Recording has started thank you and welcome to the meeting of the executive Cabinet member climate change and environment I’m Council Richard Sylvester I am the cabinet member for climate change and environment this meeting is taking place on Monday the 12th of February 2024 so could I thank Bolton Council
Officers Bolton councilors and to members of the public if you’re watching this recorded version on the Bolton Council YouTube channel so item one on the agenda is the monitoring of executive Cabinet member decisions this was sent out uh by email previous to this uh meeting to everyone any comments at all on the
Monitoring reports no I think a couple can come off and um there is an update I’m told regarding the shopping trolley consultation uh which should start tomorrow it said in the monitoring report that it would would start on the 8th of January but I’m informed by my assistant director that it will start
Tomorrow okay so we’ll move on to item two this is the directory the place Finance report 2023 2024 quarter three and we’ll go over to Janet po polard who will take us through this report thank you councelor Sylvester this is the quar 3 Finance report for the whole of the
Directorate of place director is currently projecting a year end balance of £ 685,000 overspent for this portfolio it’s £ 222,000 overspent the main variance for this portfolio relates to the the planning division oh sorry that’s a previous meeting sorry about that key financial findings can be found on page
Three and service specific findings can be found on page 17 which is appendix 2 the executive cabinet members um requested to note the contents of the report and also to se we’re seeking approvals in the actually within the report happy to take any questions uh so I’ll open this up to
Questions anyone on the call just indicate or shout out if you wish to do nobody’s indicated or shouted out so I will note the quarter 3 financial position of the director of place approved revisions made to Capital program which fall under my portfolio authorize the director place to call off
Under any available Frameworks to enable the capital program to progress and also note the key findings of the report so we therefore we’ll go to item three on the agenda this is the Moses gate Country Park designation of contemplation contemplation space so John Gregory uh will take us through this
Report thank you counselor it has been in front of you before this one we’ve been away to do a little bit more consultation with a couple of key stakeholders but this is the report that’s requesting that the council designates a particular space Within gate Country Park as a contemplative or
I prefer the term reflective it’s just a bit easier to say it rolls off the tongue a little bit better a reflective space been requested originally by a member of the public um who’d suffered bement as a result of suicide and this is a space that people can go um and spend some
Time and uh reflect on either mental health issues or suicide related issues somebody’s bereaved or somebody sort of suffering from mental health issues so we did we were asked to go away and then update the report with a little bit of consultation that we did with a couple
Of stakeholders that’s been done um we’ve come to a satisfactory conclusion with that I don’t intend to go through the full report if that’s all right um but uh the report’s there it’s been circulated around if anybody’s got any questions obviously you’re welcome uh to ask me about it absolutely and thank you
Very much uh John for the work which you’ve undertaken on this um and I’ll open this up to questions from Members nobody’s indicating so I take everybody’s happy with that I’m very happy to um approve this report the formal designation of the contemplative space in Moses gate
Country Park as per the site plan attached to appendix one and I also delegate authority to the director place in consultation with myself to bring forward development of this space in a manner which is appropriate to its use as a contemplative space so that report is
Approved thank you John so we’ll go over to sorry okay I was just thanking sorry I I missed what you said but uh thank you for your work on that so we’ll go over to Nicola Farrell uh next who’s going to take us through item four which is Bolt
The Bolton climate change strategy annual report 2022 23 Nicola thanks councilor Sylvester um members will have seen the papers uh obviously in advance of this meeting and we obviously had the uh play scrutiny last Wednesday where we discussed this so I wasn’t intending to go through this
In incredible amount of detail but just to pick out a few highlights um so just to remind you um and I’m sure members are already aware the climate change strategy is a strategy uh not just for the council but for um division partners and and organizations within
The town uh this is the second annual report and it covers the report in Period September 22 to September 23 um and it provides an overview of the achievements and and sets out some key priorities for the following year and it is accompanied by a delivery plan um
Which contains the 32 key performing IND indicators for the strategy so um it will be returned into a a public facing document by marketing and Communications and along with that delivery plan it’s going to be available on the council’s uh website so it’s structured into these
Six work areas we call pillars um and the first one is is called governance and climate leadership so just to pick out a couple of things there um we talk about the work that Bolton’s fund has done on supporting climate change projects um the tree planting that’s
Been done with city of trees um and the fact that 56% of actions are completing the green plan uh priorities for next year include working together as a partnership um to deliver those climate change projects in Bolton um for homes communities and well-beings um key achievements include
The um2 million pounds secured by Bolton at home for social housing uh decarbonization fund um the first School Street in um Bolton at St Peters in farmworth and all the active travel schemes that continued to uh to progress uh priorities for the next year include um promoting the Energy Efficiency
Scheme including the GM local energy demonstrator um continuing with the active travel schemes um when we talk about building transport and operations talk about the carbon management plan that’s been produced by the council which shows a reduction of 23% uh CO2 emissions since 2019 um the heat network
Has been awarded some funding and the priorties include um continuing to reduce the amount of energy used by uh the street lighting uh and the Bolton NHS are doing a plan to reduce their carbon emissions um the next priority or pillar is about natural environment and climate change resilience uh and the
Achievements in this area include um blaner Wildlife trust securing the funding from the the Pet Land restoration uh project to restore 4177 hectares of pet land which includes the council and site red moss um Swift bricks has been included in a housing development in bra um invasive species
Been tackled on bradel Brook and priorities for the next year include more tree planting and development of green spaces projects by uh the bolt and green umbrella using uh UK SPF funding um skills for sustainable future is the next pillar and that includes all the incredible work that the Woodland trust
Have done up at smid EST State um creating the 11 social Enterprises and the the two Community interest companies um and also hosting the events which is creating a lot of opportunities for people to learn uh new skills uh Bolton at home have also trained 45 of their
Skill trades people to fit and maintain Renewable Energy Technologies and the University of bolon was a finalist in the green gown Awards um priorities for the next year include a project with the University of Bolton Bolton at home and the Council on upcycling furniture and a
Roll out of a food waste study in horch uh the last pillar is called employability entrepreneurship and Innovation um and this is where um the green the GM’s green growth team supported small and mediumsized Enterprises in Bolton uh 15 Bolton smes were engaged with this support and that
Saved nearly 178 tons of carbon uh the proper good support program has continued to provide a wide range of support to social Enterprises so priorties for next year in this area include the greater Manchester business school and going to hold a net zero business conference in Bolton in May
20124 and the proper support program will be offering sustainability checkups to support social Enterprise to become more sustainable so in terms of the next steps um this report is is ultimately a performance report coming to you uh councelor for for information and moving forward we want to bring the annual
Report in line with the financial year uh just frees of reporting so rather than this September to September reporting cycle the next annual report will therefore be published in late spring uh 2025 thank you right thank you very much uh Nicola so I’ll open this uh report up to questions as
Well and we’ll go over to council mayor first of all and then Council Muslim afterwards yeah thank you chair um thank you Nicha uh yes you’re right it was debated it was presented the play scrutiny and it was debated at great detail what I recall and I’m not going to go over any
In in any depth but I’d like to just sum a couple of things up there the the the debate it it there was discussion around the kpi which he presented a slide on kpi but but there was no figures on that you you did a good update is it and
Thank you very much for that and there was a discussion on dates now I won’t lab with those points but I think key key key layout of of dates and Road mapping of how how you’re going to get there and and um you know Target of of
Caron reduction will be able to to uh the reader will be able to see how we how we tracking when you come back to present future reports are we on track are we not on track and what what what U adjustments are being made so i’ just
Like to just sum up then just by saying that um some of those key those points then hopefully you’ve captured and and will be amended uh to the public facing document so therefore the public themselves can see how things are moving that just the points chair thank you uh councilor mayor
Um and we’ll go over to councel and muslin thanks chair um yeah apologize I wasn’t able to attend the uh the scrutiny meeting so if anything I cover is repeating that then I apologize in advance um suppose first question um is May maybe Nicola can answer um is is
Obviously we’ve set a different Target in Bolton po Council decided to go earlier than than the rest of the country really and and GM So based on what this report and what you know is 2030 achievable we’ll bring in the uh director there we did have a full discussion on this at
The play scrutiny it’s the um aim and ambition of this President Administration uh to get to 2030 um and we will we will see if we get to 2030 it’s six years off yet and I know that um that Target it is a high Benchmark but it is good to
Be ambitious so that’s what we’re heading towards but uh John we did have a full discussion at scrutiny but John will also come in as well yeah thank you thank you chair I mean to some degree um mindful that um councelor Muslim had to send apologies last week I’m conscious
That uh you weren’t able to be in the room but it was really just to reiterate that there was uh quite an extensive discussion in relation to um trajectory and I think um my my comments really were to reiterate those made on the evening which is that there is um
Obviously a strong ambition to achieve net zeroc carbon at the earliest opportunity and at this present moment in time that Target is set of 2030 um I think there was recognition that that there will be um hopefully um additional funding will become available to support the council’s efforts but equally this
This uh remains a challenging Target and I think uh work emerging from the from the carbon management plan will will will give us a a real sense of direction um I think without a shadow of a doubt decarbonization of the of the estate from the council’s perspective is the
Biggest challenge um and we talked on the evening about appointments of an energy manager somebody who will um I guess be able to to work with the wider team to uh to understand um the realities of decarbonizing the estate but of course the carbon management plan
Will also pick up things like um uh uh Fleet replacement strategy procurement opportunities uh and so on and so forth so think I think right now um not to avoid the council sorry the question Council Muslim but I think probably just to reiterate that there was quite extensive debates as councilor May has
Indicated on uh on the evening and and uh at this point in time um the executive Cabinet member has has I suppose um um echoed reinforced restated the the administration’s U view that we should remain ambitious with our targets and continue to drive uh towards net zero carbon but equally recognizes the
Challenge associated with um carbon reduction and and the many dependencies which were outlined in the original uh report of cabinet when we adopted the the climate change strategy so I’ll I’ll pause there thank you chair uh thanks I mean there a lot of words what we’re saying is it’s probably
Not achievable because what we’re saying is it’s ambitious and ambitious is a word that people use to say well we we’re hoping to get in that direction but actually we’re probably not going to is is the sense I’m getting from this and I appreciate you may have discussed
This the scrutiny committee I as I say I wasn’t there but also I think the public has a right to to hear and I have these questions asked even if it is a repeat of what some other people may have asked um previously but okay so it’s not
Achievable then is is what we’re saying um I mean it’s interesting as well I mean obiously k Sylvester political point but um the labor party itself now is reversing its plans on 28 million pounds worth of green investment and uh John Dyson’s just said there that we are
Relying on funds from elsewhere to help um fund this so if that is the case that the you party do win the next general election then I don’t know where we’re expecting as a council and a local authority to get that money from to help us um reach this uh ambitious uh 2030
Goal because actually the part you know the government’s not committed to it the current government and the the the main main opposition party has also said they’re actually not committed to it because they reversed their 28 million pound pledge billion pound pledge so I guess achievability is is is just it’s
Just not going to happen I mean leads on to my second question the report mentions um sort of significant costs I think is the phrase that is used in the uh in the financial implications 4.1 um so I suppose what can you can anyone quantify what those significant costs
Significant costs are and who’s going to Bear the brunt of those significant costs John do you wish to come in on that one yeah yeah yeah for forgive me Council Muslim I’m I’m probably repeating again a point that was made um last week at at the scrutiny committee
But um uh it was just just just to say as indicated last week and has been uh referenced I believe previously but uh there is there is no dedicated budget per se for climate change activity but um across obviously each of the the services then then then we have both
Revenue and capital funding which we are uh uh where we have projects initiatives um schemes coming forward to have opportunity to uh Drive carbon reduction then we are uh certainly looking to do that uh whether that be through our highways Capital program whether it be through our Fleet replacement strategy
Which is entirely Reliant upon capital capital allocation um but but of course as as you’ve just alluded to and I did earlier um uh certainly uh some of the work which is undertaken or or has taken place uh and is referenced in the report is very much predicated on funding so we
Continue to seek out um new external funding opportunities whether that be in relation to decarbonization of some of our schools estate estate through the public sector decarbonization funds uh whether it be in relation to uh electric vehicle charging infrastructure through uh funding that we bid for Via tfgm so I
Think um I’m going to say at this point in time impossible to say um what the cost will be um uh to to to achieve net zeroc carbon within the time scales which were initially identified in the strategy um what we will do as a piece
Of work to understand what we have um secured in terms of funding uh and where we’ve committed expenditure and that’s something that the team are currently looking at at this point in time but uh as I say in the absence of a dedicated budget for climate change we’re very
Much Reliant upon deploying the resources that we have available across the council um to maximize opportunities to reduce carbon reduction right okay so what we’re saying is there is no funding um at the moment for it um we are wholly Reliant then on grant funding so what we’re
Saying is we we we we’re hoping for a bit of look to come our way and because there’s no guarantee that we will get any of those grants or grants will even exist in the future so surely if you want to tackle this um what you’re saying is the council will probably have
To raise uh revenue and then probably taxes um to actually um fund some of this work because if the if the government’s not going to give you any money and the we not generating any through um capital or anything that then tax Rises would would would be a a I
Suppose a reasonable assumption that would have to be made um that to fund this uh climate change ambition well I’ll I’ll just come in there because uh the government has just awarded us 11 million for the the heat Network and um the government has awarded previous monies as well so there
Is monies available from government the heat network uh once the viability study has been completed if that goes ahead that would be a significant boost towards the climate change strategy and carbon reduction in our Council buildings especially the the town hall um so we’ll see if if money is available
From government whichever of whichever color I would I would suggest it’s more likely from the party which I’m a member of if if we um are in government uh later this year but we will see uh what we will head towards 2030 that is what the council did decided back in
2019 that wasn’t changed under the administration which you was a member of that date wasn’t changed when you was executive Cabinet member you had an opportunity to do that if you had concerns but you never changed that date the date Remains the Same with myself as executive Cabinet member as well uh John
Did you just want to come back in at all it was only just Ju Ju Ju Just to site one or two examples so I think certainly funding opportunity is is is undoubtedly a significant contributor to some of the work that we’re trying to achieve but it but it would be uh it
Wouldn’t be the case to say that we’re entirely dependent upon on uh external funding because as I indicated we do have Capital allocations to support uh investments in some of our services which ultimately will uh as I say will drive carbon reduction so uh as I say in
Terms of uh engineering technology in the capital program for our Highway scheme uh the team are are uh continually seeking opportunities to drive out carbon reduction uh we will be looking at um uh things which were subject of recent consultation for example in relation to uh street light
Dimming programs uh which again will will will will drive carbon reduction um our sustainable Waste Management strategy is very much focused upon existing Revenue budgets to to improve and increase um um attempts across the community in relation to waste minimization recycling Etc so I think I
Think it is a blend of of capital funding uh Revenue spend uh where we where we seek to um I guess not just in terms of biggest bank for our book in terms of value for money but biggest bank for our book in terms of carbon reduction opportunity as well um but of
Course absolutely external funding opportunity uh is is is is very much part of the um part of the approach moving forward so thank you thank you chair uh thank you John and we’ll go to council mayor thank you uh I’d like to I’ll put my hand up because just listened to the
Conversation I’d just like to add add my six thought to that as well and thanks for that response as well John the I think you uh you’ve given some good examples there that it’s not necessarily everything down to external funding um I think there two points I’d like to just
Reemphasize is yes the the the um changing Suns do do occur so it’s important that we have uh the right data to start topway so you know what the Baseline is and you know where you’re heading and you quantify it and you measure it as you go along so it was
Good to hear that you that you’re looking at an engine manager and and time and effort should be spent in in determining that data so therefore if the an if this if the sand does shift you’ve still got quantitive energy evidence to show that you’ve actually contributed to C reduction by this point
In time and I think that’s that’s that’s really important the cost of of changes yes you can get external funding that’s great it’s fantastic but there’s a couple of benefits here there is the carbon reduction there’s other particulates that are also reduced as well which are harmful to to um to us
And and and our children and um Etc but there’s also if you invest you will invest for the future so when you’re designing something you will need to design it and and each Tech technology you put in there yes it does cost but there will be at point in time where we
Look will where it will have achieved the payback because it’d be more efficient it will reduce carbon but it will also be more efficient and therefore that payback period might be six years it might be 15 years depending on the technology you put in so I think
That needs to be uh built into into the information that you’re providing in your business cases that you’re developing so they’re just a couple of points for me I think what we can’t accept is having something as too difficult to do too difficult to do is not an option we
Can take you know we we have a duty of care we have a duty responsibility with regard to our resp the environment for for for everybody that lives in our bur you know and those that are coming in the future our children our grandchildren our gr grandchildren so
Just a couple of points there thank you thank you Council May and I agree uh more with you uh from those comments which you’ve made so I’m going to note the content contents of the bton climate change strategy annual report 2022 2023 so that that report is noted and could I
Just thank Nicola and John for all the work which you’ve been doing on the climate change strategy and for the successful bid for the uh Bolton District heat Network that that was fantastic and more to come over on that in uh in the next year or so so we’ll go
On to item five which is the procurement of traffic management and Verge maintenance of highspeed roads and uh John are you taking us through this one I think Lor is actually going to read on this on this report s thank you sorry that’s great Lor’s going to take
Us through this lorri Hunter okay thank you so this is um a standard contract that we’ve run every four to five years um to maintain our high-speed roads so that’s roads like St Peter’s way to havland way um anything sort of that’s 50 miles an hour and over we need to put
In place a number of safety measures to enable us to manage traffic uh and ensure that we’re protecting any um individuals working on on the road as well as enabling us to procure in kind of specialist equipment for things like trees that are incredibly high or bushes
And that sort of thing so this procurement the only difference with this one that we’re doing um different to last year as we’re offering um we’re wanting the staff management side of things to be to be optional so we may have which we’ve been tring over the
Last year we’re likely to have enough staff to deliver the Verge maintenance element ourselves with our in-house staff and that’s enabling us to manage costs a little bit better as they’ gone up quite a bit over the last year so um we’re yeah essentially looking to procure similar to what we’ve done
Previous Le it’s a four plus1 contract um I won’t go through the very nitty-gritty details of the report it doesn’t mean we’ve got additional staff we think we can do it within core time and those roads such as St Peter’s way we’ve had we tend to get enough interest
From our existing staff on an overtime rate so it enables us to manage our costs um enables us to upscale some of our existing staff and it enables us to um manage performance a little bit better when we’re using our own staff however the um sort of safety
Precautions and road closures we would continue to use the contractor for so I think that’s a flavor for for the report thank you okay thank you uh Lori I’ll open this one up to questions as well from members yes councelor Muslim thanks shair um so just on the
Obviously talk about cost Savings in house then so have you actually I mean forgive me I can say have you actually Quantified what the cost savings are then by bringing this in house what elements of this inh so it’s more around um managing increasing costs so what we
Expect is the market to is going up essentially around 20% for various Staffing costs products that sort of thing so if we’re using our own staff um then it enables us to manage that a little bit better right but if we are if we are
Give if we are giving um generous um pay increases to our staff and we are not immune to other um sort of global cost energy fuel price you know and all these sorts of product just general inflation are we are we not just talking about you know half you know half dozen
One you know six of the other here it’s it just seems like actually it’s not going to make that much of a difference I suppose not necessarily because it means that we’re not paying sort of a market supplement for the staffing element of of the contract that’s what
We’re trying to save for with regards to this contract we’ll still have it in as an option where we find that that option is cheaper to bring in the contractor staff and we will take that on however we’ve we’re also lining up our own staff to ensure that we’re getting best value
For money and that would include obiously talk about this profit margin um element of of using a private contractor but how would that compare though to you know you’re talking about actually using overtime here um for staff to do this work so actually we’re going to be paying them more anyway so
Is is it actually once you factor in the oh I appreci might be cheaper if you kept on the same rate they’re on but if you’re paying them overtime to do the work actually is it still going to be as an effective cost saving as you’re you’re you’re
Envisaging so not all not all of them are done on over over time some are done within core hours as we’ve programmed in over the last couple of years we’ve been doing some high-speed roads quite a few of them over the last couple of years using our own staff as it’s provided us
With that higher performance that better cost this is really just about repeating that in a more formal arrangement with our contract so it’s ensuring that that that optional extra with regards to Verge maintenance we may still need it we may not get enough um volunteers say on overtime so St Peter’s way for
Example you’re right is done on overtime we can’t avoid that because it’s such a major route into Bolton closure of that road during um you know busy hours would be wouldn’t wouldn’t be the best solution for Bolton but um there some of the smaller roads like um uh Victoria
Road for example K Street those we can do within normal operational core hours and we have been doing over the last couple of years does that make sense that answer your question yeah yeah um and lastly then um would the would the element of flexibility you’re looking
For in the you know in any sort of contract would that actually increase the cost because it you’d be less I suppose you know businesses work on a way it’s structured they know what they’re doing they can plan for that and usually then you pay a premium for um
Wanting more flexibility um in it are we going to have to pay a premium do you think because we’re going to ask for that flexibility yeah we did think about that when we’ve done when we did our sort of market analysis so we would need to give
But we think the market would want to enable them to plan as you say is they’ll want a certain amount of notice so we would ensure that we’d give them I think we built in was it a month’s notice six weeks notice something like that before every closure whether or not
We’d need that Staffing so um yeah that they should be getting quite a bit of notice to enable their own staff management and would that would that would that potentially though increase the cost because that flexibility well we’ve reflected what the market was um was suggesting at that
Point in time so that so I think if we only gave seven days notice yes that would increase the cost because they would need to very quickly bring staff in potentially at a higher rate but because we we’re providing quite a bit of notice we think that gives us the
Right balance so I don’t know if John wants to come in as well through through you chair thanks Lori I mean I think just Ju Just just to um reiterate that that I mean they’re all very pertinent questions uh councelor Muslim I think questions that the you know the team
Have contemplated during this process I guess essentially what we’re trying to do is to bring a flexibility into this contractual Arrangement moving forward which enables us to to deploy resources internally and if we are able to create the capacity to be able to do that then
There is a view that on balance we will we will make a saving whether that will be a nominal saving in the first instance whether it will be a a larger saving um I guess only time will tell I think the key is is that if we establish
That we don’t have that capacity within the service then as Lor’s indicated we will need to move quickly to ensure that there is advanced notice so that we still secure a competitive rate but but I think to some degree um we we we probably don’t have a definitive
Position in terms of what level of saving if any we will make this year but what we are trying to do is to bring in that flexibility to bring about opportunity to be able to to deploy internal resources and I think that’s certainly the uh the view that we are taking at
This moment in time that that is achievable over the course of the uh uh the contract ter but um as I say I think it’s it’s difficult to say today’s date just exactly what that will look like but it does bring Flex to us that we perhaps haven’t had via the previous
Contract Lori that would be fair to say it is yes yes it would okay that’s fine that’s interesting thank you interesting just to note that we are two two items on the agenda today that we can’t be quite definitive on so well it it does say it
Does say quite clear in in the report uh 2.3 uh that costs um are likely to increase by 20% on the current budget envelope which is 60,000 now that that would go up to about 72 what the service is trying to do is to keep in 2 point it says in
2.4 uh to keep that within the current budget envelope of 60,000 so that would be a saving of those 20% increased costs uh but what I also um have to consider is at 2.6 that the service is regaining Direct Control of the quality and cost of maintenance services on on highways
So if if if part of this service can be brought inhouse that that we are regaining control of that service so as far as I’m concerned there’s two positives here uh one that it’s kept within the current budget envelope and two that it’s it’s uh we are regaining
Direct control over that service so therefore I am happy to authorize the director of place to procure and appoint a successful tenderer that meets the council’s requirement for highspeed road traffic management and Associated Verge maintenance services with an option to provide some inhouse services from within the neighborhood delivery team
Where resources allow in accordance with the council standing orders related to contracts also to authorize the bureau solicitor to carry out all the necessary legal formalities and also to authorize the buau treasurer to carry out all the necess Neary Financial formalities so that that report is approved thank you
Uh for those questions however Council Muslim there were very important ones that you um were quite right to ask so that report’s approved it brings us to the end of this executive Cabinet member meeting so thank you everybody for your attendance okay thanks counc I’ll just stop the recording now