At the discretion of the Chair, a period of up to 15 minutes may be allocated at each ordinary meeting for members of the public to make representations or to ask questions on matters within the terms of reference of the Committee. No member of the public shall speak for more than five minutes in the Open Forum, except by permission of the Chair.
Please note: Members of the public are asked to submit a video of their question or statement to climate.emergency@leeds.gov.uk by 5.00 pm on Wednesday the 30th of October 2024.
Minutes:
At the discretion of the Chair, a period of up to 15 minutes may be allocated at each ordinary meeting for members of the public to make representations or to ask questions on matters within the terms of reference of the Committee. No member of the public shall speak for more than five minutes in the Open Forum, except by permission of the Chair.
The following submissions were made as part of the Open Forum:
Pudsey Community Project (PCP)
The Director for PCP outlined that the organisation was charity based and part of the Leeds Community Anchor Network, operating out of West Leeds and provided a range of services, including, a food bank, youth, employment and bereavement support, a repair café and reduce, reuse kid’s clothes. The repair café created carbon reduction and financial benefits and the reduce, reuse kids’ clothes was based on a charity shop model, with some free provision or a pay as you feel options for families experiencing financial constraints, as well as reducing the negative impact on the climate the textile industry posed, with the CO2 impact noted to be equivalent to the shipping and aviation industries combined. Microfibres contributed to 9% of water pollution into oceans and 20% of clean water pollution globally, so reusing clothes rather than purchasing new items was environmentally and financially sensible. The clothes rooms, as part of the reuse offer was based in Pudsey and open six days a week, which supported a number of climate and financial focussed charities and organisations. Emerging data for 2024 outlined that the reduce, reuse kid’s clothes had provided for approximately 2,500 families equating to 4,000+ children, with over 7 tonnes of fabric reused, equating to a saving of 127 tonnes of CO2, including 900,000 litres of water which would have been required to produce the amount of fabric that had been reused. The service had gained traction, and it was hoped that increased carbon savings would occur year on year. there were some part time staff but, PCP was reliant on volunteers.
The Chair thanked Director for PCP and outlined that the Committee was supportive and were to promote the services offered by the organisation.
Horsforth Climate Action
A Hub Worker from Horsforth Climate Action outlined that the Horsforth Climate Action Hub was one of eight across the city, which had been opened following receipt of National Lottery funding in 2020; the funding had been agreed for four years and expired in 2024. The funding was used to support a variety of community events and paid Hub Workers who worked around 15 hours per week. The aim of the group was to encourage more climate action, contribute to zero carbon initiatives and to be more friendly to nature. Activities included a repair café, a library of things, nature maps alongside nature friendly walks and gardens, relaxed mowing sites, food groups, composting and education. A holistic approach, including audits of high footfall areas, for Horsforth being climate friendly as well as having good green space and amenity provision was in place, with data to be shared with the Council, Connecting Leeds and Horsforth Town Council. Specific events were held on Saturdays to consider and inform approaches to plastics, pollution, technology and various donations for people in need. The group engaged with other relevant organisations in the area and across Leeds, including local libraries, Breeze and Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.
The Chair thanked Horsforth Climate Action for their wealth of work to address climate change and support a range of services and work across Leeds.