Agenda, decisions and minutes

The agenda and reports associated with this minute can be located here.

Please note that if any changes are made to this minute at the point of approval, these will be outlined in the subsequent minute and this document will not be retrospectively altered.

In relation to item 10.1 (Climate Change Report 2021-22), the following statements were noted:-

Councillor Blake advised that her husband was employed by Nature Scotland, the Convener advised that he was on the Board of the Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group and Councillor Ali advised that he was on the Board of Aberdeen Heat and Power, however having applied the objective test, none of the Members felt these were interests which needed to be declared, nor which would prevent them from participating in the meeting for that item.

The Committee had before it the planner of committee business, as prepared by the Interim Chief Officer – Governance.

Members asked a number of questions in relation to the content.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to note that there would be no performance report due to the Committee in January 2023 due to the lack of availability of data around the reporting timescales;

(ii)       to note that the business planner would be amended to add a column which would illustrate to which of the Aberdeen Adapts themes reports were connected;

(iii)      to note that officers were currently looking at the Net Zero Aberdeen Partnership Leadership Board and Delivery Unit structure and delivery around this, and would be bringing a report back to a future meeting with any recommendations around the structure;

(iv)      to note that officers were reviewing the timescales for the Local Transport Strategy and that this would be added to the business planner once timescales had been determined;

(v)      to note that the Chief Officer – Strategic Place Planning would bring a report to a future meeting to highlight the strategies which would be reported to the Committee and when these could be expected to be populated in the planner;

(vi)      in relation to item 5 (Windmill Brae), to agree that this be removed from the planner as it would be considered as part of the City Centre Masterplan;

(vii)     in relation to item 7 (Various Small Scale Traffic Management Stage 2) to agree that this be removed from the planner;

(viii)    in relation to item 8 (Queens Lane South), to note that this report would be delayed to January 2023 due to a delay in consultation starting;

(ix)      in relation to item 14 (Removal of Pedestrian Crossings & Traffic Signal Controlled Junctions), to agree that this be removed from the planner as the budget savings had been identified elsewhere;

(x)      in relation to item 16 (Signage Policy), to note that this had been delayed to March 2023 from January 2023 due to the requirement to report to the Council’s Policy Group and Risk Board in the first instance;

(xi)      in relation to item 38 (Road Safety Policy), to note that the report would now be presented in January 2023 instead of August 2023, with annual reporting moving to January meetings thereafter;

(xii)     in relation to item 53 (South College Street), to agree that this be removed from the planner and a service update provided instead; and

(xiii)    to otherwise note the planner.

The Committee received a presentation from officers on climate and environment, which covered amongst other topics, an introduction to the Climate and Policy Service; Aberdeen Adapts; the Net Zero Aberdeen routemap, natural environment and the biodiversity crisis; the Bus Partnership Fund and Aberdeen Rapid Transit; energy and waste management; the energy heat network; and managing spaces for nature.

Members asked a number of questions about the presentation.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to thank officers for the informative presentation;

(ii)       in relation to slide 16, to request that officers share the more detailed information that was available from UK climate projections with Members outwith the meeting;

(iii)      in relation to the slides on biodiversity, to request that officers circulate information to Members outwith the meeting on (a) the locations of the key spaces for nature in Aberdeen; and (b) a list of statutory responsibilities / legislation in relation to protecting and improving nature;

(iv)      to note that officers were engaging with the Scottish Government as to data on the reduction in the use of private transport as a result of free bus travel and that this could be shared with Committee when available; 

(v)      to note that the Chief Officer – Strategic Place Planning would liaise with the Chief Officer – Education to provide an update on play-based / outdoor learning initiatives, including any plans for using playground space for food growing;

(vi)      to request that officers provide Members with further detail on the Pilot Theme Sprint with Zero Waste Scotland when that was available, and to note that officers had committed to using plain English for any communication around this and other projects;

(vii)     to request that officers make refresher Carbon Literacy training available to Members;

(viii)    in relation to the just transition to net zero, to note that the Chief Officer – Strategic Place Planning would liaise with the Chief Officer – City Growth around the data being collected to monitor progress and ascertain how this could be shared with the Committee, noting that a report was also on the planner for a future meeting on the energy transition zone and jobs plan; and

(ix)      in relation to the Energy from Waste facility, to note that officers had undertaken to engage further with the local community around the benefits of the facility.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Commissioning which sought approval for the statutory Climate Change Report (CCR) for 2021/2022.  The report advised that the CCR was to be submitted to the Scottish Government, to ensure compliance with the requirements of Part 4 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.

Members received a presentation from officers and asked a number of questions on the report and slides.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)    approve the Climate Change Report 2021/22, as detailed in Appendix 1 and instruct the Chief Officer - Strategic Place Planning to submit the report prior to the deadline of 30 November 2022; and

(b)    instruct the Chief Officer - Strategic Place Planning to publish the Climate Change Report on the Council’s website.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)     in relation to page 21 of the report, to note that officers would provide further information to Members outwith the meeting on what was being done in relation to lifelong learning and educating citizens about the implications of climate change and the principles of sustainability;

(ii)     in relation to Managing land for nature / Biodiversity, to request that officers work towards raising awareness with the public regarding the approaches being taken by the Council and the benefits thereof;

(iii)    in relation to page 26 of the report, to note that the Open Space Strategy would be reported to a future meeting of the Committee;

(iv)   in relation to page 28 of the report and the question 2(g) – “Has the body used the Climate Change Assessment Tool (a) or equivalent tool to self-assess its capability / performance?”, to request that officers provide information to Members outwith the meeting as to why the answer given was ‘not applicable’;

(v)    in relation to page 69 of the report, to request that officers provide information outwith the meeting as to why the fleet emissions had increased between 19/20 and 21/22;

(vi)   to note that officers would liaise with the Scottish Government to seek information on its emission reduction performance;

(vii)   to request that officers provide further information on the contribution of car clubs to reduction in emissions;

(viii)  to request that officers provide Members with a single document containing all the links embedded in the report;

(ix)  to note that officers would circulate the abridged slides to Members for information; and

(x)    to approve the recommendations.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Customer which presented Committee with the status of appropriate key performance measures relating to the services falling within its remit, namely Environment, Fleet, Roads and Infrastructure and Waste.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee note the report and provide comments and observations on the performance information contained in the report appendix.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       in relation to the indicator “Number of Partners / Community Groups with links to national campaigns - Green Thread”, to note that officers would provide Members outwith the meeting with details of the number of volunteers involved in the various projects;

(ii)       to note that officers had undertaken to send Councillor Henrickson the report which had been submitted earlier in the year in relation to the areas in Aberdeen which had still to be updated to LED street lighting;

(iii)      in relation to the Waste Services indicator on page 92 of the report (Customer – Waste – Total Number of Complaints), to request that officers circulate information to Members outwith the meeting on the lessons learned; and

(iv)      to otherwise note the report.

-          COUNCILLOR IAN YUILL, Convener