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 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 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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 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
|