On Tuesday 6 April, Dorset Council’s Cabinet will look at the latest version of the Climate & Ecological Emergency Strategy and Action Plan, as well as the findings from the recent public consultation.
The current strategy is recommended for approval by Cabinet and Full Council, as the consultation clearly indicated widespread approval of the Council’s approach.
Officers have analysed the responses from over 1,500 respondents. This has resulted in a few changes to the strategy where the Council is able to take direct action.
The aim is become a carbon neutral Council by 2040. By working in partnership with the communities and organisations in Dorset we can achieve a carbon neutral Dorset County by 2050.
Changes to the strategy as a result of the consultation
There were over 12,000 comments received that highlighted several key concerns within the strategy. The report outlines proposed changes to the strategy as a result, as well as recurring themes and areas of interest, including adding actions such as:
- Continue to lobby central government over changes to national policy to encourage and enforce carbon-neutral planning and development
- Council-owned tree management policy will include replacing every felled tree with two new ones, and create tree planting programmes to prevent flood risks and water pollution
- Implementing Electric Vehicle and Hydrogen infrastructure everywhere possible, both rural and urban
- We will investigate the reintroduction of beaver colonies to facilitate flood prevention and to improve water quality and enhance biodiversity
- Working with internal and external partners to identify opportunities for Large Scale Rewilding
- Develop plan to encourage adoption of more climate and ecological friendly practices and greater protection of soils and share best practice with the wider farming community
- Lobby central government over the amount of plastic packaging and lack of action by retailers and supermarkets.
Cllr Ray Bryan, Portfolio Holder for Highways, Travel and Environment said:
“A lot of hard work has gone into the development of the strategy, which has been informed by officers, councillors, communities and the public. Therefore it comes as no surprise that the majority of the respondents support what we we’re proposing to do to tackle climate and ecological change in Dorset. The few changes we have made add further improvements and I’m pleased with the results.
“We appreciate that many people want the council to act faster on achieving carbon neutrality. However, given the resources and existing technology available to us, we believe the current targets remain both ambitious and achievable, including a 70% reduction in our carbon footprint by 2030. We will continue to aim for earlier targets if possible, especially if central government amend their own target dates and make changes to legislation accordingly.
“Other commenters asked us to introduce stricter environmental regulation on things like car use, development and building control, much of which is currently outside the Council’s direct authority. We intend to use these suggestions as we commit to continue lobbying central government for extensive changes in national policy. This will give us the powers we need to ensure developers commit to zero carbon property building in our county.
“Other suggestions included more regular reporting of our progress and closer scrutiny of our ongoing climate work, which have been fully taken on board and we will change our approach accordingly. The strategy is a living document – a continual work in progress – and will be amended in the future as further scientific evidence becomes available, new technologies emerge and additional grant funding comes our way.
“I want to take this opportunity to thank residents, businesses and groups for their time in giving us their open and honest feedback. But this is just the beginning of our efforts – the real hard work starts now as we begin to take decisive and bold actions to change the way we do things in Dorset to address the climate and ecological emergency.”
May we know how the Council calculates “widespread approval”? How many of 1500 respondents approved the council’s two target dates for becoming carbon neutral? Or other sections of the plan?
On the face of it, this seems an incredibly disappointing and unimaginative response from Dorset Council. If, as it says here, it would be ready to bring forward those dates “if central government amend their own target dates”, why not take the lead? Dorset Council has a rare opportunity to take a visionary and inspiring lead in response to the biggest emergency ever to have faced us…
Andrew – We’re addressed the issue of the target dates many times before. We’ve done the analysis, had the discussions and looked at what we can do. At present, we simply do not have the resources in place to hit a 2030 deadline. Many councils have set 2030 as a target date and presented no specific plan for how they intend to reach it – we have a full strategy and action plan that will lead to a 70% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 or earlier – James
What evidence have you got for “widespread approval” of the target dates in the CEE Strategy? Many people including Dorset Climate Action Network, on behalf of many organisations and thousands of people concerned about the climate and ecological emergency, submitted that 2030 should be the date for the Council to address the urgency of the situation by achieving Net Zero for its own operations. This would be in line with other counties like Cornwall. It would be helpful for you to publish a breakdown of submissions and how you plan to amend the Strategy in light of public comments.
The results of the consultation and list of amendments are available to read at https://moderngov.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/documents/s23559/Appendix%20A%20-%20Dorset%20Council%20Climate%20and%20Ecological%20Emergency%20Strategy%20and%20action%20plan%20-%20Consultation.pdf and https://moderngov.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/documents/s23566/Appendix%20B%20-%20Summary%20of%20key%20consultation%20comments%20and%20recommendations%20for%20changes.pdf – James
The CEE strategy is weak and unambitious with the main problem being that it only tackles the 2% emissions caused by the council and not the 98% emissions elsewhere in Dorset. The council’s claim that the consultation “clearly indicated widespread approval” is almost certainly false and, without evidence or independent verification, deeply insulting to those of us who responded in good faith.
Giles – The results of the consultation are available for everyone to see. We can only take direct action against the things we are directly responsible for, and our strategy does exactly that while making a commitment to lobby central government about the other 98% we cannot currently do anything about – James
The geographic position of the AONBs leaves a very narrow area of land, especially to the a east and north of Dorchester where intrusive renewable technologies could be located. These areas have recently seen proposals thrown out because of landscape impacts. The strategy is too focused on renewable technologies and too weak in several other climate measures. The document fails work with specific environmental and landscape constraints that Dorset offers.