wide-ranging actions taken by the council in working towards mitigation of climate change and informed members of current actions underway.

Members noted work around building and enhanced new spaces, and other policies firmly embedded within the council’s strategy to deliver on the action plan. Cllr Ali highlighted the challenges and acknowledged that delivery was dependent upon working with strategic partners, residents and political leadership. He pointed out key actions being taken towards enabling delivery, which included:

·         Development of a communication, engagement and awareness strategy to raise awareness.

·         Schools, key businesses, Tier 1 contractors and public sector organisations in the Borough have been contacted to ask them for their pledge to work collectively towards achievement on delivery.

·         Joint working politically to bring climate change to the fore.

Members heard about some of the challenges and that GLA, TFL and Central Government needed to enable local powers and provide financial funding to allow the council to progress successfully.

He asked colleagues to consider the recommendations and the allocation of funding for the work involved.

The Chair and Cabinet congratulated Cllr Ali on his achievements in driving the subject forward and Members were invited to comment. They said:

·         What are the key challenges for delivery of the action plan?
- Cllr Ali took the opportunity to acknowledge the work of officers. He referred to the HRA Business Plan which would be the first opportunity to embed the climate change strategy into building work. He said that engagement with residents was also key, through education about small changes that each individual could make.

·         With regards to collective endeavours to achieve these ambitions, what is being done?
- Cllr Ali outlined details of communication with various stakeholders, and work being done to bring residents and particularly young people to forums. He said that political cooperation was important and had written to colleagues to ask for their commitment in embedding the climate change strategy into all the council’s work.

·         In reference to the key priorities, what other actions can be taken to ensure green recovery?
- Cllr Ali responded by referring to his ambitions for Croydon to promote green skills by reaching out to universities to encourage young people with opportunities to achieve carbon neutral goals;

·         With reference to work with young people and schools to plant more trees, could the opportunity to include time capsules be included?
- Cllr Ali agreed that this was an excellent idea. He acknowledged schools as community hubs and said that they would encourage involvement of parents and residents.

·         How will the budget be utilised to support the proposed actions?
- Members heard that plans, subject to approval, were underway to open up opportunities to take forward more actions locally. Cllr Ali said that the Borough was making decisions that showed how the Council attempted to mitigate climate change.

·         Will officers be encouraged to highlight benefits of being more environmentally friendly in reports going forward?
- Cllr Ali acknowledged that deliberate notice was being taken already and the organisation considered the impact of climate change in everything it was doing. He referred to de-carbonisation of heat as key to success and a lot of work needed to be done.

·         With regards to the key aspects of the plan, how can committing to reducing carbon emissions be achieved where some of the schemes that could benefit are not accepted?
- Cllr Ali referred to some of the issues and collection of data that had led to inform decisions.

·         They asked about current pledges and whether targets will be met, given limited resources?
- Cllr Ali referred to heat pump installation and acknowledged work done thus far. Members noted funding available from the Mayor of London and the importance of development of the strategy in order to ensure that the council would be able to request it. Cllr Ali said that he was confident that the target to plant trees would be achieved by working with community organisations – subject to funding. He agreed to bring further information to colleagues when available.

The Leader of the Council delegated authority to the Cabinet to make the following decisions:

Having carefully read and considered the Part A report, and the requirements of the Council’s public sector duty in relation to the issues detailed in the body of the reports, the Cabinet

RESOLVED: To

1.    Consider the progress made in the creation of the appended draft Croydon Carbon Neutral Action Plan, the scope and scale of detail contained within the Plan and the associated delivery timetable.

2.    Approve the adoption of the draft Croydon Carbon Neutral Action Plan, appendix 1 to this report and acknowledge that the plan was a ‘live document’ which would be updated on an ongoing basis following reports to Members for Page 3 Agenda Item 4 approval.

3.    Agree to receive an Annual Report on the Plan and track progress on delivering actions outlined in the proposed Croydon Carbon Neutral Action Plan to achieve its ambition of being carbon neutral by 2030.

4.    Note the steps that the Council had taken, and the approach it intended to take, to identify resources and progress funding streams for the delivery of draft Croydon Carbon Neutral Action Plan in response to the Climate Emergency commission’s recommendations.

5.    Note the proposed allocation of £1.1M from the CIL Local Meaningful Proportion to finance the Sustainable Croydon initiatives split equally over 2022/23 and 2023/24 which was being assessed via internal processes.