Those present: Jacqui, Joyce, Maureen and Ted.
Our discussion focused on issues relevant to Transition Brighton and Hove’s objectives arising out of the meeting of Brighton and Hove Council’s Sustainability Commission on Wednesday 12th March.
The priority given to sustainability within the Council will be affected by its place in the New Governance Arrangements which come into operation in May 2008, when the Council replaces its committee system of decision-making with a Leader and Cabinet System.
All of us in the TB&H Liaison Group were concerned about the current proposal that "responsibility for scrutinising sustainability should lie within the Environment Scrutiny Committee". Our main ACTION POINT for this meeting was therefore to draft a letter to all the leaders of political parties within the Council, emphasizing the overarching focus of sustainable development and the impact all aspects of the Council’s work have on sustainability. In this context, we urge that the function of sustainability should be placed with the General Overview and Scrutiny Commission, to prevent it from becoming sidelined.
We should like members of Transition Brighton and Hove’s Hub to sign this draft letter. In the same letter, we also make the case for the Transition City Movement to be represented (as is the case for The Brighton and Hove Food Partnership and Wildlife Advisory Group) within the new Sustainability Partnership, which is to replace The Sustainability Commission.
Our second ACTION POINT resulted from mention at The Sustainability Commission’s March 12th meeting of the proposed panel of experts to support the new cabinets. We understand there will be around 20 experts on the panel drawn from Brighton and Hove residents who have national or indeed international expertise to offer.
Transition Brighton and Hove has some highly talented and knowledgeable people amongst its membership. It occurred to us that there may well be TB&H members who may want to offer their expertise &/or who Brighton and Hove City Council may want to approach.
The ACTION POINT was therefore to draft a request, which could be sent to Thurston Crockett, Head of Sustainability at Brighton and Hove City Council, asking for information on how far the plans to create the panels have progressed and advice on the criteria for selecting local experts. This letter could also inform Thurston that Transition Brighton and Hove has been following the proposals for revised decision making structures within the council and that we are keen to work with his Team to ensure integration of sustainability within the new arrangements.
Another item on the Agenda of the Sustainability Commission's of Wednesday 12th March, was a presentation given by Graham Osborne on Home Energy Efficiency and Fuel Poverty. Part of Graham's talk focused on the availability of grants for solar heating, and mentioned that extending solar is a stated priority within the Home Energy Efficiency scheme.
We noted at our own meeting that there has been tension here between policies, which have rightly been put in place to preserve the character and appearance of Conservation Areas and the contribution that solar panels could make to greater Home Energy Efficiency, the environment and householders’ bills.
Our ACTION will be to collate instances (through looking on the Council’s online planning register and consulting representatives especially from the city’s Conservation Areas) where planning applications for solar panels have been refused.
We wish to avoid pitting two Council Teams (1. Sustainability and 2. Conservation & Design) against one another. Instead, we seek better understanding and clearer guidance, so that Council policies can look “joined up” rather than “acting against one another” and householders who wish to install solar heating will find the process less “hit and miss”. Our Liaison Group would like to hear of instances where Brighton and Hove residents have had applications for solar refused, and of the reasons given. We will then have a body of evidence to present to the Council’s Chair of Planning.
Linked in with our discussion on Home Energy Efficiency is our continued interest in GREEN HOMES RENOVATION SCHEMES (see also: item 47 on Eco Open Houses on the agenda of the Sustainability Commission’s last meeting). Francesca Illiffe (Sustainability Officer) is organising an Eco Open Houses event, scheduled for the last week in June and the first week in July 2008. A website promoting this event is at www.ecoopenhouses.com, which will become active in April 2008.
The Eco Open Houses event will showcase several houses in Brighton and Hove, including the solid-walled Victorian house in Southdown Avenue (Preston Park Ward) where green renovation has reduced fuel bills by two thirds, cutting CO2 emissions by 72%. This home is also in a conservation area, and planning permission for solar was refused on successive occasions (perhaps for good reasons?) before it was finally granted.
Our Liaison Group welcomes this event. We also believe that there are more ideas, which could be borrowed from the Green Homes Scheme (promoted in London by Ken Livingstone), which offers a Concierge system, allowing the home-owner to receive comprehensive assistance and advice. We feel too that a transportable green exhibition house (as used to promote the London scheme) could increase public awareness if used in key areas (e.g. The Old Steine) of Brighton and Hove. Our current ACTION is seeking the contribution of an appropriate speaker to Transition Brighton and Hove’s Programme of Talks and to put members of Brighton and Hove Council’s Sustainability Team in touch with their London counterparts by forging such links.
A final ACTION POINT related to the importance of chalk grassland and preventing the deterioration of this important resource. We will seek more info on this and how this aspect of conservation relates to the main focus of Transition Brighton and Hove. We hope, too, that there is an Interest Group within Transition Brighton and Hove, which will include this among their concerns.
Our Liaison with Local Government Group supplements these NOTES (see below) with an extract of the AGENDA of the Sustainability Commission’s recent meeting, including links to background documents (Microsoft Word Format).
Many of the items discussed at Sustainability Commission Meeetings are extremely relevant to planning a low energy sustainable future i.e. the central objectives of Transition Brighton and Hove.
We therefore emphasize the value and importance of the Transition City movement being represented within the Council’s new Sustainability Partnership. This is something we have to ask for, and members of TB&H's Liaison Group feel that the right time to ask is NOW, while the new arrangements are being formalized. We will have a formal consultation period too, though staking our claim now will prepare the mindset of our friends working within the Council.
Ted Power on behalf of TB&H's Transition with Local Government Group
Email contact: localgovliaison AT transitionbrightonandhove.org.uk
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40 Procedural Business including:
Item 33A: promoting and adopting the ’food for life’ partnership standards
Item 35: options for reducing carbon emissions from The Council’s Civic Buildings e.g. proposed wind turbines at Kings House
Item 36: street lighting energy contract
Item 37: developing a One Planet Living ® Plan for Brighton and Hove
44 Home Energy Efficiency and Fuel Poverty in Brighton and Hove
- presentation by Graham Osborne, the Housing Sustainability Project Manager
45 Wildlife Advisory Group - report of the Director of Environment
Purpose of the report: to inform the Commission of the main recommendations of the Wildlife Advisory
Group (WAG) meeting of 30th October 2007 - in particular:
46 Eliminating Plastic Bags and Excessive Packaging - report of the Head of Sustainability & Environmental Policy
Purpose of report: to outline the strategies by which the council “seeks to support and encourage retailers, businesses and commercial manufacturers to eliminate excessive packaging, in particular the widespread use of plastic bags”.
47 Eco Open Houses
- presentation by Francesca Illiffe, Sustainability Officer
48 Call for Restraint on the Issuing and Mass Release of Balloons - report of Head of Sustainability & Environmental Policy
Purpose of report: to illustrate why the council should call for restraint on the issuing and mass release of balloons across Brighton & Hove due to the adverse effects on marine life.
49 The Sustainability Commission and New Governance Arrangements - report of the Head of Sustainability & Environmental Policy
Purpose report: to inform Commission members about the impact of the council’s new governance arrangements on the Commission and plans to replace it with a city partnership.
Notes on Liaison with Local Government Group Meeting 17th March 2008
