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Councillor Goacher
attended the meeting and addressed the Panel and advised that he had been
approached by market traders on Culver Street who had sought his assistance
with providing reusable cotton bags, as they were very keen to stop the current
use of plastic bags. He noted that large high street retailers in the area were
now providing cotton bags to their customers but for the street traders this
was not economically viable without assistance. It was suggested that possibly
Members could assist via their locality budgets, with the Council and the
traders themselves also contributing. Councillor Goacher stated that he had
been contacted by a local resident who had requested assistance with recycling
plastic bags, as these were not accepted by the Council’s recycling service.
Councillor Julie
Young noted that in the past Colchester Borough Council (the Council) had moved
away from the use of plastic bags toward paper bags for its own services, and
she further noted that the food bank had been requesting plastic bags, and it
may be possible for bags to be collected and then passed on.
Councillor Cory
supported the idea, and suggested that the Panel may wish to make a
recommendation to Cabinet that this be explored further. He noted that the
Council had been in receipt of funding via the Reopening High Street Safely
Fund, and wondered whether this funding could assist, together with exploring
the idea of matched funding supported by Colchester’s Business Improvement
District (BID).
Councillor King also
supported the proposal and recommended that Officers look at the options that
may be available, potentially including considering the use of fully
compostable biodegradable plastic bags. He did, however, urge caution in
relation to the Council being seen to favour one small business over another,
and suggested that the BID be the first point of consultation.
Mandy Jones,
Assistant Director – Place and Client Services noted the suggestions made and
referred to the Council’s desire to make climate change and sustainability part
of all projects in the future, which could potentially be included within the
scope of the funding obtained. She explained that the different financial
options would need to be considered carefully before deciding on any action.
The Panel had
received a written representation from Mr Dave Smith, which was read out by
Matthew Evans, Democratic Services Officer. Mr Smith expressed his concern
about the continued flooding that was experienced at the Hythe, and the
significant disruption that this caused to visitors to the area, as well as
residents and local business. He noted that recently a doctor on call had been
forced to abandon her car which had become stranded in floodwater, and he urged
the Panel to consider what solutions may be available.
Councillor Scordis
explained that a Hythe task force had been set up with the local Member of
Parliament and other partner agencies with a view to seeking a solution to the
problems, which were a major source of disruption in the area. He noted that a
solution to the problem would likely take a long time to find, but expressed hope
in the fact that interested partner agencies were now working together to
address the issue.
Councillor Jowers,
commented that in his view the issues in the area had started when the Council
had stopped dredging the river twenty years ago, allowing silt to build up
which contributed to the problem. He explained that he was a member of the
Regional Flood Defence Body for East Anglia, an resolved to push this matter as
a matter of urgency, noting the importance of the road that was affected which
operated as Colchester’s south circular road. He considered that the
responsibility lay with Anglia Water and the Environment Agency to address the
issues, and he was pleased to note that the Council was applying pressure to
get remedial works carried out.
Rory Doyle,
Assistant Director – Environment, advised the Panel that the issue required a
multi-agency response, and he confirmed that a task force had been set up recently
to look at the issues. He advised that work had been undertaken recently by
Anglia Water, in liaison with the Council’s own engineers. He understood that
the work carried out had been successful to a degree, and that at a spring high
tide today, the same level of flooding had not been observed, leading to less
disruption. With regard to work at Distillery Pond, Rory confirmed that Essex
County Council had undertaken a significant amount of work in this area looking
at surface water and draining from the pond. He confirmed that the flooding was
a complex issue and Haven Road itself was below the high tide line and so would
always be subject to a degree of risk in that area leading to a need to
mitigate the effects of such flooding.
Cyril Liddy
addressed the Panel and noted the poor state of the River Colne, which, in his
view had started deteriorating following the Colchester Borough Council Act
2001 which had allowed the Council to close the harbour to commercial shipping.
He requested that the Panel give consideration to acquiring the middle part of
Ferry Marsh which was a nature reserve and prone to serious flooding due to the
silting up of a poorly constructed sluice. He noted that during flooding, the
Wivenhoe Trail became almost impassable, and mosquitos bred on the site,
constituting a potential public health risk, and he considered that there was a
risk that flood water could erode the nearby railway embankment. He urged the
Council to take its custodianship of the river seriously and not abdicate this
responsibility to other agencies that managed rivers. He advised that the
Council should act decisively to acquire the middle part of Ferry Marsh at no
cost as per the section 106 agreement reached with the developers, and to apply
any unspent funds to constructing a properly functioning sluice.
Councillor Cory
confirmed that he had recently been in correspondence with Officers who had
been working to bring any land that was in the Crown Estate into Colchester
Borough Council ownership to allow the sluice to be reached more easily to
assist in reaching a sustainable solution. He noted that although it used to be
possible to walk through the centre of the marsh, it should now be accepted
that the area had changed and this would no longer be possible, however, he
completely supported preserving the Wivenhoe Trail and confirmed that he had
been in communication with a local sailing club with a view to attempting to
clean the sluice from the river. He further advised the Panel that the
Environment Agency had recently confirmed that following budget cuts they were
no longer able to support the maintenance of waterways to the extent that they
would like.
Councillor Jowers
supported the views of Councillor Cory and considered that the marsh was
environmentally useful and noted that in the past the owner of the lease of the
river had been resistant to working with the Council, an issue which he now
believed had been resolved. The management of the area was a massive
undertaking, and there was a need to balance management of the land with
financial constraints to make the area environmentally sustainable and also
human friendly. He noted the beauty of the river, and considered that more use
could be made of it, possibly by increasing access points for members of the
public. He offered his support for Mt Liddy’s suggestion, but considered that a
much wider view needed to be taken of the area.
Councillor King supported
the views of Councillor Jowers, and noted that some consideration had been
given to how best to approach the issue, and it had been advised that the issue
was best dealt with via the Council’s Policy Panel. He did request that future
updates on the emerging stewardship of the river be brought back to this Panel
as events unfolded and the opportunities afforded by this area were explored.
Councillor Scordis
expressed his reservations about referring the issue to Policy Panel, noting
that this area had been considered by that Panel in the past and was worried
that no progress would be made. He considered that significant parts of the
work were suitable for this Panel and was therefore not in favour of passing
all the matter to Policy Panel, considering that environmental aspects could be
considered by the Environment and Sustainability Panel, with the Policy Panel
focussing on potential commercial elements of any scheme. Speaking as a Member
of the Policy Panel, Councillor Jowers agreed with this proposal and suggested
that this Panel work up a scheme considering the environmental impacts and associated
costs, and refer this scheme to Policy Panel to insist that it then be referred
on to Cabinet to consider. He considered that grants would be available to
support any work that was necessary.
Councillor Young supported
the suggestion that this Panel consider the environmental elements of a river
management scheme, with the potential commercial elements of the scheme being
referred to Policy Panel. Councillor Jowers suggested that the Chair of the
Policy Panel be consulted to seek his views on where the division should lie.
Councillor King
advised the Panel that Essex County Council had recently introduced a walking
strategy which included a concentration on nature walks and the undiscovered
coastline of Essex, and suggested that it may be possible to take advantage of
this.
Rory Doyle
acknowledged the wide range of opportunities that the river provided in respect
of its contribution to the regeneration of the town, economic prosperity and
health and wellbeing, in addition to its environmental qualities, and he suggested
that it was difficult to separate out each individual element. The Panel were
advised that the work programme proposed was quite full, whereas there was
space on the Policy Panel work programme where any report dealing with the
river would receive the necessary level of scrutiny. He confirmed that the
Council’s Countryside Team had been liaising with developers in respect of the
marsh and sluice gate.
Cyril Liddy suggested
that the Council’s legal department should speak to the Treasury Solicitor to
make enquiries as to the cost of acquiring Ferry Marsh as he considered this
was the appropriate action to be taken, a stance that was supported by
Councillor Cory.
Councillor Jowers
suggested that the Policy Panel be asked to consider the management of the
river, but that the Policy Panel be asked to refer the environmental aspects of
the management of the river to be referred back to this Panel, prior to a
referral being made to Cabinet.
RESOLVED: that
Officers ask that Leadership Board request that an agenda item on the
management of the River Colne be put forward to the Policy Panel.
The Panel had received a
written representation from Andrew Wilkinson representing En-form
and Eco Colchester, which was read out by Matthew Evans, Democratic
Services Officer. Mr Wilkinson referred to the previous meeting of the Panel,
and enquired when the development document on sustainability and carbon
reduction that had been suggested for the Local Plan be produced. He further
enquired what the natural asset list was, and where this could be located, and
he suggested that Local Plan needed to reflect wild areas and open space as
well as housing and development as well as local farmland.
Mandy Jones advised the Panel
that the document referred to by Mr Wilkinson was the supplementary planning
document (SPD) which would support the Local Plan in terms of environment and
sustainability. The SPD needed to be linked with the emerging Local Plan and
work on this was expected to take place later on in the year following adoption
of the Local Plan and the completion of this SPD was anticipated by autumn
2022. She advised the Panel that the Local Plan did take account of areas of
the natural environment which required protection, as well as housing
development. The Panel were advised that there was no specific natural asset
list, but rather several ways that natural assets were recorded both locally
and nationally and could be accessed on a variety of websites, as well as in
the evidence base for the Local Plan. Protected species were also routinely
surveyed, and a variety of environmental suitability checks were made in respect
of each major planning application.
Grace Darke, representing En-form
and Eco Colchester attended the meeting and addressed the Panel. She expressed
concern that until recently no training had been offered to Councillors in
relation to environmental matters, which was surprising considering that the
Council had declared a climate emergency. She acknowledged that training had
recently been offered, and sought confirmation on the level of attendance for
the session. She further called for additional training for all Councillors and
staff on environmental issues to be made compulsory in order to raise awareness
and understanding of the issues. She believed that the lack of training and
understanding was causing confusion, and would welcome the opportunity to
attend any future training sessions in order that feedback could be provide. Concern
was raised on how the Council’s environmental policies and projects were being
communicated to Councillors and residents, and the ‘No Mow’ policy was given as
an example of this. The challenge of communicating the Council’s policies to
local residents was acknowledged, however, it was suggested that more could be
done to inform Council staff, Councillors and local residents of these.
Councillor Young noted that a number of Councillors did
communicate with En-Form on a variety of social media channels, including
debates with local residents on Facebook community pages, however, she
acknowledged that future training was important to assist Councillors with
their role as community leaders to champion the policies adopted by the
Council. The training that had been provided had taken place soon after the
local elections had taken place, and it was acknowledged that not all
Councillors had been able to attend due to other commitments.
Councillor Cory acknowledged the work that had been
undertaken by the Council over the preceding years, but conceded that there was
still work to be done and improvements in the communication of Council projects
could be made. It was noted that training on environmental issues was included
for the first time in the new Member induction programme, but it was suggested
that this should now be offered as stand alone training, possibly supported by
additional briefings as necessary to ensure that all Councillors understood
current policy issues, potentially attended by Eco Colchester and En-Form who
Councillor Cory was keen to work with.
Councillor King acknowledged the progress that had been
made by the Council and although he conceded that there was still some way to
go, he did not feel that compulsory training was the answer, preferring that Councillors
and Officers were drawn in to support the work of the Council voluntarily
through the offering of smaller, more digestible training sessions. It was
suggested that there may be scope for mandatory training on the climate
challenge as part of the new Member induction process as this was key to the environmental
work of the Council, and it was noted that very good attendance had been
obtained over the previous year in relation to financial and pandemic
briefings. Councillor King confirmed that he would raise this issue as a member
of the Member Development Group to ensure that training may be incorporated in
the future, stating that environmental issues were widely supported by the
Council as a whole, regardless of individual politics.
Councillor Jowers confirmed that he was a member of the
Climate Change Commission of Essex County Council, and hoped that the work of
this Panel would compliment that which was being aimed for at County level. He
supported the comments of other Councillors with regard to training and said
that in his opinion training should not be compulsory, and while it may be
productive to include training on environmental issues as part of the induction
process, care had to be taken that Members were not overloaded.
Councillor Hazell also did not feel that training should be
compulsory, and made the point that if any Councillors were unable to attend a
training or briefing session then they were presented with the relevant training
documents to enable them to peruse these and undertake the training in their
own time, something which she felt should continue.
Mandy Jones, Assistant
Director – Place and Client Services confirmed that the recent Climate Change
and Sustainability induction session had been aimed at new Members, and agreed
that future engagement with a much wider audience was important in the future. To
this end, a sub-group of the One Colchester group had been set up to consider different
engagement methods and future engagement was planned with the University of
Essex and Essex County Council.
Maggie Ibrahim, Sustainability
and Climate Change Manager, welcomed the offer that had been made by En-Form
and Eco Colchester to provide input on future training, and confirmed that of
key importance was that Councillors understood the link between sustainability
and carbon reduction for any decisions that were taken. It was confirmed that
all the training materials and documentation from the recent Climate Change and
Sustainability session was available online, and that attendance at this
training had encompassed approximately half of all Councillors. The Panel was
advised that staff and Councillors were passionate about the Council’s
strategies and projects, and work was ongoing to support the behaviour change
necessary to deliver the Council’s climate change goals. The Council had
developed a strategy which was supported by more than fifty action plans, and a
community consultation on the strategic themes was planned with the aim of
deepening engagement through a wide variety of partners. Over the coming
months, it was intended that the Council’s environmental policies would be more
conspicuously promoted, supported by new designs and branding. The recent
training had ended with a request to Councillors to indicate areas that they
felt they needed more information, be it fleet management, biodiversity or
energy management to enable targeted follow up sessions, which were more
successfully delivered to willing participants.
Grace Darke welcomed the
comments that had been made, and was encouraged by the stance that the Council
was taking. She noted that Eco Colchester and En-Form operated at a very local
level and had experienced the confusion that was sometimes felt by local
residents in relation to environment issues, and she welcomed the progress that
she felt would be made by the Council in the near future. She reiterated that
En-Form and Eco Colchester would be keen to provide any assistance that they
could to Officers in the future.