Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 17 June, 2020 were agreed as a true record.

Presentation of Colin Knight, Director of Transportation and Highways, Andy Williams, Director of Business, Investment and Culture and Bret Willers, Head of Climate Change and Sustainability 

Councillors Caan and Ali, Cabinet Member and Deputy Cabinet Member for Public Health and Sport, Councillors Hetherton and Lloyd, Cabinet Member and Deputy Cabinet Member for City Services and Councillors O’Boyle and Welsh, Cabinet Member and Deputy Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration have been invited to the meeting for the consideration of this item

Cllr Brown introduced the item, outlining that sustainability and climate change had been a priority for Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee before the pandemic. However as the country planned recovery from the pandemic, there were opportunities to accelerate activities which would impact on this broad agenda.

The Committee received a presentation which outlined the following;

·  To impact on climate change, a partnership approach was needed and the City Council would show leadership to make this happen and bring together experts, businesses and industry. This would be done through the newly established Climate Change Commission.

·  The City was undertaking significant work on this agenda – there were more electric car charging points in the City then anywhere else in the UK outside of London, there was investment in Very Light Rail, trials for e-scooters and we are the home of the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre.

·  The 17 United Nations Sustainability goals were being used to help develop partnerships locally and nationally.

·  To reduce out emissions across the City, the following had been implemented; Very light rail; Recycled roads; 10 electric buses; Energy efficient buses; Heatline; Electric car charging points and Electric taxis.

·  An application had been made to the electric city fund.

·  Transport was responsible for about a third of carbon emissions and therefore it was necessary to focus on providing attractive alternatives to the car.

·  Sustainability and Climate change policies were creating jobs locally, being at the forefront. Very light rail offers a fantastic opportunity to put the city at the heart of this. Low cost alternative a tram (fifth of cost – Birmingham £100m per km vs £10m km VLR), deals with particulates issue. 5G, e-scooter, electric car clubs all provided the opportunity to have  a holistic approach.

·  The City had higher then average fuel poverty which a recently announced Government grant of £2 billion would help to address although details of the scheme had not been announced.

·  There had been significant behaviour change as a result of Covid which had environmental impacts. These changes included a marked decrease in car journeys; increase in walking and cycling; reduction in the use of taxis and public transport; initial increase in fly-tipping and incidence of bonfires; fewer people visiting city centre and local centres and recognition of the importance of climate change and loss of biodiversity.

·  As a result of Covid, we have found people value the sense of place created by less traffic; we now need to consider how we make public transport safe and retain user confidence and capitalise on active travel.

·  The forthcoming City of Culture provided an opportunity to showcase creative design, activities and events to encourage more visitors in to City and local centres and to mobilise stakeholders around the sustainability and climate change agenda.

·  Next steps being taken to promote the agenda were; promoting & enhancing a sense of place in the City and local centres; RESO ????? Project & SMART City – informing strategic investments & partnerships; A Commission for change across the City; Mobilising communities – supporting behavioural  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Report of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator

The Committee considered and noted their Work Programme for 2020/21.

Briefing note of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator

The Committee agreed that in light of all Scrutiny Boards being re-established from September, the work of the proposed Spotlight Groups would be absorbed into the relevant Scrutiny Board.

Any other items of public business which the Chair decides to take as a matter of urgency because of the special circumstances involved.

There were no other items of urgent public business.