Minutes:
The Chairman thanked officers for their presentations and updates and suggested the group discuss next steps on climate change engagement, particularly external engagement. He reminded the Board that its main role was to recommend approaches for the Council.
With reference to the success of a recent liaison session with parish clerks, the meeting identified the need to engage similarly with residents’ groups and people in non-parished areas. In addition, the benefit of the Council facilitating co-ordination between parish councils on climate change action and projects was advocated.
In response to being advised of initiatives with parish councils and a discussion of NALC (National Association of Local Councils), the Chairman proposed the value in all parish councils within the Borough being approached to ensure maximum engagement and involvement. Ben McCallan, SCC and Guildford Zero, referred to the advantages of co-ordinating and sharing resources within distinct catchment areas and confirmed that an open invite event was intended to be held in June 2023.
The meeting discussed the benefits of messaging about solar panel installations and repair shops and heard the value in framing climate change engagement around local issues. The Communications Officer suggested the Council might use the Horsleys as a case study to promote climate change engagement.
Members discussed possible measures to improve co-ordination between parish councils, Guildford Borough Council, and Surrey County Council. Scheduling a meeting between Councillor Young, Councillor Jones, Debbie Hickman, and Ben McCallan to explore how best to cascade information and initiatives was suggested.
In reply to a question, the Climate Change Officer noted the lack of Council resources to co-ordinate a Borough-wide response to climate change.
The Executive Head of Service, Organisational Development, praised the presentations given earlier in the meeting and suggested the optimum role for the Council was as a key player in leading the community conversation about climate change rather than attempting to co-ordinate a Borough-wide response to climate change. He recommended that the Council’s role was one of community leadership and taking a lead on communications.
Cat Halter, the Climate Change Programme Manager, SCC, suggested publicising the county-wide measures to reduce emissions, e.g. the Solar Together scheme. She advised the meeting of the planned development of an online information hub to signpost people to further news and material. In addition, the Climate Change Programme Manager, SCC, highlighted the potential role and representativeness of the county-wide partnership board.
A member of the Board advocated the creation and facilitation of a flexible framework within which collaboration, connection, and relationship building could occur.
The Chairman noted that engagement was a huge part of the CCAP but was outside the role of the Climate Change Officer and the day-to-day responsibilities of the Council’s communications team.
Guildford was identified as the area of Surrey with most capacity to progress climate change engagement (due in part to the presence of Guildford Zero, the Council, and the University of Surrey).
Summarising the discussion, the Chairman noted that there were a number of models and approaches for community engagement, other than the Council hiring additional resources, and that the Climate Change Officer and Ben McCallan should meet further to progress this.