Issue - meetings

Report by Alwen Williams, Portfolio Director.

1.  To adopt the proposed position statement as set out in section 5.1 of the report on how the Growth Deal projects will deliver against regional, Welsh Government and UK Government aspirations on climate and ecological change, with the following adaptations:-

·         To amend the second bullet point to read "deliver at least 40% less embodied carbon”.

·         To amend the third bullet point to read "deliver at least 10% net benefit for biodiversity”.

·         Delete the final sentence, namely "The Portfolio Management Office will work with project sponsors to deliver the best affordable solution for each project”.

2.  To note that all Growth Deal projects will need to set out to what degree they will deliver against the position statement and any relevant mitigations as part of the business case approval process.

3.  To delegate to the Portfolio Director, authority to determine the appropriate means of implementation and measurement across the portfolio and to note that this will require external expertise to be commissioned to support the Portfolio Management Office.

The report was submitted by Alwen Williams (Portfolio Director) and Robyn Lovelock (Growth Deal Programme Manager).

RESOLVED

(1)     To adopt the proposed position statement as set out in section 5.1 of the report on how the Growth Deal projects will deliver against regional, Welsh Government and UK Government aspirations on climate and ecological change, with the following adaptations:-

·         To amend the second bullet point to read "deliver at least 40% less embodied carbon".

·         To amend the third bullet point to read "deliver at least 10% net benefit for biodiversity".

·         Delete the final sentence, namely "The Portfolio Management Office will work with project sponsors to deliver the best affordable solution for each project".

(2)     To note that all Growth Deal projects will need to set out to what degree they will deliver against the position statement and any relevant mitigations as part of the business case approval process.

(3)     To delegate to the Portfolio Director, authority to determine the appropriate means of implementation and measurement across the portfolio and to note that this will require external expertise to be commissioned to support the Portfolio Management Office.

REASONS FOR THE DECISION

Without a clear position from the Board on climate and ecological change, opportunities to shape project business cases may be lost. This could inadvertently result in Growth Deal projects increasing regional carbon emissions and biodiversity loss.

DISCUSSION

The report was submitted, which presented a proposed position statement for the North Wales Growth Deal in relation to climate and ecological change.

Details were provided about the background and relevant considerations and the consultations held.

During the discussion, the following matters were raised:-

·         Concern was expressed by some members that the proposed position statement did not go far enough, and that the wording should be tightened, e.g. it should be noted that 'all Growth Deal projects will ...', rather than 'all Growth Deal projects will aim to ...', etc.

·         It was stressed that the NWEAB should lead across North Wales on reducing carbon footprint, and it was suggested that all Growth Deal projects should deliver 50% less embodied carbon (rather than 40%, as noted in the proposed position statement) and deliver a 20% net benefit for biodiversity (rather than the 10% noted in the statement). In response, it was explained that Wales had not set a net benefit target for biodiversity, but it was acknowledged that the current situation was not supportive of the health of ecosystems, and that there was a need to be more ambitious. In the absence of a target for Wales, the DEFRA guidance was followed, which had consulted extensively over several months in England prior to establishing the net benefit of 10%. It was further noted that the target for embodied carbon was ambitious, and that it may be possible to tighten the wording. Attention was also drawn to the fact that the statement noted that projects would be encouraged to exceed these aspirations, but the wording also needed to acknowledge  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6