a) Aileen Owen Davies, a Runnymede resident, asks:

“Tree planting and increasing vegetation is now being undertaken around the country.   Surrey has just committed to 57,500 new trees this year.

What policies and targets has Runnymede committed to?”

b) Deb Long, a Runnymede resident, asks:

An integral part of the Council's Climate Change strategy is to convene a Citizens Panel to regularly consult with stakeholders to exchange updates on the community and councils actions and initiatives also to track the Council’s progress to its Net Zero 2030 target and Runnymede’s progress towards the national target of Net Zero 2050. When will this Citizen Panel be established and what is the process for participant selection?

a) Aileen Owen Davies, a local resident, asked the following question:

“Tree planting and increasing vegetation is now being undertaken around the country.   Surrey has just committed to 57,500 new trees this year.

What policies and targets has Runnymede committed to?”

The Leader of the Council replied in the following terms:

“Runnymede Borough Council has now approved its Corporate Plan. A central element of that is our Climate Change Strategy. In line with that strategy, our Environment and Sustainability Committee has now approved our Sustainable Planting Policy, with all future planting to be in line with the principles set out within that policy.

These principles include amongst others:

1.     Planting to be planned to encourage biodiversity and support for native wildlife;

2.     Maximising the use of native species with near native species being used to lengthen the flowering season, and;

3.     The re-naturalisation and development of wildflower meadows where appropriate.

In respect of targets for planting, we have not yet adopted any target and that is deliberate. I believe that centrally imposed targets are an inefficient mechanism for delivering the outcomes we need and want locally. Look at central targets for Housing to see how well they work.

Instead, as a stated part of our policy, we look to encourage and support local community initiatives, including those of residents’ groups and businesses who wish to participate within their local communities. As an example, I have supported residents with tree planting on public land at two locations within Woodham and Row Town over this last planting season. I am aware of similar work by numerous other councillors as well.

To help local initiatives we will, subject to approval of the budget, be undertaking a survey of all our trees starting in 2023. We estimate that there are 35,000 trees in Runnymede, many of which are in good condition.  Some will however need support or removal to ensure the safety of residents and visitors to the borough.  Where trees have to be removed we plan to reinstate at alternative suitable locations.  Once this work is completed we will know how many trees we have and how much land we have available for further planting and we will look to develop a separate tree strategy in line with the planting principles I mentioned earlier.”

Aileen Owen Davies asked, as a supplementary question, whether there would be targets for replacing lost trees.  The Leader reiterated his earlier comments about target setting, adding that a tree survey needed to be carried out before policy development on the replacement of lost trees took place.

b) Deb Long, a local resident, asked the following question:

“An integral part of the Council's Climate Change strategy is to convene a Citizens Panel to regularly consult with stakeholders to exchange updates on the community and councils actions and initiatives also to track the Council’s progress to its Net Zero 2030 target and Runnymede’s progress towards the national target of Net Zero 2050. When will this Citizen Panel be established and what is the process for participant selection?”

The Leader of the Council replied in the following terms:

“The Citizens’ Panel is referenced in the Climate Change Strategy but it falls under our broader strategy to empower communities and support the work of the Council across all of our operating areas, including Climate Change.

Our intent is to recruit up to 900 residents who will be representative of the population as a whole by age, gender, ethnicity and location so that all parts of the borough (and all communities) are represented.

I would note that it is not a forum for exchanging information and views on climate change issues.

Other local authorities already operate such panels but this is a new initiative for Runnymede. To get it off the ground we need two things. Seed funding to begin to recruit and develop the panel and clear terms of reference to set out how the panel will be established and manage its work going forward.

In respect of the former we, submitted a bid for funding to the UK Shared Prosperity Fund which included funding to initiate the Citizens Panel and in respect of the latter, officers are currently developing a report which will be coming forward in the New Year.”

Aileen Owen Davies asked, as a supplementary question, why constituting the Citizens’ Panel had taken a long time.  The Leader said that developing such proposals rightly took time to do successfully and that the proposals had been agreed by Council on 20 October 2022.