Agenda item

Questions:

Any member of the public can submit a maximum of 2 written questions. Questions should be addressed to the Chair of the committee and sent to democratic.services@westofengland-ca.gov.uk

For the 4 October meeting, questions must be submitted and received by the deadline of 5.00 pm on Monday 30 September 2019.

Under the direction of the Chair, wherever possible, written replies to questions will be sent to questioners by the end of the working day prior to the meeting.

Petitions / statements:

If you wish to present a petition or make a statement at this meeting, you are required to submit this in writing by 12 noon on the working day before the meeting to democratic.services@westofengland-ca.gov.uk  

For the 4 October meeting, this means that your petition/statement must be submitted and received by 12 noon on Thursday 3 October 2019.  Please note that one statement per individual is permitted. 

Statements will be listed for the meeting in the order of receipt.  In presenting a statement at the meeting, members of the public are generally permitted to speak for up to 3 minutes each if they so wish. The total time available for the public session at committee meetings is 30 minutes. Within the time available, every effort will be made to enable individuals to verbally present their statements; at the discretion of the Chair, speaking time may sometimes be reduced depending on how many public items are received.

Please note that all public items will be circulated in advance of the meeting to the committee members.

4 questions had been submitted in advance of this meeting, as follows:

1. Christina Biggs - subject: Use of Combined Authority funds

2. Cllr Clive Stevens (Bristol City Council) - subject: Agenda item 14 - Business Plan 2019/20 - quarter 2 progress update - Appendix 2 - Corporate Risk Register summary

3. Richard Baxter - subject: Bristol airport expansion

4. Sandy Hore-Ruthven - subject: Creative Youth Network - The Courts project

The Chair advised that written replies had been sent to all questioners in advance of the meeting.

13 statements had been received in advance of the meeting, as follows:

1. Cllr Mark Weston (Bristol City Council) - subject: Support tariff-free ports plan

2. Sandy Hore-Ruthven & Mark Coates - subject: Creative Youth Network - The Courts project

3. Susan Davies - subject: Action on climate emergency

4. Mathew Thomas - subject: Bristol airport expansion

5. Bill Roberts - subject: Bristol airport expansion

6. Hilary Burn - subject: Bristol airport expansion

7. Dave Redgewell - subject: Transport issues & bus strategy

8. Nigel Bray - subject: Transport issues & Bath-Warmley light rail consultation

9. Tony Jones - subject: Action on climate emergency

10. Christina Biggs - subject: Local transport issues

11. Professor John Adams - subject: Bristol airport expansion

12. Leeza Awojobi - subject: Creative Youth Network – The Courts project

13. Richard Baxter - subject: Bristol airport expansion

At the invitation of the Chair, and in accordance with the constitution, those in attendance were given the opportunity to present their statements.  It was noted that the full text of the statements and questions/replies had been circulated to committee members in advance of the meeting and would be available to view on the Combined Authority website.

In connection with the statements relating to climate emergency and proposed Bristol airport expansion, the following points were raised:

1. Cllr Romero drew attention to the objection to the proposed Bristol airport expansion expressed by Bath and North East Somerset Council and queried how this stood in relation to the other authorities’ position on this issue, including the Combined Authority.  On this subject, Mayor Rees stressed the importance of carefully assessing all the available evidence about anticipated future airport passenger numbers and the benefits/risks to the region from the proposed expansion in determining a view on this issue.   Cllr Savage stated that it would also be important to fully understand the action being taken now and planned by local, major air-related industry employers (who employed many thousands of people in the region) to move towards a lower carbon future through the latest engineering technologies, e.g. through work towards electric engines.

2. Arising from a point raised by Cllr Romero, it was noted that following on from the Combined Authority’s declaration of a climate emergency in July 2019, it was intended that climate emergency considerations would be fully embedded into the Combined Authority’s decision making.

3. Mayor Rees stressed the importance of taking evidence bases into account in developing specific action planning to tackle the climate emergency.   For example, 36% of Bristol’s carbon emissions were housing related; in his view, in planning action to tackle climate emergency, there was a need for a citywide debate and wide engagement with stakeholders about how to tackle the particular challenge of reducing Bristol’s housing related carbon emissions, including the issues about where and how many new homes should be built in the city, and the related issues of acceptable levels of building height and housing density given climate emergency considerations.

4. It was suggested that Mayors and Leaders should look to review and discuss the actions being taken forward by each authority to tackle the climate emergency and related issues and perhaps consider pooling resources and secure common understanding and agreement around the “drivers” that should influence future, prioritised actions.

5. With reference to his earlier comments, Professor West stressed the need for a holistic approach to tackling the climate emergency, based on evidence and which sought the right balance between economic and environmental considerations.