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LGA Climate Action Plan Roundtable: September 2022

In this roundtable the LGA hosted climate change teams from a range of local authorities, supporting councils with the development of climate action plans, by sharing learning through facilitated peer support.

Roundtables provide a critical opportunity for councils to share learning through facilitated peer support. They create a space to share and expand on the challenges they are currently facing and the best practice that could help to overcome these challenges.

This roundtable saw the LGA utilising this technique, by hosting climate change teams from a range of local authorities. It aimed to support councils with the creation and development of climate action plans, by sharing learning through facilitated peer support. We also heard from two inspiring speakers, whose notes are outlined beneath.

 

Cara Jenkinson, Cities Manager, Ashden - “Top tips for producing an impactful Climate Action Plan”

Ashden supports proven climate innovation in the UK and developing countries. They ensure that on the ground solutions are utilised, driving the systems changes our planet needs. For the roundtable they produced a “Top tips for producing an impactful Climate Action Plan” presentation, to support attending councils thinking when developing a action plan.

Tried and tested solutions

There are currently many examples of best practice in action across the UK and beyond that can support councils to reach their climate goals. Taking time to review these practices and recognising which will best meet your needs is crucial to developing an effective Climate Action Plan. Examples of best practice and supporting tools can be found on Ashden's website and councils can access further support through their three regional support hubs.

Some examples of best practice include:

Create a vision

  • Ensure that you have a clear timeline that enables you to meet your targets, this should include targets for 2030, 2040, 2050.
  • Include clear governance, outlining who is responsible for each element of the action plan.
  • Put in place clear scrutiny and monitoring to ensure that targets are being met.
  • Work with other departments across the council so that the action plan fits with other strategies and the different tiers of local government.

The scope of Climate Action Plans needs to be wide ranging and utilise all the opportunities that are available to councils, both internally and externally. This should include clear focuses on carbon, ecology, adaptation and resources. Utilising partnerships is vital and these should include with business, the NHS, community groups, the finance sector, schools and Further Education colleges.

Diversity and inclusion

To make sure that Climate Action Plans support everyone, we must recognise who climate action will impact most. There should be a focus on how best to use resources to benefit vulnerable communities. This includes addressing accessibility and connectivity issues that prevent people from accessing key services. We must also reach out and engage with under-represented groups, ensuring that they are included throughout our planning and delivery. All plans must also recognise the intergenerational inequity of climate change impacts and use community engagement to ensure all communities are able to take part in the Climate Action Planning process.

Questions and Answers

Do you have any advice for reporting against Action Plans, especially for residents, who are keen to see what is being delivered?

Reporting on delivery and outputs can be difficult, especially what is happening beyond the council’s direct control/delivery. With the above in mind, councils should in the first instance focus on what is in their gift, such as their estates. This will ensure that they are able to clearly report on outputs and impact, before then focusing on reporting outside the council.

An example of effective resident engagement is Enfield Council's Climate action report, which includes an accompanying summary report for residents. This approach enables the community to quickly understand what climate action the council has delivered and plans to deliver, helping to build community’s support.

Councils asked if there were any councils that have effectively delivered net zero/passivhaus planning.

Exeter and York City Councils were referenced for delivering excellent work on Passivhaus research and building.

Are there any examples of councils that have been able to get support for construction programmes/procurement that goes above and beyond minimum building standards?

One of the attending councils had produced a climate supplementary planning document, which highlighted opportunities to deliver beyond minimum building standards. However, they were keen to point out that this was just a supplementary document, as they could not turn this into policies and implement it in procurement, due to the risk of planning appeal successes. The document will be an appendix in all procurement tenders to recognise the opportunities to deliver beyond minimum standards. This will enable developers to utilise the document when writing tenders, to voluntarily deliver infrastructure and housing above the building regulations and planning currently required.

All councils in attendance agreed that the future homes standards in 2025 will have some positive impacts on the construction sector. However, all the councils in attendance were keen to see these changes and standards go further.

Breakout discussion 1 – your progress so far

What has one key challenge been in developing/implementing your climate action plan? How have you started to overcome or mitigate it?

Understanding what is happening in your region, in other councils, districts, boroughs, LEPs, and combined authorities can be challenging and time consuming. This is especially due to the breadth of the work that falls under climate change, the number of programmes and projects that are being delivered and the wide range of sectors that need to be engaged.

Getting departments from across local government to commit to one management system for climate change can be challenging. It is a long process, which can require a department-by-department approach to ensure you obtain effective buy in and support from each department.

Climate change is constantly changing and evolving, requiring us to adjust the work we are doing as we learn more about what is required. This creates an issue when developing and delivering action plans, as these will also need to change and evolve. To counter this issue, some councils have developed extremely detailed Action Plans, with the view that actions and outputs can be taken out as the plan is reviewed. However, from a delivery perspective this can make it very difficult to decide upon an effective and efficient work programme.

What has your top climate change action plan achievement been to date? What is your top tip for making it a success for others as well?

One council delivered carbon literacy training to staff during lunch hours using an online platform.  By delivering the training on an easily accessible platform and at a time most staff were free to attend, it enabled them to get 240 people within the organisation to complete the training, including a good level of senior management.

One of the councils has started to use themes, outcomes, and measures (TOMs) in their procurement process. This has enabled the climate change team to discuss with other departments how they could build climate change opportunities into their tenders when developing each of the three strands. It has also helped the team to develop their relationships with other departments, leading to further work around the role of climate change in future tenders.

Sustainability Officer, Watford Borough Council

Watford Borough Council declared a climate emergency in June 2019, leading to their climate strategy and phase one action plan being approved by the council’s members in 2020. Since then, they have also declared an ecological emergency in January 2021. The climate team are currently developing phase two of their action plan, with the aim of this being approved in 2023.

In phase one of the strategy, they focused on:

  • Leading by example - creating a comprehensive action plan, establishing a cross service sustainability board, building sustainability into their procurement process, and developing e-learning on sustainability.
  • Reducing energy use and emissions - focused on what is in Watford Borough Council’s gift, including home energy retrofit schemes, town hall decarbonisation and reviewing community wide CO2 emissions.
  • Improving transport and air quality - delivering a pay per minute bike scheme, council electric cars and e-car club, updating the sustainability transport strategy, implementing EV charging infrastructure programmes, and promoting anti-idling campaigns.
  • Reducing waste - targeting 70 per cent of household waste being either recycled, composted, or sent to an anaerobic digestion plant. This is supported by weekly food collection, a paperless strategy and rewarding businesses who reduce single use plastics.
  • Delivering nature restoration - using their declaration of an ecological emergency to develop and deliver initiatives that support restoration, including the river Colne project, tree planting, future projects such as rewilding parts of council land and using green spaces to increase climate resilience and biodiversity.
  • Utilising people power – using their public sustainability forum to engage the community in supporting the council’s planning and sustainability public engagement programme.

Two years into the three-year strategy, the key things they have learnt that they would recommend other councils consider are:

  • How to develop plans and a team that are adaptable and flexible.
  • Creating priorities that have a clear direction.
  • Consider how to integrate work into current programmes and policies, as it becomes increasingly difficult to try and adjust programmes and policies as they move further into their delivery phase.
  • Deciding on how you will review, and report progress is vital to ensure you have an achievable plan.

Breakout discussion 2 – what does the future have in store?

How can we ensure that collaboration with local partners is integral to the climate action plan in order to reach net zero and adaptation goals, together?

Climate teams have found it challenging to effectively engage with all potential local partners. There have been successes, such as working with schools and local wildlife trusts. However, most had found it challenging to engage with local businesses, particularly Small and Medium Enterprise’s, who struggle to find adequate time.

Some of the sectors that councils highlighted as being receptive to collaboration were agriculture, transport, tourism, and independent shops. The key challenge these organisations face is understanding the impact the work they are currently undertaking has on the climate. The main issue they face is that even though they are keen to embrace climate change, their business models and processes can be difficult and expensive to adjust.

Being able to evidence the impact of current work will be vital in getting more partners to engage with councils. Examples of this in action are councils using photographic evidence to show the achievements of their partners and the use of Greenhouse Gas Accounting tools to capture impact data. All agreed that recognising partners successes will be vital in getting long term commitment to climate change, as well as leading to other organisations choosing to work with councils.

Funding will also play a key part in getting partners to join, as some businesses, especially Small and Medium Enterprises do not have the finances to consider their net zero and adaptation needs. Examples of this in action discussed at the roundtable included; partnering with a local climate charity to fund £25,000 worth of engagement work with local businesses. Creating a platform for SMEs to share best practice; working with big businesses to share advice with smaller businesses; developing work with big businesses and universities aimed at developing self-sufficient projects.

There is also a need to develop forums and activities that enable councils to reach out to businesses and understand what they are considering and what they would require to develop a partnership. The types of engagement that councils had used included:

  • Surveying businesses
  • Presenting to the local Chambers of Commerce
  • Presenting to the local groups/networks
  • Running events to bring partnerships on board
  • Creating effective spaces for informal gatherings

Shared Best Practice

Over the course of the roundtable many best practices were shared between attendees and presenters and can be accessed using the below links: