Agenda item

The Chair invited Cllr Liz Green to introduce the report.

Cllr Green highlighted that over 90% of councils had now received support as part of the LGA’s Climate Change Sector Support Programme. A working group was now looking at how the programme should develop in 2022. A concept that they were looking to develop was the ‘green thread’, whereby councils would be encouraged to take climate change into account in all their decision making, not just on environmental services. She urged colleagues to look at the resources available on the LGA’s website and to flag these up within their councils. She also asked members to e-mail Grace Abel (Programme Manager, Productivity) with any suggestions or innovative ideas around climate change support and communications.

Cllr Green thanked LGA officers for all their efforts in contributing to the COP 26 climate summit in Glasgow. In particular, their success in getting recognition of the importance of "local and regional governments" and of "the urgent need for multilevel and cooperative action...in addressing and responding to climate change" written into the final Glasgow Climate Pact.

Members’ comments and questions:

·       Grace Abel agreed to make a list of councils who had accessed the LGA’s greenhouse gas accounting toolkit available to any members who were interested in linking up with other councils. In addition, an article had been published in the LGA’s First magazine featuring some councils who had used the toolkit.

·       Grace confirmed that 80% of councils who had declared climate emergencies had now created action plans and these were available on the Climate Emergency UK website.

·       In response to a question on promoting the LGA’s resources, Grace said that this was done through various LGA e-bulletins, First magazine, social media channels, at LGA webinars and through the LGA’s regional teams and political group offices. Members made some suggestions about how this could be expanded, e.g. lunchtime learning sessions, top behaviour change tips and short Youtube videos. It was suggested that the length of the LGA podcast should be reduced to make it more user-friendly.

·       Grace indicated that councils had shown interest in action learning sets and some of the additional DLUHC grant funding would be used to share these more widely.

·       It was suggested that councils’ strong focus on climate change could stretch officer capacity and be to the detriment of other services. Others felt that this was a false dichotomy and that it should be central to everything a council does, not just an add-on. It could also free up resources by, for example, reducing landfill tax and rubbish collection costs. It was suggested that the LGA could run online sessions for climate change officers and Cabinet Members to try and support them in their work and address capacity issues.

·       Councils taking strong action needed to be backed up by behaviour change from residents. The messaging around this should be that it needs to be a partnership between residents and councils and that behaviour change will not only benefit the environment but can also save councils (and council taxpayers) money. Grace said that the LGA had created a step-by-step guide on behaviour change.

·       It was suggested that local government was not seen by central government as an equal partner in the climate change agenda. Cllr Green said that climate change was now included in the LGA’s grant agreement with DLUHC, suggesting they recognised local government’s vital role. The LGA’s Climate Change Task Force was also actively lobbying Government. Grace added that the Government’s net zero strategy had quite a strong local focus.

Decision:

Improvement and Innovation Board:

1)    noted the update on the actions taken under the LGA’s Climate Change Sector Support Programme in 2021/22, including activity at COP26, and endorsed the forthcoming activity.

2)    noted the significantly increased demand for support by councils and that this would need to be factored into future improvement offer planning.