Agenda item

Matthew Smyth (Director for Environment and Circular Economy) and Helen Shulver (Head of Environment) were in attendance for this item.

1.    Mr Thomas (Cabinet Member for Environment) introduced the KCC Environment Plan which had been designed to unify and enhance the organisation’s environmental and sustainability efforts. The plan was framed around six goals and aimed to support environmental, growth, and health outcomes without imposing additional financial burdens. The actions listed in the plan had corresponding target outcomes which would be reported on annually at the Environment and Transport Committee to ensure that progress was monitored and maintained. Mr Thomas noted that the plan had no end date as it was intended to be a live document and one which could be embedded across a number of areas within the Council. The Plan had been presented to the Environment and Transport Cabinet Committee where the feedback received focussed on increased means of monitoring. Mr Thomas provided assurance that the team along with the Cross-Party Member Working Group would continue to explore and adopt improved monitoring systems.

2.    Further to comments and questions from Members it was noted:

·         The Environment Plan would require organisation wide support to ensure that the actions and activity were considered within all operations across the Council.

·         In regard to highways, it was noted that urban intensification had created the issue of waterways becoming polluted with sewage. This was largely due to outdated legislation which needed to be updated to take account of the changing environmental issues. It was therefore crucial that national policy continued to be lobbied and scrutinised to ensure that global matters were being addressed at a local level.

·         The Environment Plan relied on the participation and cooperation of landowners. A significant amount of work had been done in recent years to strengthen the Council’s connections with the rural communities, specifically in relation to environmental schemes and that work would continue. However, it was noted that the government’s recent budget announcements regarding funding for landowners may impact participation levels going forward.

Members noted the environmental achievements in 2023-24 as outlined in the report and said that it provided credibility to the Council in its ability to demonstrate what has been done to date and what improvements were intended to be made going forward, specifically in relation to the work planned to be undertaken with communities and partners. Members noted the considerable achievement of Kent County Council as the third lowest County Council in England in terms of municipal waste sent to landfill; an accomplishment which evidenced the ambition and goals of the Council and provided communities in Kent with assurance that all efforts would continue to enhance environmental growth and sustainability.

·         The Environment Plan would help to address the quality of seawater pollution which impacted enormously on the tourism sector and residents’ ability to use local facilities.

3.    Mr Thomas thanked Members for their comments and paid tribute to the team for all their work. Mr Thomas also provided members with an update on the work undertaken by the Council in building a dedicated team for its ‘Making Space for Nature in Kent and Medway’ project which would work with partners and communities to develop a tailored nature recovery strategy for Kent and Medway. The team had been working closely with farmers as a crucial partner in the delivery of some of those projects and Mr Thomas provided assurance that all efforts would be maintained in both sustaining and building those relations

4.    RESOLVED that Cabinet endorse the proposed decision by the Cabinet Member for Environment :

(a)  To adopt the Kent Environment Plan on behalf of Kent County Council.

(b)  To delegate authority to the Corporate Director of Growth, Environment and Transport in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Environment to refresh and/or make revisions to the Strategy as appropriate during the lifetime of the strategy.

(c)  To delegate authority to the Corporate Director of Growth, Environment and Transport to take relevant actions, including but not limited to finalising the terms of, and entering into required contract or other legal agreements, as necessary to implement the decision as shown at Appendix A.