Issue - items at meetings - One Planet Council

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

246.1    The Chair introduced the report and noted that it was one of the Green Administration’s priorities i.e. to create a more sustainable city.  He believed that the One Planet approach would do that and the council needed to be an exampler in this respect and it would be a huge achievement for the authority to reach the One Planet Living status, as there were only two authorities in the country at present who had done so.  He noted that in meetings with the local business representatives, they had recognised the importance of this ambition and wanted to support the city in meetings the targets.  He accepted that the targets listed in appendix two were tough and would be difficult for the council but the Administration was committed to becoming the greenest city in the country.

246.2    Councillor J. Kitcat stated that there was a clear and proven framework for this and the council had to lead by example across the city and support other organisations and residents in working towards the goal.

246.3    Councillor Janio noted the report and stated that he believed the achievements listed on paragraph 3.11 would have happened naturally and not as a result of the council seeking one planet status.  He was concerned about the allocation of resources to meet this and questioned how aims such as reducing cars/car journeys in the city over the next 5 years would be achieved.  He did not believe this was sustainable, the city would be vastly different in 5 years time and suggested that the report should be referred back to officers and rewritten.

246.4    Councillor Mitchell stated that there were ambitious targets and suggested that further consideration of the business case needed to take place and the financial implications clarified.  She did not want to see budgetary cutbacks to front-line services in order to meet this expenditure and sought reassurance that necessary resources would be identified to enable this project to be taken forward; given the current economic climate.

246.5    Councillor J. Kitcat stated that this was an in-principal report and officers would be producing an action plan to meet the criteria to achieve the standards and that action plan would come forward for consideration, as choices would need to be made.

246.6    Councillor West stated that this was the first time that a clear goal had been set out in this regard for sometime and the council needed to embrace it and take actions to work towards meeting the standards, which he believed would result in a positive impact and in the long-term enable savings to be made.

246.7    Councillor Peltzer Dunn stated that the shared the aspirations that were identified, but felt that the long shopping list that was set out lacked any financial information or detail on how the standards would be delivered and at what cost and the impact of those achievements.  He asked that a commitment be given to bringing forward a full financial appraisal report to a future meeting.

246.8    The Chair stated that this approach was critical to the city and a full business case would be produced as it would lead to the creation of jobs.  He then put the recommendations to the vote.

246.9    RESOLVED:

(1)   That Cabinet authorises the Strategic Director responsible for Resources  to develop a Sustainability Action Plan, as specified in paragraphs 3.8 and 3.13 of the report, that sets out the work required to seek endorsement for Brighton & Hove City Council as a One Planet Council; and

(2)   That the Strategic Director; Resources, be instructed to submit a follow-up report at the appropriate time and to the relevant council decision-making forum, seeking approval for the Sustainability Action Plan against which the endorsement decision (referred to in recommendation 1 above) will be taken.