The Committee is asked to approve the following reports for submission to Cabinet on 11 March.

·         Report of the Climate Emergency Review Group.

·         Integrated Performance  report for Q3 (if required this will be published as a supplement)

The Chair commended the Review Group’s report to the Committee as an excellent piece of work. In his role as Chair of the Growth Board’s Scrutiny Panel he sought the Committee’s agreement to submitting the report to the Panel.  The Panel would be considering the matter of a Climate Emergency in a few days’ time.

Councillor Richard Howlett, speaking as Chair of the Review Group, paid tribute to all those who had contributed to the review. It was noteworthy that the report’s 56 recommendations covered all but one of the Council’s 10 portfolio areas, illustrating the wide ranging relevance and importance of the climate change issue.  The Review Group’s recent visit to an innovative building programme in Southmoor had provided a thought provoking insight into the possibilities of building homes to a Passivhaus standard at a cost comparable to traditional building methods. The work of the group had made it clear that it while it would be a challenge to meet local and national targets for the reduction in carbon emissions, the availability of local skills,  technology and enthusiasm made that challenge less daunting than it would otherwise be.

The Chair noted that the views of the witness from Oxford University given in the report were not, necessarily, those of the Conference of Colleges.

The recommendation relating to reviewing the Council’s investment criteria to enable investment in energy co-operatives was welcome but it was recognised that it was too early to say how this might be achieved.

The Committee made a number of detailed suggestions and agreed to delegate responsibility for final adjustments to the report to Councillor Howlett and the Scrutiny Officer.

The Chair congratulated those involved in assembling the report and was pleased to hear that there would a press release to accompany its presentation to Cabinet in due course.