4 Reference from Overview and Scrutiny Commission - climate emergency PDF 93 KB
Decision:
RESOLVED
1. That the report and recommendations arising from the joint scrutiny exercise with the youth parliament on the issue of the climate emergency, attached as Appendix A to the Cabinet report be noted.
2. That, subject to clarification on the wording of Recommendation 5, the recommendations be responded to through an action plan to be drawn up by officers in consultation with the lead Cabinet Member.
3. That the action plan be submitted to the Overview and Scrutiny Commission for consideration.
Minutes:
At the invitation of the Chair, Councillor Peter Southgate, Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Commission, presented the reference report. He sent apologies on behalf of the Youth Parliament representative who had been unable to attend due to illness.
The theme of the Local Democracy Week event had been chosen by the youth parliament and the objectives were to both give young people some experience of the Council’s scrutiny process; and to reach agreement on recommendations for future action on the climate change action plan, which he then outlined for the Cabinet. Councillor Southgate thanked the Cabinet Member for setting out the Council’s work in this area and the officers and young people involved in the event. He thanked the Leader and Cabinet Member for their support to the youth parliament and advised that the Youth Parliament was now sending representatives to the Climate Emergency Working Group.
The Chair thanked Councillor Southgate for his presentation and welcomed the report and the work of the youth parliament. It was also noted that representatives of the youth parliament had been invited to attend the Sustainable Communities Panel in February. The Director of Environment and Regeneration also thanked the young people for their hard work; and suggested a minor change on the wording of Recommendation 5, to avoid any confusion and clarify that items should be left out within the curtilage of the property and not on the public highway.
Cabinet Members welcomed the work of the youth parliament; their contributions at a successful event; and the opportunity to work with young people to help shape their future. Subject to the clarification on the wording of Recommendation 5, the Cabinet were happy to support and look into further.
The Chair welcomed the report and that Merton had come joint second out of the London boroughs in the Friends of the Earth local authority league table on tackling climate change.
RESOLVED
1. That the report and recommendations arising from the joint scrutiny exercise with the youth parliament on the issue of the climate emergency, attached as Appendix A to the Cabinet report be noted.
2. That, subject to clarification on the wording of Recommendation 5, the recommendations be responded to through an action plan to be drawn up by officers in consultation with the lead Cabinet Member.
3. That the action plan be submitted to the Overview and Scrutiny Commission for consideration.