No apologies were receieved.

None.

The Chair announced a break for prayers at 6.25 due to Members and Officers observing Ramadan.

The Panel is asked to agree the notes of the meeting held on 26 February 2025as a true and accurate record.

The Panel agreed the notes of the meeting held on 26 February 2025 as a true and accurate record.

The Panel is asked to consider the Work Plan and agree any amendments.

The Committee and Member Services Manager will provide a verbal update.

The Committee and Member Services Manager provided the Panel with a verbal update on changes to the workplan, highlighting a long list of standing items for the upcoming year. He explained that the Scrutiny Governance Advisor and Environmental Officer team would be reviewing these items and would reach out to the Panel in due course to schedule discussions for the next year.

At its meeting on 12 March 2025, Cabinet considered the following reports from the Climate and Environment Panel and made responses to the recommendations:

·       Net Zero Masterplan Update

·       Update and Overview of work on the Waste Review

·       Heat Networks and Zoning

Cabinet’s responses to recommendations will be presented to the Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on 26 March 2025 for noting.

The Panel is asked to:

1.    Note Cabinet’s responses to its recommendations.

The Committee and Member Services Manager informed the Panel that since the last meeting, one recommendation had been made regarding the Net Zero Masterplan. This recommendation suggested that the Sustainability Team invite councillors to visit the Net Zero new build. Two sessions had been organised, with additional sessions planned for members. Regarding the ongoing waste review, a recommendation was made for the City Council to conduct research into cost recovery from student landlords related to waste services, which had been agreed on. Finally, another recommendation had been made concerning heat networks and zoning. It suggested that the Council explore a heat decarbonisation mapping exercise to support the work, which was also agreed.

The Environmental Sustainability Lead has submitted a presentation on the Energy Efficiency Update.

The Panel is asked to note the presentation and agree any recommendations.

The Energy Efficiency Officer was in attendance to present the report and answer questions.

Councillor Harley asked if there were insulation checks before heat pumps were installed. The Energy Efficiency Officer responded that there were.

Councillor Miles asked to what extent issues raised by the national press had affected insultation works in this programme. The Energy Efficiency Officer responded that they were not aware of how many problems occurred and reassured them that it was being managed. She also mentioned that there had been no issues in Oxford and they did not expect any.

Councillor Kerr asked how the Council was performing compared to other councils and what more could be done to learn and improve. The Energy Efficiency Officer explained that from a private sector perspective, there had been an update on the local authority delivery grant where performance had been poor due to the off-gas scheme which made it difficult to find participants. As a result, other areas had also underperformed. She stated in terms of retrofit engagement, the Council was performing well with great projects and was improving through collaborations with partners.

Councillor Kerr further asked if there was any way to measure the number of heat pumps installed in Oxford by private providers. The Energy Efficiency Officer confirmed that data was available. She mentioned that, if not already done, they should work on gathering this information through relationships with businesses. The Environmental Sustainability Manager added that a heat pumping exercise would be conducted under the local area energy planning initiative, which would map heat demand across the city. This exercise was expected to take place around the financial year and would provide useful insights.

Councillor Miles suggested it would be helpful for the demand exercise to explore the breakdown of types of entities and properties installing heat pumps, whether they were businesses or residential owners. She also asked for clarification on who needed to go through planning for air source heat pumps and who required approval to install them. The Energy Efficiency Officer clarified that most air source heat pumps could be installed under permitted development. If prior approval was needed, it could be logged, but not all installations would go through that process. With the relaxation of permitted development rights, fewer planning applications for air source heat pumps were expected. Councillor Miles then raised the issue of potential noise complaints and asked whether there was any work being done to assess how this might impact neighbourhoods and mitigate cumulative effects on residents. The Energy Efficiency Officer confirmed that this had been discussed, and the Environmental Sustainability Manager mentioned that a study by local government had been conducted, which she would circulate to Members.

The Panel agreed to make the following recommendations:

1. Conduct a brief assessment of the heat mapping exercise as part of the wider district heating network across the city and confirm when the data will be available.
2. Explore the properties in Oxford that have already installed air source heat pumps, including commercial properties,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.

The Environmental Sustainability Lead has submitted a presentation on the Carbon Offsetting Update.

The Panel is asked to note the presentation and agree any recommendations.

Presentation will be published as part of a supplementary agenda.

The Environmental Sustainability Lead was in attendance to present the report and answer questions.

Councillor Harley inquired about a breakdown of the colleges and how the figure was decomposed. She also asked about the potential mismatch between projects and funders. The Net Zero Transition Project Manager explained that the figure in the report came from Energy Solutions Oxfordshire, a collaboration between low carbon hub and Oxford Brookes University Carbon Exchange. She was unsure if they had a breakdown of how much was attributable to the university versus other commercial buildings. She mentioned they had a larger figure for Oxfordshire, which had been broken down to Oxford, but further details were unavailable. Regarding the potential mismatch, she clarified that if there was more funding than projects, the City Council would intensify its efforts to identify additional projects in need of funding. She noted that currently there were many organisations seeking funding. She also mentioned that they had developed a methodology to prioritise which projects to select, taking into account the requirement of the funders.

Councillor Kerr asked if there was a tendency for certain types of organisations such as charities and schools to fund specific projects. The Net Zero Transition Project Manager responded that they had spent time developing project and launched an offering to the public in January. As such, they were still in the process of assessing who was coming forward with funding. She added that the organisations expressing interest were diverse, and in time, they might be able to identify patterns.

The Panel did not offer any new recommendations but requested a verbal update on funding once more information became available.

The Environmental Sustainability Lead has submitted a presentation on the Zero Carbon Industrial Decarbonisation Update.

The Panel is asked to note the presentation and agree any recommendations.

Presentation will be published as part of a supplementary agenda.

The Environmental Sustainability Lead was in attendance to present the report and answer questions.

Councillor Harley raised a question about a table in the report that showed minimal change in heat pump installations between 2030 and 2040 and wondered about the small projection. The Net Zero Transition Project Manager responded that she was unsure but explained that they had worked with ERM, who conducted extensive background research. She didn’t have the exact reasoning for the small increase between 2030 and 2040 on hand but said she would follow up and provide further information.

Councillor Miles then asked the diversity of attendees at the stakeholder workshops, specifically whether people from various age groups had participated and if there had been good engagement across different groups. The Net Zero Transition Project Manager said that overall there was a good level of engagement. A lot of effort had been made to reach out to different organisations to attend the workshops, but she wasn’t sure about the specific breakdown of which individuals the organisations had sent.  

Councillor Kerr inquired about the level of positivity among businesses regarding their ability to deliver on the goals and how motivated people were to drive change. The Net Zero Transition Project Manager explained that there had been a lot of enthusiasm at the networking event, with a strong interest in addressing the challenges of industrial decarbonisation. She noted that delivery would be challenging. The funding available was intended to create a roadmap and action plan, rather than to fund implementation. She emphasised that to make progress, additional funding would be necessary, and future collaboration or grant funding would be essential to push this forward.

Councillor Kerr further asked what the next steps would be. The Net Zero Transition Project Manager responded that the next steps would involve seeking additional funding opportunities. The expansion of the Zero Carbon Oxford partnership into the Zero Carbon Oxfordshire partnership would also be significant. The Environmental Sustainability Manager added that the local area energy programme had developed a hyper local layout, which was helping to shape the broader layout. This initiative had already incorporated core data into the layout process which began in January. She noted that both efforts were running hand in hand, allowing them to use real data rather than modelling.

The Panel is asked to note the dates and times of future meetings of the Climate and Environment Panel.

Next meetings are scheduled for after the Scrutiny Committee in June 2025.

Meetings will take place remotely via Zoom.

The Panel noted the dates of future meetings.

The Panel is asked to agree the exempt notes of the meeting held on 26 February 2025 as a true and accurate record.

The Panel agreed the exempt notes of the meeting held on 26 February 2025 as a true and accurate record.