Issue - meetings

(Stephanie Holt-Castle, Interim Director of Environment, Planning and Enforcement, and Deborah Kapaj , Sustainable Estates Programme Manager, were in attendance for this item)

(1)      Miss Carey (Cabinet Member for the Environment) introduced the report which asked the cabinet committee to consider and endorse or make recommendations on a proposed decision to revise the Council’s Environment Policy.

(2)      Miss Kapaj said the purpose of the policy was to make a clear public commitment to implementing a programme of environmental improvement which included: reducing the environmental impact of the Council’s operations and services; considering climate risk when planning services and taking decisions; as well as working with partners, businesses and communities to address Kent’s environmental issues and priorities.  She said much had changed since 2017, when the current Environment Policy had been adopted, and that having an Environmental Policy was required for successful assessment against the ISO14001 International Standard for Environmental Management.

(3)      Members said the fact that KCC had been recognised nationally as a front runner in environmental matters should be celebrated.  Members also reflected on the change in public attitudes and media coverage since the adoption of the 2017 Environment Policy and welcomed efforts to minimise waste from the authority’s own estate.  In response to a question, Miss Kapaj said that Kent’s country parks were using compostable packaging; Skanska had started using dissolvable tablets supplied in cardboard boxes instead of cleaning fluids in plastic containers, and further work was underway to further reduce the use of single use plastics.

(4)      Resolved to endorse the proposed decision of the Cabinet Member for the Environment to:

(a)     approve the revised Policy for adoption and implementation through the ISO14001 Environmental Management Standard framework; and

(b)     delegate authority to the Corporate Director for Growth, Environment and Transport to take relevant actions, including but not limited to entering into contracts or other legal agreements, as necessary to implement this decision.