Good afternoon Hannah,
Thank you for your recent emails, regarding your request(s). 
We received an email from yourself on 03 February asking for the case to
be withdrawn. As advised in our emails sent on 20 January 2023, all seven
email requests received from yourself were consolidated into one case,
reference 27732824, under Section 14(2) of the Freedom of Information Act.
This was due to the requests being reviewed and subsequently determined to
substantially similar.
 
Following receipt of your email, requesting that the case was to be
withdrawn, I replied asking for confirmation if you were requesting that
all questions were to be withdrawn, or if there was information that you
still required. I have enclosed this email below. 
Could you please reply, confirming the information that you are
requesting. I will then be able to progress this case accordingly. 
With kind regards,
Carly Doyle
Information Requests Officer | BCS FOI Practitioner
Information Management Service
01452 324000
[email address]
 
* Email below sent 08 February 2023
 
Good afternoon Hannah,
 
Thank you for your recent email. 
 
As per our acknowledgement email sent 20/01/2023, the seven requests we
received from yourself were combined under request 27732824. Could you
please confirm if you are withdrawing this combined request by replying to
this email.
 
I have included the summary of questions below, for your reference.
 
Request:

1) Does the council have a 100% renewable green electricity tariff for all
of the electricity that the council is directly responsible for, and is
this tariff with Green Energy UK plc, Good Energy Limited or Ecotricity?

2) Does the council generate and use energy from waste? And if so, what
percentage of the council's total electricity use is powered by these
energy from waste electricity sources?

3) Does the council buy directly from a local renewable electricity source
or have its own renewable electricity sources? And if so, what percentage
of the council's total electricity use is powered by this/these renewable
electricity sources?

4a) How many staff does the Council directly employ (excluding contractors
or subcontractors, and excluding teachers), that work directly for the
Council as opposed to a school, leisure centres or other venture?

4b) How many directly employed staff spend 3 or more days per week (0.6
Full Time Equivalent (FTE)) on implementing the Climate Action Plan or
other climate change projects? Please provide a list of all the roles.
Please exclude waste management staff unless they are specifically working
3 or more days per week on implementing the Climate Action Plan or other
climate change projects.

5) Does the council have one or more staff member who works on home energy
efficiency retrofitting, such as retrofit officers or project managers
across the council area, for 3 or more days per week (0.6+ FTE)?

6) Has the Council approved any new *1 or expanded *2 roads or road
junctions in its area from 1st January 2019 until 1st January 2023? Please
list which ones were accepted.

*1 The intention of this question is to understand overall increases in
road capacity, rather than recent housing developments. Please exclude
minor roads built exclusively to connect new housing to the pre-existing
road network.

*2 An expanded road or road junction is one that has increased capacity
for motor vehicle traffic, not counting bus lanes, cycle infrastructure,
or pedestrian infrastructure. Please include roads and junctions where new
lanes have been added.

7) Has the Council approved any planning applications for fossil fuel
extraction projects proposed in its area since 1st January 2019 until 1st
January 2023? Please list which ones were accepted, including where
relevant fossil fuel projects that were later 'called in' by central
government.

8) Have all senior management received carbon literacy training or
equivalent since 1st January 2019? Please state the type of training.

9)  Have all current councillors in the cabinet or committee chairs
received carbon literacy training or equivalent since being elected?
Please state the type of training.

10) Has the council written to or met with UK national or devolved
governments to ask or lobby for climate action since 1st January 2019?
Please provide some evidence of the most recent letter or meeting such as
a copy of the letter or email sent, or the date, topic of meeting and
position of the person that the meeting was held with.

11) How many staff does the Council directly employ (excluding contractors
or subcontractors, and excluding teachers), that work directly for the
Council as opposed to a school, leisure centres or other venture?

12)  Does the council have one or more staff member who works on home
energy efficiency retrofitting, such as retrofit officers or project
managers across the council area, for 3 or more days per week (0.6+ FTE)?
This can include both directly employed and contracted staff, provided
they work 3 or more days per week (0.6 FTE). The work of this officer may
include working on any retrofit projects, including council buildings,
council homes or private rented or owned households.

13) . How many planning ecologists (ecologists within the planning
department) or equivalent working for 3 or more days per week (0.6+ FTE)
does the council employ to scrutinise planning reports for Biodiversity
Net Gain? This can include both directly employed and contracted staff,
provided they work 3 or more days per week (0.6 FTE).

14) Has the council approved any new or expanded airport runways,
terminals, measures to increase passenger numbers or other planning
proposals that expand airport capacity in its area since 1st January 2019
until 1st January 2023? Please list the accepted planning proposals

With kind regards,

Carly Doyle
Information Requests Officer | BCS FOI Practitioner
Information Management Service
01452 324000
[1][email address]
 

══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Dear Gloucestershire County Council,

I would like to formally withdraw this request, as I submitted it in
duplicate and this request includes a question that is not relevant to
county councils. My apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Yours faithfully,

Hannah Jewell, Climate Emergency UK

══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Dear Gloucestershire County Council,

Thank you for taking the time to look at the FOI/EIR request I have
submitted.

This is a polite reminder that the legal deadline by which you needed to
respond to the FOI/EIR request was 13th February 2023, which has now
passed.

I would be very grateful if you could ensure that you respond to this
request as soon as you can.

All the best,
Hannah Jewell, Climate Emergency UK

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]

Good morning Hannah,
 
Thank you for confirming this. I'll send the amended request to you
shortly, removing the questions regarding airport planning permissions.
 
With kind regards,

Carly Doyle
Information Requests Officer | BCS FOI Practitioner
Information Management Service
01452 324000
[1][email address]

══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Dear Carly Doyle,

My apologies for any confusion caused. I would like the combined request
to stand, but would like to withdraw the question numbered 14, as it is my
understanding that airport planning permissions are handled on a district
council level. I understand that this will restart the clock on the
request.

Yours sincerely,

Hannah Jewell, Climate Emergency UK

show quoted sections

Information request
Our reference: 27732824

══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

 
Good morning Hannah,
 
As advised in my previous email, please find the updated combined Freedom
of Information request, originally submitted by yourself (within seven
emails) on 17 January 2023:
 
Request:

1 Does the council have a 100% renewable green electricity tariff for all
of the electricity that the council is directly responsible for, and is
this tariff with Green Energy UK plc, Good Energy Limited or Ecotricity?
This includes all electricity that the council is directly responsible
for, in council offices and any other buildings leased and managed by the
council where the council pays the electricity tariff. This does not
include homes owned or managed by the council. If unsure, please state
your provider and tariff.

2 Does the council generate and use energy from waste? And if so, what
percentage of the council's total electricity use is powered by these
energy from waste electricity sources?

3 Does the council buy directly from a local renewable electricity source
or have its own renewable electricity sources? And if so, what percentage
of the council's total electricity use is powered by this/these renewable
electricity sources? This includes council owned renewable electricity
sources that are located outside of the council area, such as solar farms
located further south to maximise electricity generation.

4 How many staff does the Council directly employ (excluding contractors
or subcontractors, and excluding teachers), that work directly for the
Council as opposed to a school, leisure centres or other venture?

5 How many directly employed staff spend 3 or more days per week (0.6 Full
Time Equivalent (FTE)) on implementing the Climate Action Plan or other
climate change projects? Please provide a list of all the roles. Please
exclude waste management staff unless they are specifically working 3 or
more days per week on implementing the Climate Action Plan or other
climate change projects. (If you have answered yes to have a retrofit
staff member below, this staff member can be included in this question
even if they are contracted. This is likely to include all staff in your
climate/sustainability team, such as Climate Change Officers or similar.
This may include full time staff who spend 60% of their time on climate
change projects and 40% of their time on other work. You might include
other staff in other departments, such as a procurement officer if they
are spending 3 or more days per week (0.6 FTE) on writing and implementing
a sustainable procurement policy or a planner that is working primarily on
low carbon policies for new buildings.)

6 Does the council have one or more staff member who works on home energy
efficiency retrofitting, such as retrofit officers or project managers
across the council area, for 3 or more days per week (0.6+ FTE)? This can
include both directly employed and contracted staff, provided they work 3
or more days per week (0.6 FTE). The work of this officer may include
working on any retrofit projects, including council buildings, council
homes or private rented or owned households. Please list any roles that
work in this area, including the full time equivalent (FTE) if they work
part time. Please include staff members that are shared with other
councils, such as between county and district councils, and note if they
are shared across other areas.

7 How many planning ecologists (ecologists within the planning department)
or equivalent working for 3 or more days per week (0.6+ FTE) does the
council employ to scrutinise planning reports for Biodiversity Net Gain?
This can include both directly employed and contracted staff, provided
they work 3 or more days per week (0.6 FTE).

8 Has the Council approved any new*1 or expanded*2 roads or road junctions
in its area from 1st January 2019 until 1st January 2023? Please list
which ones were accepted.

*1 The intention of this question is to understand overall increases in
road capacity, rather than recent housing developments. Please exclude
minor roads built exclusively to connect new housing to the pre-existing
road network.

*2 An expanded road or road junction is one that has increased capacity
for motor vehicle traffic, not counting bus lanes, cycle infrastructure,
or pedestrian infrastructure. Please include roads and junctions where new
lanes have been added.

9 Has the Council approved any planning applications for fossil fuel
extraction projects proposed in its area since 1st January 2019 until 1st
January 2023? Please list which ones were accepted, including where
relevant fossil fuel projects that were later 'called in' by central
government. By fossil fuel extraction projects we mean: any oil wells and
fields (on or offshore), coal mines, fracking and shale gas, gas, natural
(including liquified) gas (on or off shore) plants, and unabated fossil
fuel generation and power plants well as related infrastructure such as
pipelines and terminals for the fossil fuels.

10 Have all senior management received carbon literacy training or
equivalent since 1st January 2019? Please state the type of training. This
training could be from the Carbon Literacy Organisation or another
organisation, university or in-house. We want to know the number of people
who have attended the training. We don't need to know the number of staff
that have received a certificate of completion or attendance.

11 Have all current councillors in the cabinet or committee chairs
received carbon literacy training or equivalent since being elected?
Please state the type of training.

12 Has the council written to or met with UK national or devolved
governments to ask or lobby for climate action since 1st January 2019?
Please provide some evidence of the most recent letter or meeting such as
a copy of the letter or email sent, or the date, topic of meeting and
position of the person that the meeting was held with. This includes
either asking for more powers and funding for local authorities to take
climate action, or asking for the government to take further action
themselves. This includes working with other local authorities to send
joint letters or meetings to lobby UK or devolved governments, and
includes both general climate action and calls for action on specific
issues such as transport where climate change is mentioned as a motivating
factor for taking action. This includes if a cabinet member or other
councillor has written to or met with the UK or devolved governments on
behalf of the council.

This request has been sent to a number of service areas across the
Council, and I will make contact again once I have received details of
information held.
 
The response deadline for this request is 17 March 2023. 
 
With kind regards,
 
Carly Doyle
Information Requests Officer | BCS FOI Practitioner
Information Management Service
[1][email address]
01452 324000
 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.

══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Dear Carly Doyle,

My apologies for any confusion caused. I would like the combined request
to stand, but would like to withdraw the question numbered 14, as it is my
understanding that airport planning permissions are handled on a district
council level. I understand that this will restart the clock on the
request.

Yours sincerely,

Hannah Jewell, Climate Emergency UK

show quoted sections