Venue: Remotely via Microsoft Teams
Contact: Scrutiny Officer - 01792 637314 / 07980 757691
No. | Item |
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Disclosure of Personal and Prejudicial Interests Minutes: None |
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Prohibition of Whipped Votes and Declaration of Party Whips Minutes: None |
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Minutes of Previous Meeting(s) PDF 798 KB To receive the minutes of the previous meeting(s) and agree as an accurate record. Minutes: The minutes of the Natural Environment Scrutiny Performance
Panel meeting, held on 12 January 2022, were agreed as an accurate record. |
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Public Question Time Questions must be submitted in writing, no later than noon on the working day prior to the meeting. Questions must relate to items on the agenda. Questions will be dealt with in a 10-minute period. Minutes: There were no public questions. |
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Nature Conservation Team - Project Updates PDF 112 KB Invited to attend: Cllr Andrea Lewis - Cabinet Member for Climate Change
and Service Transformation Paul Meller – Natural Environment Manager Deborah Hill – Nature Conservation Team Leader Additional documents: Minutes: The Panel received an update on the main
project work currently identified as actions for delivery by the Council’s
Nature Conservation Team under the Corporate Plan Natural Resources and
Biodiversity Objective and also arising out of the Natural Environment Scrutiny
Inquiry Recommendations. An Action Log was attached to the report provided and
this highlighted the relevant progress made since last reported to Panel in
March 2021. The following issues were raised by the Panel
in relation to individual actions within the log: Action 2 - Prepare Corporate Section 6
Biodiversity Duty Action Plan Panel recognised that this is a major piece
of work and were pleased to hear the action plan to 2023 is now being
developed. They asked about Councillor involvement in the development of this
plan and were informed that this would be most welcome and would follow as part
of the Councillor training in the new Council term. Action 3 - Preparation of Swansea Local
Nature Recovery Action Plan The Panel heard that this has been delayed
due not having a full-time biodiversity officer, now this person is in post
things are progressing and an action plan will be developed by the end of the
year. Action 5 - Prepare a County wide GI Strategy The Strategy has been on hold due to the
ability to consult with the public being critical to developing this plan. Work has begun again and public engagement
should start in the summer. Under this item the Panel raised the issue of
monitoring of compliance and the enforcement of green infrastructure aspects of
planning applications. The Panel felt
that this is currently insufficient and how it can be improved needs to be
considered. The Panel heard that ideally
legislation would change to enable the Council to be informed when
infrastructure projects start so they are able to start monitoring, rather than
finding out after the project has started. The Panel recognised that monitoring
compliance and enforcement is resource intensive. The Panel would like Cabinet to consider how
this can be solved, one suggestion included projects requiring green
infrastructure sign off at the end of a project to ensure developers have
satisfied the requirements. The Panel
would like this to be scheduled for further discussion at one of their meetings
early in the new municipal year. Action 6 and 7 - Develop and adopt a Council
tree policy, and prepare and adopt Trees and Development Supplementary Planning
Guidance (SPG) The Panel were pleased to hear about this
policy but highlighted the importance of being mindful of where trees are
planted. They heard that one of the
pieces of work being completed is ‘the right trees planted in the right place
for the right reason’ and that there are many things to consider when tree
planting, so an assessment is done to decide what type of tree in most appropriate
on a particular spot. The Panel suggested that this information be
made available on the Council’s website and shared with Community Councils
etc. The Panel heard that the webpages are
being developed and will be launched shortly. Action 10 - Develop and deliver biodiversity
training for Council staff, elected Members and PSB Members The Panel welcomed the programme of ongoing
training and emphasised the importance of Councillor training at the beginning
of the new Council Term. The Panel heard
that Welsh Government are also developing Wales wide training for elected
members, so this will form part of the programme moving forward. The Panel recommended that the basics of
biodiversity and climate change form part of the new Councillor Induction
Training. Action 12 and 13 – Recruit new Planning
Ecologist and Section 6 Duty Biodiversity Officer The Panel were pleased to meet the new
Planning Ecologist and Section 6 Duty Biodiversity Officer and look forward to
hearing more about their progress in due course. Action 15 - Co-ordinate and deliver the Local
Places for Nature Grant programme (2020-2023) The Panel heard that grants over and above
those mentioned in the report have been and will be received. In total over ½
million pounds of grant monies have been received including from Welsh
Government and National Resources Wales in 2021/2022. There has been over 1 million pounds of
grants approved for the coming year, the Panel heard from officers that this is
fantastic but would add to the already considerable workload. The Panel recognise that it does take a large
amount of time and resources to spend and deliver on these grants but welcome
this as a good problem. Action 18 - Plan, support and deliver new
tree / woodland/hedgerow/orchard planting initiatives The Panel recognised that this is becoming
more important as we move forward and that assessment of the number of trees
planted was necessary but also emphasised the importance of monitoring the
number of trees being removed, so we can understand our overall tree stock and
therefore make a carbon assessment regularly. Action 23 - Deliver and provide support for
school biodiversity awareness activities and practical initiatives and
opportunities for schoolchildren to access and learn about their natural
environment The Panel heard that staff capacity and the
pandemic has stopped this from proceeding but now we have the new posts in
place, progress will be made over the coming year. |
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Panel Review of the Year 2021-22 PDF 251 KB Minutes: As this is the final meeting of this
municipal year, the Panel was invited to reflect on the year’s scrutiny work,
experience and effectiveness. Any ideas that will improve the effectiveness of
the scrutiny of Natural Environment, and scrutiny generally was asked for. Have things worked well? The Panel felt that there have been real
positives from their work, that it had been productive, that it had allowed
people to raise issues of environmental concern and that it had been
interesting and informative. Has the Panel’s work focused on the right
things? The Panel believed that they have focused on
the right things and has dealt with fundamental issues of biodiversity and
impacts of climate change. They would
like to see further work done in the new municipal year on enforcement of green
infrastructure/biodiversity aspects of planning applications What, if anything, could be done better? The different roles of Policy Development
Committees and of Scrutiny was raised and the Panel felt that many areas of
policy development and scrutiny can overlap when it comes to the Natural
Environment. Although they felt that
this was not necessarily a bad thing and it is good that ideas for improvement
are forthcoming from whatever source. The Convener thanked the Panel members and
Council Officers for their support in the work of this Panel over the past two
years. Officers in attendance thanked Cllr Jones for
the support he has given to enabling nature recovery through his work as chair
of the Natural Environment Scrutiny Panel. The Panel thanked the Convener for his
enthusiasm for the subject and his good leadership of the Panel. |
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Minutes: The Panel
received the correspondence sent following the meeting of the Panel held on 12
January 2022. |
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