Council staff working on climate action - Climate Emergency UK

Dear Mr. Beevor,

Thank you for your request for information which Uttlesford District Council received on 20th August. Your request has been allocated the Councils reference of 24_893.

Your request is being dealt with under the Environmental Information Regulations and will be answered within 20 working days. In the event that your request is considered complex you may be advised at an early stage in the process that an extension of the normal 20-day timeline will be necessary and the reasons for any extension will be explained to you.

Your request will now be forwarded to the Service Area best placed to supply an appropriate response to your request for information and you should expect to receive your response by 18th September, unless you are advised otherwise.

*Please note that following the advisory notice from the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) dated 28th September 2023, Uttlesford District Council has decided it will no longer provide excel spreadsheets in replies to either EIR or FOI requests. Further details on this subject can be found here.

If you have any queries about your request, do not hesitate to contact me.

Your privacy:- We use your personal information such as name and email address so that we can comply with our legal obligations to respond to FOI requests. For further details about the use of information by the Council please see our privacy notice on the Councils website https://www.uttlesford.gov.uk/privacy-no...

Yours sincerely,
 
Information Governance Team
Uttlesford District Council
Council Offices
London Road
Saffron Walden
Essex CB11 4ER
 
T:  01799 510500
E:  [email address]  
www.uttlesford.gov.uk
 
facebook.com/UttlesfordDC
twitter.com/UttlesfordDC

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Dear Mr Beevor,

 

Thank you for your request for information, which has been considered and
actioned under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.  The
information you requested is shown below:

 

1a. 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?

 

330 staff = 293.75 FTE

 

1b. 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.

 

The council have 11 x FTE implementing the Climate Action Plan and other
projects, including delivery of the Local Plan Net Zero, Climate and
Environment Policies, and the social housing decarbonisation domestic
retrofit project.   

 

The roles are as follows:

 

• Lead Officer, Climate Change
• Project Officer, Climate Change
• Principal Ecologist, Planning
• Assistant Ecologist, Planning/Grounds Team
• Principal Planning Officer, (Local Plan Low Carbon Planning Policy/
Climate and Environment)
• Principal Transport Infrastructure Planner, (Local Plan Policy
Sustainable Transport)
• Retrofit project manager
• Retrofit consultant
• Retrofit coordinator
• Retrofit assessor
• Resident liaison coordinator

 

 

If you have answered yes to have a biodiversity planning officer and/or a
retrofit staff member below, both these staff members 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.

 

2. Does the council have one or more staff members who work 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.

 

Uttlesford District Council Social Housing Decarbonisation project has 5
 FTE who are working on home energy efficiency retrofitting as follows:

 

• Retrofit project manager
• Retrofit consultant
• Retrofit coordinator
• Retrofit assessor
• Resident liaison coordinator

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.

 

The Council are supported by the following resource/teams from Essex
County Council:

 

ECC Energy and Low Carbon Team – who support us with community engagement
for domestic energy retrofit including referrals to government domestic
energy efficiency grants (HUG2/ECO4flex).

ECC Electric Vehicle Strategy Team – who are leading on the business case
for the county Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Funding (Uttlesford
have contributed to the business case and the district will receive an
allocation)

 

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

 

1 FTE Principal Ecologist, Planning Team

 

1 x FTE Biodiversity Net Gain Officer (Essex County Council) – this is a
shared post with other Essex LAs.  Uttlesford District Council pay a
contribution to the establishment costs)

 

In addition to the above the Council have a service level agreement with
Essex Place services [1]https://www.placeservices.co.uk who provide
environmental assessment of planning applications.

 

Planning ecologists are ecologists that scrutinise planning applications
on biodiversity measures. They often sit within the planning department
but they can sit within other departments in the council. If the planning
ecologist does sit outside the planning department it must be made clear
that the planning ecologist spends 3 days or more per week (0.6 FTE)
scrutinising planning applications.

 

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.

 

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any further queries or
concerns.

 

If you are dissatisfied with the response to your request, please let us
know.  If we are unable to resolve the matter quickly then you may wish to
pursue this through the Councils complaints procedure and request an
internal review be undertaken.  Internal review requests should be
submitted within 40 working days of the date of receipt of the response to
your original letter and should be addressed to: [2][Uttlesford District Council request email].

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision.  The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:  Information
Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9
5AF.  Telephone: 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545 700  Website: 
[3]www.ico.org.uk.

 

With best wishes, Vicky

 

Vicky Reed
Climate Change, Lead Officer

 

 

Please sign up for the Council’s FREE Zero Carbon Communities e-newsletter
at [4]www.uttlesford.gov.uk/keep-me-posted or visit [5]Climate change and
biodiversity - Uttlesford District Council.

 

Uttlesford District Council, Council Offices, London Road, Saffron Walden,
Essex CB11 4ER

T: 01799 510481          E: [email address]

 

 

 

References

Visible links
1. https://www.placeservices.co.uk/
2. mailto:[Uttlesford District Council request email]
3. http://www.ico.org.uk/
4. http://www.uttlesford.gov.uk/keep-me-pos...
5. https://www.uttlesford.gov.uk/climate-ch...