Agenda item

Consideration was given to report of the Head of Community Services.

The Team Manager Natural Environment presented the report which provided an update on how the Council was meeting its statutory duties under the Environment (Wales) Act 2016.  In order to comply with the Act a Biodiversity and Ecosystem Resilience Forward Plan (Appendix 1) was adopted by Council, and the report provided an overview of annual progress against the Plan. 

The Officer said the delivery mechanisms for the Plan was Service Area Action Plans; Environment Champions network and advice from the Natural Environment Team.  Progress in 2019/20 by Service Area against the delivery mechanisms and activity plan for 2020/21 was shown in Appendix 2. 

He confirmed that 4 quarterly Environment Champions meetings had been held, with ten champions in the network representing all Service Areas and Councillors.  Councillor Lee Parsons was the Council’s Member Champion.

In terms of the review of progress, the Forward Plan (2019-22) had not been changed, however, minor amendments have been made to accurately reflect the Service Area structure, recognising that Organisational Development sits within Commercial Services.

A Member asked whether the funding currently in place was sufficient to continue to progress the Plan.

The Officer said he was confident that working collaboratively with our neighbouring Authorities, that funding would continue to be secured.  He was pleased to report that funding had recently been secured through Resilient Gwent to bring in extra resources which enabled recruitment of a Behaviour Change Officer, jointly with Monmouthshire CC, to support the Team, and also a Local Nature Partnership Coordinator was appointed in February and making excellent progress.  A lot of work was being done to tackle problem areas and change the way we do things in order to enhance biodiversity.  He also reported that the Council’s Ecologist had moved on, however, another appointment had been made in-house and was progressing well. 

Another Member referred to the crisp pack recycling initiative and asked whether Officers could look at options to extend this as a way of reducing black bag waste.

The Team Leader Neighbourhood Services said there were a number of outlets within the Borough that took empty crisp packs, and undertook to consider options.

A Member also referred to an ‘eco bricks’ project undertaken at a local primary school and asked that consideration be given to extending this initiative further.

The Team Leader Natural Environment said this was an excellent example of recycling the materials we use every day and putting them to good use, and he would be keen to grow this initiative through the schools programme.

A Member referred to grassed areas within residential areas set aside for biodiversity, and said these areas should be identified more clearly.

In response the Officer reported that funding had been secured through Welsh Government’s Nature Partnership Funding, for the provision of IT and training that would help to map these areas.  He confirmed that grassland areas being used formally for recreational activities etc, would continue to be cut on a regular basis.  However, a more relaxed cutting approach would be taken of other areas as much as possible to allow for biodiversity, but the Officer agreed that people needed to know why this approach was being taken.

Another Member referred to the letter received from Welsh Government’s Chief Planner, and asked whether the Council had refused any planning applications on the grounds of Planning Policy Wales 10.

The Officer said the Council’s Planners would be able to provide a more accurate response.  However, he was not aware of any applications being refused specifically on the grounds of PPW10. 

The Committee AGREED to recommend that the report be accepted and the Annual Report and activity recommended this year be approved, to meet the Section 6 Duty (Option 2).