Agenda and minutes

Environment and Sustainability Scrutiny Committee - Monday 18 November 2024 10.00 am

Venue: Conference Room 1 - Herefordshire Council, Plough Lane Offices, Hereford, HR4 0LE. View directions

Contact: Simon Cann, Democratic Services Officer 

Link: Watch this meeting on the Herefordshire Council YouTube Channel

Items
No. Item

103.

Apologies for absence

To receive apologies for absence.

 

Minutes:

No apologies for absence had been received.

104.

Named substitutes

To receive details of members nominated to attend the meeting in place of a member of the committee.

Minutes:

There had been no named substitutes received.

105.

Declarations of interest

To receive declarations of interests from members of the committee in respect of items on the agenda.

Minutes:

No declarations of interest were made.

106.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 327 KB

To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 23 September 2024.

Minutes:

The minutes of the previous meeting were received.

 

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 23 September 2024 be confirmed as a correct record and be signed by the Chairperson.

107.

Questions from members of the public

To receive any written questions from members of the public.

Minutes:

No questions had been received from members of the public.

108.

Questions from members of the council

To receive any written questions from members of the council.

Minutes:

No questions had been received from members of the council.

109.

Tree and Hedgerow Management pdf icon PDF 288 KB

To provide an update on tree and hedgerow management to the Environment and Sustainability Scrutiny committee.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair provided an overview of the report and explained that the debate would be structured around four main topics and objectives:

 

  • Scrutinise council tree and hedgerow management policy and its alignment with the work on the local nature recovery strategy (LNRS) and landscape recovery and climate change adaptability.
  • Understand the findings of the recent Defra consultation on hedgerow management.
  • Consider the county tree strategy as an enabler for Herefordshire to become a carbon offset trading partner with others.
  • Examine countywide action on ash dieback and replacement.

 

 

Tree and Hedgerow Management Policy

 

  1. The committee asked for update on the local nature recovery strategy (LNRS) and if/how that was being joined up with council’s tree and hedgerow management policy.

 

  • The Phosphate Mitigation Lead explained that the local nature recovery strategy was derived from the Environment Act and it required a period of consultation and engagement, both with internal and external interested parties.

 

  • The baseline and opportunities mapping had been completed. Members and officers had been engaged with so that they were aware of what was being done and how it linked up with wider strategies that were being developed across the county. In addition to this, external engagement sessions were being run with landowners and members of the public.

 

  • The tree and hedgerow management policy was a document for public realm partners and was aligned with the LNRS work. The ash dieback action plan was also aligned and joined up with the other two plans. At all periods of progress throughout the development of the plans there was a consultation phase to ensure that they were in alignment.

 

  1. The committee enquired why the tree and hedgerow management policy had been kept as a separate policy from the LNRS rather than being included as a subsection of it.

 

  • The Phosphate Mitigation Lead explained that the LNRS was a very specific piece of work and Defra had set out the criteria for the strategy so that it focused purely on nature recovery - even though it did touch on wider areas and notes the wider benefits. The tree and hedgerow management policy had to sit as a separate document, but running the two pieces of work in parallel made sense and that was the approach the council had taken in carrying out the work.

 

  1. The committee enquired if there were any constraints from the LNRS on the tree and hedgerow management policy.

 

  • The Phosphate Mitigation Lead explained the tree strategy was a council initiative and did not have a list of criteria that was set out by Defra, but the council would be referring back to national guidance around the tree strategy.

 

  • The Ecology and Arborculture Officer pointed out that the two policies were intrinsically linked and that the tree, hedgerow and woodland strategy would support the work of the LNRS, particularly on a local scale in terms of practical action on the ground from local communities.

 

110.

Work programme pdf icon PDF 216 KB

To consider the work programme for Herefordshire Council’s Environment and Sustainability Scrutiny Committee for the municipal year 2024/25.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The committee enquired about outstanding responses to recommendations it had made regarding: the Nutrient Management Board, Active Travel Measures and Public Rights of Way.

 

The committee discussed its work programme for the remaining municipal year.

 

Resolved:

 

The committee discussed the work programme for the year ahead and voted unanimously to approve it.

 

111.

Date of the next meeting

Monday 20 January 2025, 10:00am

Minutes:

Monday 20 January 2025, 10pm