Minutes:
Councillor F. Thomson (Executive Member, Housing and Climate Change) gave the following announcement:
Members may have seen the article in today’s local paper, which suggested Welwyn Hatfield’s climate action is the worst in Hertfordshire; and I thought it was important to clarify some of the claims made.
A not-for-profit organisation Climate Emergency UK (CEUK) has scored councils across the country on their Climate Change Action Plans.
CEUK are open on their website that they have not included any actions councils are undertaking to reduce emissions and improve biodiversity; and this was important – they have not scored councils’ performance.
Additionally, the organisation recognised and stated on their website that “Councils may be doing good things which aren’t reflected in their Action Plan. That is why next year we will be assessing all Councils on what they are actually doing”.
Along with officers, I was disappointed with the scoring by CEUK, and especially with the methodology used, which did not accurately reflect the continued progress this council has made since declaring a climate emergency in June 2019; and I welcome their move to score performance.
This Conservative administration remains fully committed to tackling the causes and effects of climate change, and as members will be aware we have a climate change strategy, which can be found on the Council’s website: www.welhat.gov.uk/plans-strategies/climate-change-strategy
We did not underestimate the challenge of tackling climate change, however I am confident we were making important progress in this area, as is evidenced by the number of projects currently underway, and which members of the council’s cross party Climate Change Group were updated on at last week’s Climate Change meeting.
The council has been working with communities, businesses, and other partners on a variety of initiatives to reduce carbon emissions, as well as promoting energy efficiency measures, sustainable construction and behavioural change.
For example, we were taking positive action to address our own carbon footprint and successfully secured a decarbonisation grant of over £2 million to improve the energy efficiency of Campus West, Campus East and Hatfield Swim Centre. The current developments under construction as part of our regeneration of Hatfield Town Centre will meet the government’s Future Homes Standard, which will increase their sustainability and reduce their carbon footprint. We were helping local businesses to reduce their carbon emissions with grants of up to £5,000.
For residents, we had recently expanded our EV (electric vehicle) charging points across Welwyn Hatfield.
We were planting over 2,000 trees to create pocket woodlands in Black Fan; and we have introduced a weekly food waste collection which converts food into electricity and fertiliser. The council is also working with Affinity Water to help tenants reduce their water consumption.
This is just a small selection of the many projects the council was undertaking to reduce carbon emissions, and I was pleased to say that we have seen a reduction of around 507 tonnes of carbon over the past 12 months.
However, there is more to be done, and we will continue to do so.