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
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:
Bumblebee Conservation Trust
A video was played for Members that had been submitted by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, a charity dedicated to reverse the decline of bee populations, which outlined their manifesto and pledge to Government and Local Authorities to protect pollinators as pollination was crucial for a third of food production, including fruits and vegetables which contribute to healthy lifestyles. Insect pollination was also vital for 90% of plants in the UK and the natural world would be unrecognisable without them. There were over 270 species of wild bees of which, 24 were bumblebees, the honeybee was native the UK but was no longer wild as they are contained for food and honey production and didn’t contribute to wild pollination. Over the past 100 years there was widespread decline in bee numbers, with 2 species extinct since 1940, with the increase in farming, use of pesticides and loss of habitat contributing to the decline. The Bumblebee Manifesto proposed 5 core recommendations to improve the situation which focused on 3 areas which Local Authorities can impact; prioritising pollinators over pesticides, improving flower rich habitats and to go further and faster to tackle climate change. Communities should be empowered to go pesticide free and focus on bio-diversity net gain, with green spaces prioritised. Recommendations were outlined as creating pollinator habitats, phasing out pesticides and embedding pollinator action in climate and nature policies. Contact details for engaging with the charity were provided as darryl.cox@bumblebeeconservation.org with further information available online via www.bumblebeeconservation.org
The presentation slides were to be shared with Members for their information and it was proposed that protection of pollinators was to be considered as a future working group item. The Green Spaces department had employed a new Technical Officer whose work on bio-diversity was relevant to this topic. An initiative was being run at Roundhay park to introduce areas of wildflowers, with this model gaining traction and expected to be implemented at other locations.
Yorkshire Sustainability Festival
The founder of Yorkshire Sustainability Week, which was now rebranded as Yorkshire Sustainability Festival, provided an overview of the progress of the event for summer 2024, noting last year’s had been the largest business sustainability event in the North of England, attracting 1,200 people to attend 20 events in 15 locations. The festival events were scheduled over a two-week period, covering the whole Yorkshire region and comprised of a 2 day conference in Leeds at Cloth Hall Court and engagement events from the 10th to the 21st of June 2024. A series of round table discussions were to take place as well as talks from keynote speakers with topics to be covered outlined as, construction, energy, transport, skills, citizens and engagement. The conference was to take place on the 18th and 19th of June, with a marquee, food vans and a brand activation zone open to the public outside the venue on Quebec Street, beyond the marquee, the event was to be ticketed. The topics for the conference were circular economy, manufacturing, skills, technology, food and waste, future cities, transport, water, people, places and housing. Members were requested to assist in identifying speakers for panel discussions. A secret business lunch was to take place on the 20th of June. It was expected that 2000 people were to attend 50 events and the ambition of the festival organisers was to create a regional Conference of Parties and was partnered with the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission.