There were no apologies for absence.

There were no apologies for absence.

Cllr Shane Mochrie-Cox declared an interest as he was the council’s appointee to Gravesham Community Leisure Limited.

The Board was presented with the Climate Change Delivery Plan which Members were asked to consider and provide comments on. This would be the last update on the current strategy before the new strategy was asked to be adopted at Full Council. 

The Climate Action Delivery Manager advised that the Plan, shown at appendix one, provided specific actions with officer updates along with an indication of resource implication and timeframe setting out how the council would work towards its climate change ambitions, as per the approved Climate Change Strategy.

The Climate Action Delivery Manager gave an outline of the key activities that had been progressed in the last six months:

• The Council’s fleet transition to 100% HVO fuel
• Successful funding for Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund wave 3
• Completion of EV charger installation at Cleveland House
• Integrating green infrastructure for Biodiversity Net Gain
• Solar Together Phase 4 progress
• Positive outcome of ‘Recycle Your Electricals’ project
• Proposal to establish a Battery Energy Storage System

A full list of the key activities and further detail could be found at section 2.2 of the report.

The Chair thanked the Climate Action Delivery Manager for her update and praised several activities including:

• Installation of solar panels on Council tenants’ houses in the Borough which was successfully delivered jointly with KCC
• Installation of EV charging points across the Council owned car parks in both the rural and urban parts of the Borough which was delivered with funds received from KCC and the Government
• Installation of advanced insulation in Council properties, funded via government grants, which supported Gravesham’s residents by lowering heating bill costs

Following further comments, Members noted that often, improving efficiency for different aspects of the Councils work and implementing key climate change activities across various Council departments also led to financial savings for residents and the council and other health and wellbeing benefits.

The Board requested information be shared with Members that highlighted all of the quantifiable net gain, benefits and savings that had been delivered through the implementation of the climate change key activities.

The Director (Corporate Services) agreed to circulate the requested information to the Board.

The Board were presented with a report that provided an update on the Housing Energy & Sustainability team’s progress for the 2024-25 period, emphasising the council's commitment to reducing carbon emissions, improving energy efficiency, and meeting government targets.

The Building Safety & Investment Manager advised that team had made significant strides in upgrading its housing stock, reducing properties in EPC bands D or below from 42% to 17%, thereby contributing to a 28.57% reduction in associated carbon emissions.

The teams progress had been acknowledged by being:

• Shortlisted for the MJ Achievement Awards for leadership in Responding to the Climate Emergency
• Acknowledged nationally by Uswitch Energy and;
• Placed in the top 10 for providers of social housing with the best average Energy Performance rating for the housing stock, with an EPC score of 73.6.

The report highlighted further key initiatives such as:

• Insulation improvements to 270 properties, which would save approximately 167 tonnes of CO2 annually and lower residents' fuel bills.
• The third installation of ground source heat pumps with solar PV at Cleveland House, an Independent Living Scheme. Those homes were expected to reach an EPC A rating on completion
• Secured funding of £2.1 million through the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund Wave 3, enabling the installation of low-carbon heating systems like air source heat pumps and solar PV panels to 240 homes, providing significant cost reductions for our residents.
• Optimised energy use through communal solar PV installations at high-consumption sites like Carl Ekman House and Chantry Court, and reduced reliance on the national grid to 50%, as well as plans to expand battery storage to enhance energy efficiency further
• Exploring the use of energy-saving additives in wet central heating systems like EndoTherm, to support its sustainability objectives.
• Conducting individual appraisals on the 176 ‘hard to treat properties’, to review the level of investment and feasibility of improvement measures required to ensure they still met the current letting standard.

Overall, the report underscored the council’s proactive approach to climate change, demonstrating progress in retrofit programs, innovative renewable energy projects, and strategic funding applications that collectively aimed to improve housing quality, reduce fuel poverty, reduce carbon emissions, and support the council’s broader climate strategy.

The Board congratulated the Building Safety & Investment Manager and his team for a very positive report and particularly acknowledged the work that went into 83% of the Councils housing stock being able to meet the Governments targets for reducing carbon emissions as well as the EndoTherm project which would save residents £5 million over 10 years, resulting in each resident saving £93.71 each year on their fuel bills.

Following a question from the Chair concerning future bids for Government work programmes grant funding, the Assistant Project Surveyor (Energy & Sustainability) explained that the funding that had been received so far had been received from the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero. That funding was part of a package for a three year programme earmarked for energy saving projects such as the warm home: social housing fund; it was the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 56.

The Board were presented with a draft revised Climate Change Strategy for the council, prior to its consideration by Full Council.

The Climate Action Delivery Manager explained to Members that in September 2024, the Cabinet considered a report reflecting the achievements of the Council and the borough since declaring the Climate emergency in 2019. The report recognised the increasing challenges in delivering the council’s target for decarbonising its own operations and the limited impact this will have on wider borough emissions, highlighting the opportunity to refocus resources and efforts on wider climate actions and their co-benefits to further the interests of the borough as a whole and approval was given to develop a new Climate Strategy for the Council.

A consultation exercise was planned to connect with  the community to get their feedback and suggestions for the next iteration of the Strategy; the community feedback was gathered through various different sources such as the ‘Go Vocal’ Platform, meeting students from ‘Gravesham Youth Council’, meeting Parish councillors and through one of the big conversation events hosted at Wombwell Park The responses from the consultation, Desnz data, other information like carbon budgets, Climate Change & Kent Community Risk Register, the Councils own strategies such as Air Quality Action Plan, Biodiversity First Consideration Report and the Emerging local plan helped to shape the draft strategy which was detailed in Appendix Two.

Following approval from the Climate Change Advisory Board, the draft strategy would be presented to the Full Council on 17^th June for approval and adoption and then shared on the ‘Go Vocal’ platform for final feedback from residents.

The Chair thanked the Climate Action Delivery Manager for her presentation and advised that he was interested to see the extent of consultation that had been undertaken with the community businesses, individuals and the Youth Council in particular as they represented the thinking of the future.

The Chair noted that the new Strategy recognised that the Council had undertaken as much climate change work as possible, as a Borough Council, with regards to its own housing and assets to meet the carbon emission target of 2030 and was moving away from its previous role into a leadership role, seeking government funding and supporting the wider community in implementing activity to reduce emissions as well as make savings and other improvements. The Chair added that it was important that the Strategy and the Councils climate change work be communicated to the wider community, and schools and other agencies be engaged with.

The Board made several comments:

• Officers should be commended for a very good strategy but asked that wording be added to the covering report celebrating the successes of the work completed and outlining the financial benefits to Gravesham residents stemming from the climate change activities. The Chair added that the wording should only be added to the covering report as background information with the Strategy as a standalone document 
• The Youth Councils work were important, and their views were welcome in forming the Strategy  ...  view the full minutes text for item 57.