Agenda item

To consider:

·       Request form a member of the public

·       Officers’ response to the points raised in the request for scrutiny

·       If a specific recommendation(s) needs to be made

It was resolved to:

·       Note the response of the officers, acknowledge that governance arrangements were in place and to continue to scrutinise the Plan on an annual basis.

·       Recommend to the Cabinet Member for Environment that consideration should be given to ways of increasing the response to public consultations and obtaining input from the public and others.

·       Request that information on expenditure be highlighted and detailed in the Climate and Nature Emergency Plan Annual Report to ensure transparency.

It was confirmed that the member of the public was unable to attend due to unforeseen circumstances. In his absence, the Scrutiny Adviser read out a written statement provided by him, which elaborated on his request by setting out the following points:

·       The money spent as part of the Climate and Nature Emergency Response Plan should meet the public benefit test of the Charities Act 2011, to ensure that decisions were evidence-based, transparent and could be scrutinised effectively.

·       That it was harder to demonstrate how projects were prioritised and whether they met the public benefit test, whether any other projects had been considered and what evidence had been used to reach a decision if public consultations and Cabinet oversight were not part of the governance of the Plan.

·       The importance of good governance arrangements.

·       It should be ensured that experimental schemes were fit for the future. If the Council ran an electric fleet vehicle pilot, the results of the pilot would not reflect the true future cost of the electric fleet.

·       The Plan's projects should identify the public benefit over time into the future. Public benefit from any project could diminish if costs continued to rise. The Council needed to demonstrate that this was being taken into account.

·       Delegated rights increased the risk of untested assumptions. Concern that projects may be approved on the basis of outdated information or optimism bias  without being scrutinised.

In response to the request for scrutiny and to the written statement elaborating on the individual's request, the following observations were submitted by officers:-

This request by a member of the public to scrutinise the issues was welcomed, appreciating the public interest in the Plan's work.

Assurance was given that the governance of the Climate Change and Nature Board was being considered continually, giving close consideration to its operations and financial decisions, and noting that a written response to the request for scrutiny had been submitted as part of the meeting documentation.

The Corporate Director confirmed that the Charities Act 2011 did not apply to the operation of the Board or the Council generally, clarifying that the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021 and democratic procedures were the relevant considerations for Cyngor Gwynedd.

In response to the request for scrutiny and to the written statement elaborating on the request, the following observations were submitted by Members:-

They thanked the individual for submitting this request for scrutiny, taking pride in the public interest in the field.

They disagreed with the concept that Climate Change and Nature Board matters were not subject to scrutiny, as this committee scrutinised the matter regularly. It was added that a cabinet member was present for that scrutiny process and that the observations of this committee had a positive impact on the Board.

It was confirmed that public consultations were being held regularly on climate and nature emergency matters to ensure that the people of Gwynedd had the opportunity to voice their views in the formulation of the Board's projects. However, it was considered that there was room for improvement to ensure that certain communities responded to these consultations. In response to the observations, the Cabinet Member for Environment confirmed that the public consultations were included on the 'Have Your Say' page on the Council's website, acknowledging that work was underway to ensure consultations reached Town and Community councils and that extensive responses were received.

It was also noted that field experts gathered information for the Board ensuring that accurate and up-to-date information was presented to Members. It was recognised that this was a very complex area and that specific scientific knowledge was required to be able to collect data effectively.

In response to specific observations on how the Board budgeted the approved projects, the Corporate Director confirmed that discussions about budgets took place at the Board meetings. It was elaborated that the Plan was one of the Council Plan priorities and that any decision made by the Board was considered by the Communities Scrutiny Committee and the Cabinet for oversight, and to ensure a democratic process to ensure that budgets were spent meaningfully and transparently.

In response to an enquiry about the membership of the Board, the Climate Change Programme Manager confirmed that the elected members on the Board were not all members of the Plaid Cymru Group, confirming that a cross-section of the Council were present at the meetings such as five cabinet members, 2 elected members – a representative from the scrutiny committee and the Biodiversity Champion, along with a number of senior officers.

In response to observations submitted in relation to the 'Risk of Strategic Move' submitted as part of the request for scrutiny, the Climate Change Programme Manager confirmed that anyone wishing to receive funding from the Climate Plan Fund would need to complete a form which would be considered by the Board. It was explained that this form contained a number of conditions as well as detailing the benefit that would come from carrying out the work in question, in order to be able to determine whether granting the request for funding would be in line with the priorities of the Emergency Plan. It was also noted that the expenditure of the Fund was a matter addressed by the Governance and Audit Committee.

       RESOLVED to

·       Note the response of the officers, acknowledge that governance arrangements are in place and to continue to scrutinise the Plan on an annual basis.

·       Recommend to the Cabinet Member for Environment that consideration should be given to ways of increasing the response to public consultations and obtaining input from the public and others.

·       Request that information on expenditure be highlighted and detailed in the Climate and Nature Emergency Plan Annual Report to ensure transparency.