Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Assistant Director for Legal and Governance in writing or by e-mail indicating both the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9.00am three working days before the meeting (in this case Monday 19 October 2020). Further details are available on the Council's website. Enquiries can also be made through the telephone number/e-mail address listed below.
Minutes:
1. Sandra Rohan Kickham spoke about item 6 - Council Provided Day Services for Adults with a Learning Disability. She spoke about services available before Covid 19 and the challenges for service users and parent/carers during Covid 19. She was concerned about the Council’s model of only providing day services if the external market could not provide the service and hoped that service users, parents and carers would be involved in the review.
2. Andrew Lyon spoke about item 7 - County Council Net Zero Carbon Plan. He asked that the County Council focus all its plans and policies on achieving Countywide CO2 equivalent emission reductions by 50% by 2030, as in the LEP report, rather than just following the County Council Net Zero Carbon Plan.
3. Christopher Cooke spoke about item 7 - County Council Net Zero Carbon Plan. He was encouraged that the Council recognised the need to take more ambitious action; that Worcestershire would have high-quality energy efficient housing stock and a robust, diverse energy infrastructure. He wished to know what mechanism would be used to track progress and what community education the Council intended to put in place to promote and encourage householders to insulate their properties? He also encouraged WCC to lobby MPs to support The Community Energy Revolution.
4. Phillip Oliver spoke about item 7 - County Council Net Zero Carbon Plan
He felt that retrofitting Carbon Capture and Storage to EnviRecover waste incinerator was vital for the WCC net zero plan to succeed but as there was a possibility that CCS technology would be found to not be a viable option at some future date, was the council reviewing alternative options such as moving to waste treatment producing less carbon emissions?
5. Dr Johnny Birks spoke about item 7 - County Council Net Zero Carbon Plan. He asked whether the Cabinet would use its influence to enable WCC to join the majority of other Local Authorities in declaring a Climate Crisis?
6. Pam McCarthy spoke about item 7 - County Council Net Zero Carbon Plan. She questioned:
1) Will our WCC, launch and maintain, a hard hitting publicity campaign to inform and educate Worcestershire’s residents and businesses about the Climate crisis and the transformative action required to address it.
2) Will our Council not restrict itself to those areas only of its direct responsibilities but instead give a strategic lead to all authorities, institutions, businesses and individuals
3) Will our Council be bold, creative and urgent in leading all to a net zero future.
7. Ronnie Lee had sent a submission regarding item 7 - County Council Net Zero Carbon Plan. The Democratic Governance and Scrutiny Manager read out his submission in which he asked whether in view of the large contribution to the climate crisis made by animal farming, what were the County Council’s plans to encourage a switch to a plant diet or to discourage the consumption of animal products, both in premises over which it has control and amongst the population of Worcestershire generally?
The Leader thanked the Public Participants for their contributions and invited them to listen to the meeting online while the item was discussed by the Cabinet.