Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Binns, McKeown, Fellows, Reed and Young.

To receive declarations of interest.

Councillor Denney raised a point of order, which had also been raised at the Environment Committee on 20 April 2021, regards the interests of Councillor Tomblin in relation to agenda item 9bi, the Pre-Submission District Local Plan. This was with reference to Rocket Rentals, the business that Councillor Tomblin owned together with her husband, and the land it was situated on, which was within the curtilage of the Wisloe development PS37 in the Pre-Submission District Local Plan. A Companies House check had confirmed that Councillor Tomblin and her husband received an income of £75,000 in 2020 from the land where the business was sited. Councillor Denney highlighted that, if the development were to go ahead, it would surround and likely affect Councillor Tomblin’s business and land, and therefore an interest should be declared. Councillor Tomblin declared this interest and took no further part in the meeting.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 18 March 2021.

RESOLVED                That the Minutes of the meeting held on 18 March 2021 are approved as a correct record

To receive announcements from the Chair of Council.

The Chief Executive expressed thanks to all Councillors, particularly the 19 who would be standing down, for their service and support for the district’s communities and the Council’s staff during their term of office, especially through recent challenging times. The Leader conveyed gratitude to the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Council and marked the achievements and contributions of Councillors Rathor, Curley, Lydon, Townley, Denney and Clifton who would be standing down. Councillor Whiteside then spoke about the accomplishments of Councillors Reed, McKeown, Dewey, Pickering and Marjoram, who would all continue to be active in the community. Councillor Davies recalled the service of Councillors earlier in the administration of and advised that Councillor Loftus would be standing down along with further gratitude to Councillors Fellows, Cooper, Young, Skinner, Reeves and Tomblin whose service and participation was also detailed. Councillor Tucker then completed thanks to all Members standing down by also thanking Councillor Whiteside for his tenure. The Chair summed up by expressing his thanks to all Members.

The Chair announced that the Monitoring Officer had advised that, since the Local Plan item was to be considered and debated in this meeting during the pre-election period, it was requested that political comments be measured, with the avoidance of any overt party political references. Councillor Haydn Jones raised a point of order to ask for further clarification on this. The Monitoring Officer stated that it was overt party political references which were to be limited, but that Council could still hold the full debate to which it was entitled to do so regards this item at this time.

The Chairs of Committees will answer questions from members of the public submitted in accordance with the Council’s procedures.

Neil Leighton joined the meeting to ask three submitted questions on behalf of Berkeley and Sharpness Residents’ Action Group. Sue Leleu joined the meeting next to ask a question submitted on behalf of Wisloe Action Group. Answers were delivered by Councillor Pickering. Supplementary questions were also raised and answered. (Please see attached PDF)

Environment Committee – Councillor Hall was replaced by Councillor Lydon

It was confirmed that Councillor Hall had stood down from the Environment Committee, and Councillor Lydon had been appointed in replacement.

To put recommendations from Environment Committee for consideration and, if appropriate, approval of a Draft Stroud District Local Plan (Draft Local Plan) for publication in accordance with Regulations 19 and 20 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012.

Councillor Pickering presented the report, which had been presented to the Environment Committee on 20 April 2021. The decision made in favour of the recommendations had not been an easy one and thanks were due to all Council Officers past and present who had worked so hard on developing the draft Local Plan. The government expectation for Local Planning Authorities was to require an update to the Local Plan every five years. An update to the District’s current adopted Local Plan was now due as it was over five years old and the housing requirements it set out were no longer up to date. Any further delay, additional to the recent delays already experienced due to the pandemic and possible changes in government policy, would increase the risk of the occurrence of planning by appeal. A series of measures to implement the Carbon Neutral 2030 Strategy were embedded throughout the plan: net carbon zero construction standards, carbon zero heating systems, identification of suitable areas for renewable energy, at least 10% new biodiversity gain, multifunctional green space and tree-planting, reuse and regeneration of brownfield land, planning for exemplar carbon neutral settlements, support for active travel and walking and support for the reopening of two new rail stations at Stonehouse and Sharpness.

The government had set out the minimum number of new houses to be provided in the district, which had been raised from a minimum of 456 to 630 homes per annum to be built, largely by private developers, which was an increase of 38%. There was therefore a need for some more new housing, particularly to support longer life expectancy, improvements in the status of women and the need for affordable houses for younger adults, three of the key drivers in the need for more housing. A buffer was required by the government and therefore Officers were advising an overall housing supply of 14,935 homes. Although covering just under 187 square miles, approximately half the district was an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and a considerable area was now at risk of flooding, therefore only roughly one third of the district remained available for allocation. Reducing the need to travel by private car, the single largest source of greenhouse emissions in the district, had been a primary factor in the development strategy towards delivering the Carbon Neutral 2030 Strategy. Extensive public consultation and work had so far been carried out by Officers and this, along with the significant contribution of the all-party Members on the Planning Review Panel in enabling consensuses to be reached, was formally acknowledged and thanked.

Councillor Pickering summarised the main objectives of the strategy which set out to:

·        concentrate housing growth at population centres with best access to services and facilities

·        develop new settlements where there was potential to create more sustainable communities

·        regenerate the canal corridor through the Stroud Valleys, and Berkeley and Sharpness

·        maximise the use of previously developed land

·        provide strategic employments accessible within the M5/A38 corridor

·        support the development and social sustainability  ...  view the full minutes text for item CL.65

To resolve a decision around Gloucester City Council joining the Ubico partnership.

The Strategic Director of Resources introduced the report and outlined that Gloucester City Council (GC) had voted to join the Ubico Partnership. A majority decision was now being sought on whether to accept this, through votes with existing shareholders. The Ubico board had defined four tests to decide on acceptance of new members and the report set out how these four tests had been met. Members were being asked to resolve that the Chief Executive, in her role as the Council’s Ubico shareholder, can vote for GC to join the Ubico Partnership.

Councillor Pickering proposed the motion, which was seconded by Councillor Whiteside.

Councillor Denney asked whether Officers were satisfied, given the recent known issues with the waste collection and disposal service at GC, that they would be able to be productive members of the partnership. The Strategic Director of Resources informed that the previous issues were due to disputes with the contractor at the time. Ubico had taken a prudent and risk averse approach to the business plan, allowing plenty of capacity, and had worked hard on the operational plans. Throughout the mobilisation process it would be ensured that arrangements were in place to manage the contract effectively. Councillor Hurst enquired, because of aspects such as timescales and vehicle compatibility, whether GC could be adequately integrated into the existing partnership without affecting problems further down the line. Members were informed that vehicle compatibility would not be an issue given GC vehicles would be delivering the GC service and their vehicles were a mix of being owned outright (Ubico would take over these) and by the current contractor. Following the hard work and recent improvements with the waste collection service at Stroud District Council, and the experience of the Council’s Officers and Members involved in this process, help and support as part of the mobilisation process had been offered to Ubico and GC and both parties were really happy to work in this way.

Councillor Pickering summed up and expressed support for the motion. He added that he had carried out discussions at a political level with the relevant lead Councillors at GC. Officers in the Council’s Finance Team, including the Accountant, were thanked for hard work in analysing and investigating all the financial aspects of the Ubico contract and also the Head of Community Services and Community Services Manager for their technical input. This would be a good step towards a unified collection system which would be of benefit to residents across the whole county.

A number of Councillors had left the meeting and did not vote on this item.

On being put to the vote, the motion was carried unanimously.

See Agenda Item 4 deadlines for submissions.

Member questions had been submitted and were asked by Councillor Davies and Councillor Lydon. These were answered by the Chair of Housing Committee and the Leader. Supplementary questions were also answered (Refer to the recording of the meeting).

A motion regarding support of the Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill is proposed by Councillor Pickering and seconded by Councillor Cornell.

Humans have already caused irreversible climate change, the impacts of which

are being felt in the UK and around the world. Global temperatures have increased by 1 degree Celsius from pre-industrial levels. Atmospheric CO2 levels are above 400 parts per million (ppm) and continue to rise. This far exceeds the 350 ppm deemed to be a safe level for humanity.

Without more significant and sustained action, the world is set to exceed the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C limit between 2030 and 2040. Therefore the current UK target of net zero by 2050 is not satisfactory. It is too little too late.

The increase in harm caused by a rise of 2°C rather than 1.5°C is significant. This is described by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C published in October 2018. According to the IPCC, limiting heating to 1.5°C may still be possible with ambitious action from national and sub-national authorities, civil society, the private sector and local communities. The costs of failing to address this crisis will far outstrip the investments required to prevent it. Investing now will bring many benefits in the form of good jobs, breathable cities and thriving communities.

Council notes that

1.    This council has declared a climate and ecological emergency;

ii. There is a Bill before Parliament—the Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill (published as the “Climate and Ecology Bill”)—according to which the Government must develop an emergency strategy that:

1.    requires that the UK plays its fair and proper role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions consistent with limiting global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures;

2.    ensures that all the UK’s consumption emissions are accounted for;

3.    includes emissions from aviation and shipping;

4.    protects and restores biodiverse habitats along overseas supply chains;

5.    restores and regenerates the UK’s depleted soils, wildlife habitats and species populations to healthy and robust states, maximising their capacity to absorb CO2 and their resistance to climate heating;

6.    sets up an independent Citizens’ Assembly, representative of the UK’s population, to engage with Parliament and Government and help develop the emergency strategy.

Council therefore resolves to:

1.    Support the Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill

2.    Inform the local media of this decision;

3.    Write to local MPs, asking them to support or thanking them for supporting the Bill; and Write to the CEE Bill Alliance, the organisers of the campaign for the Bill, expressing its support (campaign@ceebill.uk).

Motion regarding support of the Climate and Ecological Emergency (CEE) Bill

The motion was presented by Councillor Pickering, who informed Members that this motion encouraged the government to move with the process and join in helping the Council, who were showing leadership as one of the local authorities leading on climate change, in delivering the targets set out in the Carbon Neutral 2030 Strategy. This needed to be done in partnership with citizens and business and the government must also play their part.

The motion was moved by Councillor Pickering and seconded by Councillor Cornell.

Councillor Rathor proposed a friendly amendment that the Council consider invoking a citizens’ assembly as part of the action around supporting the CEE bill. This was seconded by Councillor Kay, accepted by Councillors Pickering and Cornell, and confirmed by the Chair as a friendly amendment. Councillor Rathor gave further context about the magnitude of the task, and highlighted the requirement for human brilliance, speed, commitment, vision and togetherness. A citizens’ assembly would help facilitate this togetherness. So much more was needed than that which the Council could do alone.

Councillor Davies expressed opposition to the motion, despite the Conservative Members’ absolute commitment to the cause of climate change, because this was not considered part of the District Council’ business. The bill also mandated natural climate solutions at the exclusion of technological solutions such as direct air capture and carbon capture.

Councillor Whiteside spoke in favour of the motion, offering that it was necessary to work together to get this done, and quickly, and to do everything within the Council’s power to move this forward. The Council were already doing this within the 2030 Strategy and the Green group hoped that the government would support the Council all the way.

Councillor Cornell added that the CEE was quite a specific and extremely rigorous bill and councils across the country were being asked to support it. If the motion was agreed tonight, it would next be discussed with the local MP to ask for support. The bill had been written and informed by the top scientific and academic leaders in the UK. Our entire carbon footprint must now be considered and support for this bill would set a standard, as well being ambitious. The Labour group held to the importance that this would become law. It was good that the issues of climate and ecological emergency were being brought together in one place.

Councillor Pickering summed up and noted that motions like this are valuable. The example of the Climate Change Act 2008 was given, which started life as a private Members’ bill. If carried, this motion would provide an opportunity for the government to build upon it and a basis to develop legislation. It was important to act now and work together.

A further number of Councillors had left the meeting and did not vote on this item.

Upon the vote the motion, including the friendly amendment that the Council consider invoking a citizens’ assembly as  ...  view the full minutes text for item CL.68