To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 7 September 2023.

In moving the minutes, the Strategic Lead, Waste, Recycling & Street Cleansing Team stated that a response to the written questions that were submitted after the previous meeting that related to ref. ‘ECCNSC/23/46 Street Cleansing Programme and Campaigns Update’ would be provided to the Member.

Decision

To approve the minutes of the Environment and Climate Change Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 7 September 2023 as a correct record.

Report of the Director, Manchester Climate Change Agency

This report introduces the attached Manchester Climate Change Partnership (MCCP, the Partnership) and Manchester Climate Change Agency (MCCA, the Agency) Impact Report covering the period April 2022 to March 2023.

The Impact Report provides a concise overview of the activities delivered by the Partnership and Agency in support of the city’s climate targets and objectives, as set out in the Manchester Climate Change Framework (2020-25) and its 2022 Update.

The Committee considered the report of Director, Manchester Climate Change Agency that presented the Impact Report that provided a concise overview of the activities delivered by the Partnership and Agency in support of the city’s climate targets and objectives, as set out in the Manchester Climate Change Framework (2020-25) and its 2022 Update.

Key points and themes in the report included:

·         Providing an introduction and background;

·         Describing the purpose and structure of the Manchester Climate Change Partnership (MCCP) and Manchester Climate Change Agency (MCCA) Impact Report;

·         Providing an overview of the Manchester Climate Change Partnership;

·         An overview of key activities of the Partnership;

·         Providing an overview of the Manchester Climate Change Agency; and

·         An overview of key activities of the Agency.

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

·         Welcoming the report and the clarification provided regarding the structure and role of the Agency and the Partnership;

·         Recognising the progress made to date and welcoming the case studies provided;

·         Welcoming that Manchester as a city had secured an A list rating from CDP, noting that to earn an A score from CDP, organisations must have shown environmental leadership, disclosing action on climate change, deforestation or water security;

·         Noting recent national government announcements in relation to actions to address climate change and the negative impact this could have on the ambitions to reduce emissions;

·         Would the Greater Manchester Combined Authority Trailblazer arrangements provide any additional powers or levers of influence to address climate change;

·         Membership of the Partnership should not provide an opportunity for organisations to ‘greenwash’, and how were members of the Partnership monitored (Greenwashing was when an organisation spends more time and money on marketing itself as environmentally friendly than on actually minimising its environmental impact.);

·         Was carbon offsetting accepted as an action by Partners (Carbon offset was a way to compensate for your emissions by funding an equivalent carbon dioxide saving elsewhere.);

·         Consideration needed to be given to formally collating feedback from Partners, suggesting a stakeholder survey;

·         The Partnership should engage with local Muslim communities and organisations, noting that Quranic teachings called for the protection of the planet;

·         Noting that the scale of retrofitting of domestic and commercial properties required was a significant challenge for the city and was there a City Challenge on this specific activity;

·         Noting the importance of green skills and training to facilitate and deliver retrofitting at scale;

·         Welcoming the Manchester Climate Change Youth Board and supporting the launch of their manifesto and endorsing their priorities; and

·         Consideration needed to be given as to how the Manchester Climate Change Youth Board could be brought together with local decision makers.  

The Director, Manchester Climate Change Agency welcomed the comments and feedback from the Committee in relation to the clarity that was provided, and she paid tribute to her team for their work. She said that the report would provide a useful document to promote and articulate the work of the Partnership and to encourage new members. She encouraged all Councillors to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 51.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer

This report provides an update and overview of progress made in delivering the Council’s refreshed Climate Change Action Plan during Quarter 2 2023-24 (July – September 2023)

The Committee considered the report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer that provided an update and overview of progress made in delivering the Council’s refreshed CCAP during Quarter2 2 2023-24 (July – September 2023).

Key points and themes in the report included:

·         Providing an introduction and background, noting that all activity described related to the period in which the report was issued, in this instance July to September 2023;

·         An update on CO2 emissions, noting that emissions data related to the previous quarter due to billing and data monitoring being quarterly in arrears (i.e., April to June 2023);

·         Key messages and achievements from Quarter 2, including the completion of the first tranche of new low carbon social housing in Newton Heath, the promotion of Plastic Free July and the Council co-hosting a Youth Sustainability Conference; and

·         Informing that the Quarter 2 progress report would be published in an accessible format on the Council’s website.

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

·         The Committee criticised the lack of leadership from the government on the issue of climate change and called for the continued lobbying of government on this important issue;

·         Noting the issues reported regarding the decarbonisation of the national grid, the Committee noted that a report on’Power Purchase Agreement to Decarbonise the Energy Supply’ was scheduled to be considered at the December meeting;

·         Discussion of behaviour change and measurable KPIs, the Committee noted that a report on ‘Neighbourhood Teams Engagement with Residents’ was listed for consideration at the December meeting; and

·         Noting that emissions from Streetlights had risen by 5% during Q1 2023-24 due to a change in National Government’s emission conversion factors.

The Strategic Lead, Resources and Programmes said that lobbying of Government, the Shadow Secretary of State and the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero on the important issue of support to tackle climate change was undertaken by officers via the Core Cities Network.

The Zero Carbon Manager acknowledged the risk and challenge to the Council’s ambitions presented by the national grid, noting the increased use of natural gas in the production of electricity had increased the carbon intensity of the national electricity system by 7%. She commented that despite national challenges the Council continued to be innovative and remained committed to taking actions to reducing its own emissions across a range of activities and initiatives.

In response to a question from a Member, the Zero Carbon Manager stated that the section that read ‘Outlined in the new Manchester Housing Strategy is a commitment for the Housing Providers to retrofit a third of their total housing stock by 2023’ should be 2032 and this would be corrected.

Decision

To note the report.

Report of the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods)

This report provides an update on progress in delivering waste, recycling, and fly-tip removal. Describing how the activity contributes to the climate change agenda and key priorities for future. Updates are also included for commercial waste, flats above shops and Christmas collection arrangements.

The Committee considered the report of Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods) that provided an update on progress in delivering waste, recycling, and fly-tip removal.

Key points and themes in the report included:

·         Providing an introduction and background, noting that waste disposal and recycling arrangements for Manchester and other Greater Manchester Authorities (except. Wigan) are managed by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and the operating contract for the disposal and recycling facilities, together with Household Waste Recycling Centre’s (HWRCs) was delivered by Suez;

·         Noting the Councils service provider Biffa were responsible for providing scheduled domestic waste and recycling bin collections; and reactive / pro-active (passageways and known hotspots) fly-tip removal services for defined land types;

·         Describing how the activity contributed to the climate change agenda;

·         Information on relevant national strategies;

·         Performance data across a range of activity types;

·         Information on the waste collection contract;

·         Information on passageway collections and cleansing;

·         Flytipping and the work to address this, including target hardening projects;

·         Updates on commercial waste; flats above shops and Christmas collection arrangements; and

·         Providing case studies across a range of activities described.

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

·         Recycling opportunities needed to be promoted and encouraged in apartment blocks, especially the ability to recycle food waste;

·         Was there any update since the report had been written regarding national policy, noting that The Waste Strategy (2018) had been subject to several delays;

·         More information was sought on Keep Britain Tidy (KBT) and Keep Manchester Tidy (KMT) campaigns;

·         Discussing the incidents of flytipping in Manchester and the comparative data provided against other local authorities;

·         Noting that flytipping on non-council owned or no public-land was not removed in a timely manner;

·         The experience of reporting flytipping and frustrations experienced.

The Strategic Lead, Waste, Recycling & Street Cleansing Team stated that there had been no further updates since the report had been produced in relation to national policy and they continued to lobby the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) for updates, and that she shared the Committee’s frustrations. She said that despite this Manchester and Greater Manchester were actively working to eliminate avoidable waste before the 2050 target presented in the Defra Waste Prevention Programme. She further commented that the work of KBT and KMT had been reported to the previous meeting, with officers in attendance. She stated that they were seeking to progress the request to establish a regular update to all members on their activities.

The Strategic Lead, Waste, Recycling & Street Cleansing Team address the discussion on the flytipping statistics that were presented in the report. She said that there had been a spike in incidents post covid, however incidents of flytipping were still unacceptably high. In response to the comparative data provided she said that it was difficult to draw conclusions from this data as there was inconsistency across the authorities in how they collated their data. She advised that work was ongoing across Greater Manchester to consider this.

The Strategic Lead, Waste, Recycling  ...  view the full minutes text for item 53.

Report of the Head of Integrated Commissioning and Procurement, Strategic Lead – Resources and Programmes and Sustainability Project Manager, Zero Carbon

This report provides an update on work being undertaken across the Council on Single Use Plastics (SUPs) as part of the action under Workstream 3 of the Council’s Climate Change Action Plan 2020-25.

The Committee considered the report of Head of Integrated Commissioning and Procurement; Strategic Lead – Resources and Programmes and the Sustainability Project Manager, Zero Carbon that provided an update on work being undertaken across the Council on Single Use Plastics (SUPs) as part of the action under Workstream 3 of the Council’s Climate Change Action Plan 2020-25.

Key points and themes in the report included:

·         Providing a background to this work;

·         updates on actions taken by the Council to deliver its pledge to eradicate the use of avoidable Single Use Plastics by the end of 2024;

·         Information on the national ban on SUPs introduced by Government; and

·         Providing an update on the communications and engagement work undertaken to reduce SUPs use within the Council and with businesses and residents across the city.

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

·         Who had determined what was classed as avoidable or unavoidable plastic and was there a comprehensive list of what fell into which category;

·         Welcoming the joint work on this issue across Greater Manchester;

·         Lamenting the plans to deliver a circular economy had been rolled back by the government;

·         Welcoming the Refill campaign and called for an increase in the number of Refill points to be delivered in public spaces;  

·         What monitoring was undertaken to ensure that all MCC Markets and Parks meet the Council's Single Use Plastic Free Pledge; and

·         Would there be monitoring of business occupying units in the Wythenshawe Civic Centre to ensure that they were complying with the action to reducing single use plastics from across the Council's operational estates.

The Sustainability Project Manager stated that a report on how this work had been developed was reported to the Committee at the meeting of 8 December 2022 and she made reference to the Council working group that had contributed to the Council’s SUPs Action Plan. She stated that a SUP Action Plan that was described within the report would be agreed by the SUP Working Group, and then passed for wider approval later this year.

The Sustainability Project Manager advised that the GM SUP group met quarterly and was an opportunity to share good practice and learning, share resources and explore opportunities to access additional funding. She stated that opportunities would also be explored to link with other core cities on this issue, however Manchester was leading on this issue.

The Sustainability Project Manager said that she would provide information following the meeting regarding the approach adopted by the Market Teams to ensure appropriate monitoring was undertaken to of MCC Markets and Parks, so they met the Council's Single Use Plastic Free Pledge. She added that the Christmas Market was monitored by the Specialist Markets Team.

The Sustainability Project Manager said that the ambition was to work with different landowners to explore all options to extend the refill scheme and all options for maximising opportunities would be considered by the established Task and Finish Group, however currently they had to work within the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 54.

Report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit

This is a monthly report, which includes the recommendations monitor, relevant key decisions, the Committee’s work programme and any items for information.

The report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit which contained key decisions within the Committee’s remit and responses to previous recommendations was submitted for comment. Members were also invited to agree the Committee’s future work programme.

The Chair noted that under consideration of a previous agenda item it had been agreed to consider the Manchester’s 2023 Emissions Report from the Manchester Climate Change Partnership and Agency at the November meeting.

Decision

The Committee notes the report and agrees the work programme, subject to the above comments.