Council Policy
Council Policy
Policy underpins the way the council approaches its decisions and takes action, substantially reducing emissions, both as an organisation and across the county.
Climate Change Working Group
Our Climate Change Working Group provides Member oversight and direction to the Climate Change Programme and to ensure that cross-party support for the long term aspirations of the Council is maintained.
Integrated Impact Assessment
NCC are now in the process of introducing a new Integrated Impact Assessment (IIA) tool into the decision making and governance processes at the council. The project is being led by the public health team with support from the climate change team, Northumberland communities together, the children, young people and families service, community services, finance, strategic change and service improvement, Welfare rights team, and the Human resources team.
The IIA tool will help centre equality and equity considerations at the heart of council working. Ensuring that council strategies, policies, services, and functions deliver as intended, and for everyone. The IIA will build on and encompass the existing Equality Impact Assessments (EIA) and Carbon Impact Assessments (CIA). IIA assessments will allow for informed reviews of the potential impacts of NCC activities on inequalities (e.g. will the activity reduce or widen inequality?) The IIA will look at the impacts on:
- the public sector equality duty
- the United Nations universal declaration of human rights
- other groups experiencing inequalities
- socio-economic and digital inequalities
- population health and health inequalities
- environment, climate, and sustainability
The process of undertaking an IIA (and the available training to facilitate this) will help NCC staff make equitable decisions. By recognising that each person, and/or community exists within a specific set of circumstances, which require different levels of resources, and/or opportunities, to make sure that all people can achieve equal outcomes in life.
The IIA will not eliminate all impacts on inequality, climate change and the environment, however it will ensure that these crucial factors are given due consideration. This will help NCC improve and develop its decision-making processes. By fostering the development of an organisational ‘inequalities’ lens, that shapes council activities using intelligence, insight, and evidence. Helping NCC assess impacts and better understand potential positive, negative, or neutral impacts and to then become a better employer, service provider and civic institution.
The climate change team will continue to work closely with public health and the other internal teams supporting the creation of the new IIA tool.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR)
A CSR policy has been developed by the council's procurement department which aims to minimise or eliminate carbon emissions, waste and other negative environmental impacts within the council's commissioned services and wider supply chain.
The policy includes six strategic pillars for mandatory consideration at the early stages of every procurement and commission of external goods, works and services:
- Reduce waste
- Improve social value
- Improve health & wellbeing
- Reduce CO2 & greenhouse emissions
- Combat modern slavery
- Increase use of SME and local suppliers
Some wider supply chain issues are outside council control, but we have an ethical and moral responsibility to reduce global emissions and environmental degradation in any way that we can.
Carbon Literacy Training
The Carbon Literacy Trust were funded by BEIS and in partnership with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, to develop a 'Local Authority Carbon Literacy Toolkit' and we have introduced this training toolkit for our staff.
The training includes education around scientific causes and impacts of climate change on a global, national and local level and explores the potential solutions and mitigations.
Course participants are required to develop a climate-positive action plan, both as a team and then as individuals, within their own departments.
Northumberland Local Plan
The Northumberland Local Plan is the statutory development plan for the county. It provides a modern, up-to-date basis for making decisions on the thousands of applications submitted to the council each year.
The plan takes a proactive approach to:
- Mitigating and adapting to climate change
- Considering the long-term implications for flood risk
- Coastal change
- Water supply
- Biodiversity and landscapes
- Risk of overheating from rising temperatures.
There are several policies in the plan supporting the future resilience of communities and infrastructure to climate change impacts.
For more information go to the Northumberland Local Plan 2016-2036 page.
Cross-council collaboration
We continue to work with our neighbouring authorities and have partnerships with the North East Combined Authority and the Borderlands Partnership so that we can contribute to the reduction of carbon emissions at a regional level and share best practice.
Through working closely with our Town and Parish Councils, we have been able to create the 'Northumberland Town and Parish Council Climate Change Toolkit' which will enable the creation of localised Climate Change Action Plans at ward level.
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