Cabinet considered the report regarding the set up an independent Climate Partnership within the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.

The Lead Member for Climate Change, Sustainability, Parks and Countryside informed Cabinet that the partnership would oversee the delivery of the Environment and Climate Strategy by bringing together private and public sector organisations as well as community groups.  By utilising the knowledge and expertise of organisations across the Borough, it will better support delivery of the outcomes set out in the strategy as well as allowing the council to deliver on its own actions and commitments within the strategy.  It was planned that the partnership would become self funding.  The Council had three officers whose main responsibility was sustainability and climate change and this would allow them to spend more time on the council’s responsibilities to this cause.  It was planned to have a secretariat in place to support the new body if approved.  The partnership itself would have a three-tiered structure, with the executive providing a leadership role, the network providing a means of knowledge sharing and a community forum to provide broad and inclusive engagement.

The Lead Member for Finance and Ascot informed that the management of Climate Change was the biggest and most multi-faceted project ever undertaken and he was pleased that we had the foresight to arrive at the conclusion that this cannot be addressed by the Council or for that matter any other organisation on its own.

The proposal to set up a Borough Wide Climate Partnership with the Council owning the agenda and supported by a Council secretariat offered the greatest opportunity for success. All businesses have a social responsibility and must accept the requirement to manage their carbon footprint down. Bringing together businesses with a common object and agenda into a single organisation would be very powerful.

Working alongside public sector and community organisations this should lead to shared experience, shared learning, potentially shared resource and best address the four strategic themes: energy, circular economy, natural environment and transport. Furthermore, there was the possibility of the RBWM partnership gaining a seat on or close to the top table.

This would in no way undermine the work of community groups rather it has the potential to help them drive forward and expand the most promising projects.

This was a very exciting proposal which will require considerable effort to get off the ground but has the potential to be a game changer and deserves our support.

The Lead Member for Transport, Infrastructure, and Digital Connectivity said that again there was pragmatism being put before Cabinet.  What was in the Council’s control would be effectively actioned, however the majority of actions sat outside the Council’s control.  It was important to engage in the way this paper proposed. This was a commitment to deliver the council’s target and the mechanism to do so. 

Cllr W Da Costa said that he appreciated the work put into these proposals.  There was a climate emergency and it was declining quicker than expected.  He asked that the £250,000  commitment over the next three years was without existing commitments and restraints.  He asked that the partnership be set up this year with the funding being brought forward, the money should be above the funding already committed to officers and projects, the partnership should be open to all and that our objective to committee to carbon zero by 2030 be included throughout the Corporate Plan. 

The Chairman said that the Corporate Plan was due to go to Corporate O&S Panel on 11^th October and suggested that Cllr Da Costa submit his view or ask a Panel member to express them for him. The Lead Member also informed that the board would have an independent chair and would be responsible for developing its own terms of reference.

Cllr Price informed that she thought that it had been agreed that if there was to be any additional expenditure then savings had to be identified, she had not seen this applied with this report.  Paragraph 2.13 mentioned the enhanced role of the council and she asked what this was.  The Climate Emergency Coalition had written to the Lead Member with concerns that this process would not lead to a delay in the action plan and this was on top of what was already being done.  It had already been conformed that the body would be independent.

The Lead Member responded that there were come concerns about the delay but there was plenty that we could get on with before this was implemented.  There would be no delay in implementation.  This proses would speed up work as it would free up officer time to undertake their roles in meeting Council targets.  A large proportion of revenue funding would come from S106 money.

Chris Joyce informed that the additional funding would be part of the budget build, the enhanced role was just acknowledgment that for the first three years the Council would be the main financial contributor and would have a Cllr and officer on the board.

Cllr Davies addressed Cabinet and said that as a member of the cross party working group they had not seen the reports recommendations.  She was concerned about future accountability and governance of the partnership as the council had no powers to scrutinise and the areas covered all O&S Panels remits so there was a possibility of areas falling through the gaps.  She also mentioned that the three-tier structure would be better suited to a triangular system. 

The Chairman mentioned that it was not for Cabinet to tell scrutiny what to do, however its their discretion to decide what to look at he hoped they would consider this as part of their responsibilities.  Cllr Davies recommended that the Panels had this as a standing agenda item. 

Resolved unanimously:  that Cabinet notes the report and:

i)          Approves setting up a Borough Wide Climate Partnership and providing revenue funding support for the next three years.