Issue - items at meetings - State of the Local Environment Report (SOLE)

Report of the Strategic Director: Place (copy attached).

(1)       That the State of the Local Environment report and, at Appendix 1 to the report, the key environmental issues highlighted by it and the plans in place to tackle these be noted.

172.1    Councillor West introduced the report and welcomed its submission which provided a snap shot of the current state of the local environment within the city.  He wished to congratulate the City Sustainability Partnership on commissioning the review and to thank the Sustainability Team for their work in putting the report together.  It had proved to be a large piece of work and he noted that the City Sustainability Partnership would need to decide on how often to update the information.  He also noted that there were still some gaps in the information that was held and hoped that these could be completed in the future.

172.2    Councillor Mitchell noted that it had taken some time to bring the report forward but stated that she was happy to work with the Administration to take things forward and asked that clear priorities, actions and outcomes be identified.

172.3    Councillor G. Theobald stated that he felt the report was helpful in providing a clear base for the commissioning programme and would therefore be interested in seeing what would come forward as a result.  He had hoped for more up-to-date information to have been included and was disappointed to see that there were only twenty-eight registered electric vehicle users.

172.4    Councillor West noted the comments and stated that he shared Councillor Mitchell’s frustration in regard to identifying outcomes, but noted that there was a need to have the resources and genuine political commitment to the process from all groups.

172.5    Councillor Mitchell stated that once there was clarity in regard to the Administration’s budget proposals the Labour & Co-operative Group would be able put forward their amendments, if any, but it was difficult to do so until the budget was clear.  She noted that there had changes announced recently to the budget and therefore needed time to consider these.

172.6    RESOLVED: That the State of the Local Environment report and, at Appendix 1 to the report, the key environmental issues highlighted by it and the plans in place to tackle these be noted.