Agenda item

The following Notices of Motion submitted to the County Council by the following Councillors have been referred to the Cabinet in accordance with Standing Order 8(2) for consideration, to refer it to another Committee or make a recommendation back to the Council:

 

(a) Restoring Railway Resilience (Councillor Hannaford)

 

(b) After COP 26 (Councillor Atkinson)

 

(c) Behaviour Change and Phasing Out Fossil Fuels (Councillor Hodgson)

 

(d) Community Composting Initiatives (Councillor Hodgson)

(a) Restoring Railway Resilience (Councillor Hannaford)

 

RESOLVED that Council be recommended to:

 

(a) continue to work collaboratively with the Peninsula Transport Sub National Transport Body authorities to develop a Peninsula Rail Strategy to inform future rail investment priorities; and

 

(b) through the Peninsula Transport Sub National Transport Body, work closely with rail partners and key stakeholders to make the case for future funding in line with the industry’s Delivery Plan process.

 

(b) After COP 26 (Councillor Atkinson)

 

RESOLVED that Council be recommended to endorse the Notice of Motion and continues to work with national government to provide the resources necessary to meet the Paris Agreement commitments.

 

(c) Behaviour Change and Phasing Out Fossil Fuels (Councillor Hodgson)

 

RESOLVED that Council be recommended to endorse the spirit of the Notice of Motion, continues to help residents and businesses reduce their environmental impact, and continues to take opportunities to invest in low-carbon infrastructure for the people of Devon.

 

(d) Community Composting Initiatives (Councillor Hodgson)

 

RESOLVED that Council be recommended to note the current position and the planned work on community composting and no further action be taken on the Notice of Motion.

(a) Restoring Railway Resilience (Councillor Hannaford)

 

(Councillor Hannaford attended in accordance with Standing Order 8 and spoke to this item). The wording of the Motion is outlined below:

 

Council warmly welcomes and celebrates the restoration of the Okehampton to Exeter daily rail services after an absence of fortynine years. 

 

After many years of strong cross party support at Devon County Council, we are especially pleased and proud that the first reopening under the governments “Restoring Your Railway Programme” has taken place at the heart of Devon. 

 

Hopefully heralding a national railway service revival across the whole country, that will see a transformational change in commuter movements, and a substantial reduction in harmful emissions. 

 

Council also welcomes the £50,000 to develop a business case to reinstate passenger rail links between Tavistock and Plymouth, and the new additional funding to reopen Cullompton Railway Station. 

 

However, council is greatly concerned, that there is still an estimated huge gap in regional railway service investment of 4.5 billion for the South West Region, based on its ONS projected population over the period to 2045.

 

Therefore, in order to continue to build upon the restoring your railway programme, increase the far South West’s general connectivity, secure our railway resilience, and crucially assist with the climate emergency, council commits its active support, working with others to lobby, help facilitate, and advocate for the following projects;

 

·         The completion of the Great Western electrification programme.

·         The development of the North of Dartmoor line, connecting Plymouth, via Okehampton and Tavistock. 

·         Additional passing loops, and an increase in line speeds, between Exeter and Salisbury to improve journey times between Exeter and Waterloo Station. 

·         Encouraging and working with the logistics sector to commit to a serious switch to rail freight for the distribution of consumer goods, food, and industrial products.

 

Furthermore, Council resolves to make formal representations to the Government, national and regional transport bodies, the business sector, and our local Devon Members of Parliament, to secure the necessary funding and investment to progress these much needed and long awaited improvements.

 

Members considered the Officer’s factual Briefing Note on the matter (CSO/22/01) which referred to the partnership with Peninsula local authorities to make the case for investment in rail, including the publication of a 20-year plan for rail in 2016. Since that Report, over £300m investment had been secured to improve the railway (listing the specific projects). The Briefing Note also referred to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and how that affected rail priorities (fewer commuters for example) and other impacts on the industry such as the decarbonisation of transport and tackling climate change as well as the Levelling Up agenda. Against this backdrop, the Peninsula Transport Sub National Transport Body would refresh its Rail Strategy. The Note also covered the Restoring Your Railway Ideas Fund monies secured by the Council (Tavistock to Plymouth rail line, Cullompton Railway Station, Dartmoor Line reopening).

 

The Council had previously made the case for passing loops west of Honiton and the infrastructure had been identified in the industry’s West of England Line Study 2020 and with the South West Sub National Transport Bodies had jointly commissioned a freight strategy, which was nearing completion.

 

The Cabinet considered the recommendation now before them and the actions now proposed and already undertaken and any other relevant factors:

 

It was MOVED by Councillor Hart, SECONDED by Councillor McInnes, and

 

RESOLVED that Council be recommended to:

 

(a) continue to work collaboratively with the Peninsula Transport Sub National Transport Body authorities to develop a Peninsula Rail Strategy to inform future rail investment priorities; and

 

(b) through the Peninsula Transport Sub National Transport Body, work closely with rail partners and key stakeholders to make the case for future funding in line with the industry’s Delivery Plan process.

 

 

(b) After COP 26 (Councillor Atkinson)

 

The wording of the Motion is outlined below:

 

The final draft of the COP26 agreement recognises "the urgent need for multilevel and cooperative action." which is understood by those negotiating on behalf of local government to refer to governance, and mean that action should include all levels of Government from local to central.

 

This Council

 

·         will work with Government and Local Government networks, to make sure the COP26 text is translated into meaningful local and national programmes to reduce carbon which are supported by agreed and sufficient financing by Government;   

·         demands that national plans formulated by the Government are discussed and negotiated between local and devolved Governments and not imposed centrally by Government;

·         demands that when the Government promotes new financial measures addressing climate change, these should be discussed with local governments and associations before implementation to ensure that the resources are used effectively at a local level and provide value for money; and

·         considers the current national Government competitive approach introduced in 2010, which has introduced an array of short-term and one-off funding pots for which Councils have to dedicate resources to bidding for to access to often small pots of money is not an effective way to address action to reduces global warming.

 

Members considered the Officer’s factual briefing note on the matter (CSO/22/01) which referred to the Devon Climate Emergency partnership which had the aim of “Creating a resilient, net-zero carbon Devon – where people and nature thrive.” The Devon Carbon Plan being prepared provided the strategic overview and would nest with similar plans being developed at district and town & parish level. Carbon emissions data and activity-planning toolkits had been provided for town and parish councils to start acting alongside the strategic actions in the Devon Carbon Plan.

 

The Interim Devon Carbon Plan, made it clear that cooperation with national Government to develop new funding streams and regulatory mechanisms would be vital to achieve net-zero and the Authority regularly communicated with Government on matters relating to the climate emergency.

 

The Cabinet considered the recommendation now before them and the actions now proposed and already undertaken and any other relevant factors:

 

It was MOVED by Councillor Hart, SECONDED by Councillor McInnes, and

 

RESOLVED that Council be recommended to endorse the Notice of Motion and continues to work with national government to provide the resources necessary to meet the Paris Agreement commitments.

 

(c) Behaviour Change and Phasing Out Fossil Fuels (Councillor Hodgson)

 

(Councillor Hodgson attended in accordance with Standing Order 8 and

spoke to this item).

 

The wording of the Motion is outlined below:

 

Further to the outcomes of COP26, which failed to secure strong commitments to phase out fossil fuels, this council will seek to support behaviour change in residents and businesses in the County by implementing initiatives modelled on the Welsh Government’s One Planet Standard and associated Policies.  This will include a commitment to switch funding from fossil fuel intense (e.g. new road building) projects to alternative (e.g. Active Travel) projects that will support low carbon, and healthier lifestyles.

 

Background information at this link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSDnAnpaGHs

 

Members considered the Officer’s factual briefing note on the matter (CSO/22/01) which referred to the aims of the One Planet Standard in encouraging organisations to respect planet Earth’s natural boundaries and capacities by adjusting the impacts of their activities to a level that one planet could provide for. The Devon Climate Emergency partnership recognised this ‘overshoot’ and the interlinked nature of the climate and ecological emergencies and the Interim Devon Carbon Plan contained actions to increase residents’ and organisations’ awareness of how they could reduce their impact on climate change and the natural environment. The Plan also described how investment needed to occur in technologies and approaches that would enable the transition to net-zero, alongside behaviour change, and create healthier lifestyles. The Cabinet noted that funding for public infrastructure from Government came with specific spending priorities and outcomes, however, attitudes were changing.

 

The Cabinet considered the recommendation now before them and the actions now proposed and already undertaken and any other relevant factors:

 

It was MOVED by Councillor Hart, SECONDED by Councillor Davis, and

 

RESOLVED that Council be recommended to endorse the spirit of the Notice of Motion, continues to help residents and businesses reduce their environmental impact, and continues to take opportunities to invest in low-carbon infrastructure for the people of Devon.

 

(d) Community Composting Initiatives (Councillor Hodgson)

 

(Councillor Hodgson attended in accordance with Standing Order 8 and Councillors Biederman, Brazil and Hannaford attended in accordance with 25(2) and spoke to this item).

 

The wording of the Motion is outlined below:

 

In the spirit of COP 26 to reduce the carbon footprint of waste recycling, this Council will encourage and support community composting initiatives that are supported by Parish Councils in the County. 

 

Members considered the Officer’s factual briefing note on the matter (CSO/22/01) which referred to the Council’s support for Community Composting for a number of years, the composting credits currently paid and work through Community Action Groups (CAG) Devon, funded by this Authority, in terms of supporting composting events (e.g on the 16^th October the Dr Compost event had been attended by 20 people and a second session on 20th November attended by 22 (including 3 NT staff)). There were plans to update the Recycle Devon community composting guidance which currently signposted the Devon Community Composting Network site and planned to offer simple advice with regards to planning issues.

 

The Cabinet considered the recommendation now before them and the actions now proposed and already undertaken:

 

It was MOVED by Councillor Hart, SECONDED by Councillor McInnes, and

 

RESOLVED that Council be recommended to note the current position and the planned work on community composting and no further action be taken on the Notice of Motion.