Report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit

This report provides the Committee with the details of a petition entitled ‘Declare a Climate emergency’.

The report also outlines the procedure for the Committee to debate this petition in accordance with the Council’s Petitions Scheme.

The Committee considered the report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit which provided details of a petition to ‘Declare a Climate Emergency’. The report also outlined the procedure for the Committee to debate the petition in accordance with the Council’s Petitions Scheme.

The Committee heard from Mr Marc Hudson, Climate Emergency Manchester. He thanked the Members for having the courage to declare a climate emergency, commenting that climate change was a very significant concern for residents of the city. He made reference to the previous attempts and announcements to tackle climate change and expressed his disappointment that following a Freedom of Information request he had learned that no additional funding had been allocated to support the climate emergency motion.

Mr Hudson called upon all Members to lead by example within their respective wards, to take local action to mitigate climate change. He said this would help raise awareness of the issue and raise morale of residents. He called upon Members to vigorously scrutinise and challenge the actions and plans to reduce carbon emissions. He further suggested that consideration should be given to establishing an additional scrutiny committee to ensure enough time was allocated to effectively scrutinise this area of activity, noting the large remit of the current committee.

The Executive Member for Environment, Planning and Transport thanked Mr Hudson and all of the residents who had signed the petition for their enthusiasm and passion. In direct response to the specific ask of the petition she stated that a climate emergency had been declared; the Tyndall Centre were currently looking at aviation emissions and would present their findings to the Committee and they would be attending the next meeting of the Climate Change Subgroup.

The Executive Member for Environment, Planning and Transport further commented that the Council was now working on the production of a new 5 year Climate Change Action Plan which would replace the 2016-2020 plan and would reflect the establishment of science-based carbon reduction targets for Manchester and the recent Climate Emergency Motion. She advised that the Committee and the Climate Change Subgroup would have the opportunity to monitor this progress.

The Executive Member for Environment, Planning and Transport informed the Committee that the Council was making an additional £300k available to the Corporate Core to support the delivery of this agenda. This included increased support for the Climate Change Agency to support its work across the city. In addition, a number of capital schemes were being funded such as the Civic Quarter Heat Network and the Carbon Reduction Programme aimed at reducing carbon emissions from buildings.  She commented that Manchester was leading the way in regard to reducing its carbon emissions and would continue to seek to influence partners locally, nationally and internationally to respond to the issue of climate change.

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

·         Recognising the importance of this issue and the impact this had on residents; and

·         Recognising that everyone needed to be engaged with and act on this issue.

In reaching their formal decision the Chair informed all those present that the item was being considered within the context of the Council’s Petitions Scheme, and the decision reached was not a reflection of the importance the Committee placed on this issue.

Decision

The Committee note the petition, and recommend that no action is taken.