Visitors and members of the public who are unfamiliar with the building and procedures are advised that:

(a)      The fire alarm is a continuous loud ringing. In the event that a fire drill is planned during the meeting, the Chair will advise of this.

(b)      Exit routes from the chamber are located on each side of the room, one directly to a fire escape, the other to the stairs opposite the lifts.

(c)      In the event of the alarm sounding, leave the building via the nearest safe exit and gather at the assembly point on the far side of the car park. Do not leave the assembly point or re-enter the building until advised to do so. Do not use the lifts.

(d)      Anyone unable to use the stairs should make themselves known during this agenda item.

The Chair outlined the emergency evacuation procedure.

Councillors should not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their families or friends.

The Chair will ask Members if they have any disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) or disclosable non-pecuniary interests (DNPIs) to declare in respect of items on the agenda. Members with a DPI in an item must leave the room for that item and may not participate in the debate or vote. 

Aside from disclosable interests, where a fair-minded and informed observer would think there was a real possibility that a Member might be biased or predetermined on an item, the Member should declare this and leave the room while that item is considered.

Members who are in any doubt about interests, bias or predetermination should contact the monitoring officer for advice prior to the meeting.

No interests were declared.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting held on 29 June 2023 (Minute Nos. 157 – 164) as a correct record.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 29 June 2023 (Minute Nos. 157 – 164) were taken as read, approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

The Head of Environment and Leisure introduced the report which identified the key policy documents relevant to biodiversity and the ecological part of the Climate emergency.  He explained that the report was different from others submitted to the Environment Committee, in that it requested the Committee to consider the report in their scrutinising role, in order to guide future direction of the Council’s policies.

The Chair invited Members to ask questions and make comments and these included:

·         Acknowledged the increased tree planting, but concerned with the planned maintenance afterwards;

·         agreed that biodiversity was important, but there were projects that had not been delivered;

·         some policies were out-of-date, they needed to be looked at sooner, in advance of them becoming out-dated;

·         officers did not have time to complete many of the actions, such as coppicing and pruning;

·         the Environment Committee should compile a list of what they considered to be priority work;

·         considered Barton’s Point, Sheerness as a biodiversity resource should be included within the report;

·         welcomed the longer grass strategy;

·         needed to ensure that any rubbish hidden in long grass was removed when the grass was mowed;

·         there was no point in having policies if the work was not carried out;

·         needed to remember that Councils were financially stretched, and they had many services to fund;

·         welcomed the partnership working outlined in the report;

·         it was important to share the Council’s skills base and also learn from others;

·         biodiversity needed to be built-into the whole Council system of doing things and not be standalone;

·         roadside hedgerows were an asset and a very important part of biodiversity, being good for wildlife and capturing carbon dioxide;

·         acknowledged that hedgerows needed cutting back roadside, but they could be kept longer field side, so that they became wider and higher;

·         concerned that hedgerows were often the first thing to disappear when new developments were built;

·         landowners needed to be encouraged not to be so drastic with their hedge trimming;

·         it was important not to scale back if the work was not carried out in a particular year, so that programmes were in place for any potential funding bids;

·         the climate and ecological steering group was a great cross-party mechanism for monitoring actions;

·         considered a lot of biodiversity work was community based, with little cost; and

·         needed to limit the use of pesticides.

In response, the Head of Environment and Leisure outlined the maintenance schedules, which were led by officer, resident and Member intelligence and carried out on a priority basis, as per the tree maintenance strategy.  He said that it was not always possible to achieve everything at once, but having the aspirations gave direction to the Council.  He said that he was not particularly concerned with the expiration dates of policies, so long as the principles within them were still relevant/workable. All work was constrained by resources.  He acknowledged the importance of the Barton’s Point site in terms of its biodiversity, and said that a key theme in officers’ roles was enabling and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 273.

The Chair reported that as per the decision by the Committee at its last meeting on 29 June 2023 (Minute No. 164 refers), he had written to Kent County Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment regarding the proposed closure of the Faversham Household Waste Recycling Centre. He had not received a response to his questions and said that the consultation was on hold.

Resolved:

(1)      That the Forward Decisions Plan be noted.