Palmerston North City Council

Minutes of the Sustainability Committee Meeting Part I Public, held in the Council Chamber, First Floor, Civic Administration Building, 32 The Square, Palmerston North on 13 March 2024, commencing at 9.06am

Members Present:	Councillors Brent Barrett (in the Chair), Patrick Handcock, Lorna Johnson, Debi Marshall-Lobb and Karen Naylor.
Non Members:	Councillors Mark Arnott, Rachel Bowen and Lew Findlay.
Apologies:	The Mayor (Grant Smith) (Council business), Councillor Roly Fitzgerald, Councillor Leonie Hapeta, Councillor Karen Naylor (early departure), Councillor Kaydee Zabelin (late arrival).

Councillor Kaydee Zabelin entered the meeting at 9.26am during consideration of clause 3.  She was not present for clauses 1 and 2.

Councillor Rachel Bowen left the meeting at 10.27am during consideration of clause 5.  She entered the meeting again at 11.43am during consideration of clause 7.  She was not present for clauses 5 and 6.

Councillor Karen Naylor was not present when the meeting resumed at 11.10am.  She was not present for clauses 6 to 8 inclusive.

Karakia Timatanga

Councillor Brent Barrett opened the meeting with karakia.

1-24	Apologies
	Moved Brent Barrett, seconded Patrick Handcock. The COMMITTEE RESOLVED 1.   That the Committee receive the apologies.
	Clause 1-24 above was carried 8 votes to 0, the voting being as follows: For: Councillors Brent Barrett, Patrick Handcock, Lorna Johnson, Debi Marshall-Lobb, Karen Naylor, Mark Arnott, Rachel Bowen and Lew Findlay.

2-24	Confirmation of Minutes
	Moved Brent Barrett, seconded Patrick Handcock. The COMMITTEE RESOLVED 1.   That the minutes of the Sustainability Committee meeting of 29 November 2023 Part I Public be confirmed as a true and correct record.
	Clause 2-24 above was carried 8 votes to 0, the voting being as follows: For: Councillors Brent Barrett, Patrick Handcock, Lorna Johnson, Debi Marshall-Lobb, Karen Naylor, Mark Arnott, Rachel Bowen and Lew Findlay.

3-24	Annual Sector Lead Report: Environment Network Manawatū Memorandum, presented by Amy Viles, Community Development Advisor, Rebecca Bell, ENM Co-Chairperson and Madz BatachEl, ENM Coordinator, as attached to these Minutes. Rebecca acknowledged the outstanding work being undertaken by the team to achieve the goals of the organisation.  Work has been done on updating their strategic framework over the last year, with the strategic action plan to be completed by the end of this financial year. Challenges: · Resourcing/capacity · Difficult funding environment; eg. Ruahine Kiwi Project – coming to the end of a three year contract with Department of Conservation, needing to source alternative funding so project can continue and kiwis can be returned to the ranges by 2026 · Work in food resilience space – indications are government funding will be drying up pretty fast, still a huge amount of need/interest Opportunities: · Developing nationwide food waste prevention programme in collaboration with Zero Waste Network NZ and three other environment centres around the country · After a successful pilot scheme through resource recovery fund (providing TerraCycle boxes for recycling hard to recycle products) questions were raised on how can the learnings be shared?  How can they advocate for change on a wider scale? Looking forward to Long-Term Plan process and hearing from Officers regarding the development of Food Policy. Councillor Kaydee Zabelin entered the meeting at 9.26am.
	Moved Brent Barrett, seconded Patrick Handcock. The COMMITTEE RESOLVED 1.   That the Committee receive the Annual Sector Lead Report: Environment Network Manawatū (January-December 2023) (Attachments 1, 2 and 3).
	Clause 3-24 above was carried 9 votes to 0, the voting being as follows: For: Councillors Brent Barrett, Kaydee Zabelin, Patrick Handcock, Lorna Johnson, Debi Marshall-Lobb, Karen Naylor, Mark Arnott, Rachel Bowen and Lew Findlay.

4-24	Wastewater Treatment Plant - Nature Calls:  Quarterly Update Memorandum, presented by Mike Monaghan, Group Manager Three Waters and Anna Lewis, Project Manager – Wastewater Discharge Consent Programme. Officers noted the following update to the report: Section 6.2 – End of February financials = $1,088,986 spent to date of $913,000 budget.
	Moved Brent Barrett, seconded Kaydee Zabelin. The COMMITTEE RESOLVED 1.   That the Committee receive the report titled ‘Wastewater Treatment Plant – Nature Calls:  Quarterly Update’ presented to the Sustainability Committee on 13 March 2024.
	Clause 4-24 above was carried 9 votes to 0, the voting being as follows: For: Councillors Brent Barrett, Kaydee Zabelin, Patrick Handcock, Lorna Johnson, Debi Marshall-Lobb, Karen Naylor, Mark Arnott, Rachel Bowen and Lew Findlay.

5-24	Draft Waste Management and Minimisation Plan - approval for consultation Memorandum, presented by Peter Ridge, Senior Policy Analyst and Natasha Hickmott, Activities Manager – Resource Recovery and Sustainability Infrastructure. Elected Members requested that the inclusion of a kerbside green waste collection service be investigated alongside the development of a city-wide food scraps collection service. Councillor Rachel Bowen left the meeting at 10.27am.
	Moved Brent Barrett, seconded Lorna Johnson. The COMMITTEE RESOLVED 1.   That the Committee approve the Statement of Proposal - Draft Waste Management and Minimisation Plan 2024 (Attachment 1), as amended, for public consultation concurrent with and linked to the draft 2024-34 Long-Term Plan consultation. 2.   That action 3.6 in the draft WMMP be amended to read ‘Develop a city-wide food scraps collection service and investigate the inclusion of a kerbside green waste collection service’ and that the corresponding action in the draft Resource Recovery Plan be amended accordingly prior to the consultation on the draft Long Term Plan.
	Clause 5-24 above was carried 8 votes to 0, the voting being as follows: For: Councillors Brent Barrett, Kaydee Zabelin, Patrick Handcock, Lorna Johnson, Debi Marshall-Lobb, Karen Naylor, Mark Arnott and Lew Findlay.

The meeting adjourned at 10.50am.

The meeting resumed at 11.10am.

Councillor Karen Naylor was not present when the meeting resumed.

6-24	Update on the Low Carbon Fund 2023/24 Memorandum, presented by David Watson, Senior Climate Change Advisor and Adam Jarvis, Principal Climate Change Advisor.
	Moved Brent Barrett, seconded Patrick Handcock. The COMMITTEE RESOLVED 1.   That the Committee receive the memorandum titled ‘Update on the Low Carbon Fund 2023/24’ presented to the Sustainability Committee on 13 March 2024.
	Clause 6-24 above was carried 7 votes to 0, the voting being as follows: For: Councillors Brent Barrett, Kaydee Zabelin, Patrick Handcock, Lorna Johnson, Debi Marshall-Lobb, Mark Arnott and Lew Findlay.

7-24	Palmerston North City Council Carbon Neutral Feasibility Study Update Memorandum, presented by Adam Jarvis, Principal Climate Change Advisor and David Watson, Senior Climate Change Advisor. Councillor Rachel Bowen entered the meeting again at 11.43am.
	Moved Brent Barrett, seconded Lorna Johnson. The COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS 1.   That as part of the process of finalising the 2024-34 Long-Term Plan, Council either reaffirm the existing corporate emissions reduction target or replace the existing corporate emissions reduction target with a different one. 2.   That Council note that further Officer advice on the corporate emissions reduction target will be provided alongside deliberations on the 2024-34 Long-Term Plan.
	Clause 7-24 above was carried 8 votes to 0, the voting being as follows: For: Councillors Brent Barrett, Kaydee Zabelin, Patrick Handcock, Lorna Johnson, Debi Marshall-Lobb, Mark Arnott, Rachel Bowen and Lew Findlay.

8-24	Committee Work Schedule
	Moved Brent Barrett, seconded Patrick Handcock. The COMMITTEE RESOLVED 1.   That the Sustainability Committee receive its Work Schedule dated March 2024.
	Clause 8-24 above was carried 8 votes to 0, the voting being as follows: For: Councillors Brent Barrett, Kaydee Zabelin, Patrick Handcock, Lorna Johnson, Debi Marshall-Lobb, Mark Arnott, Rachel Bowen and Lew Findlay.

Karakia Whakamutunga

Councillor Brent Barrett closed the meeting with karakia.

The meeting finished at 11.57am.

Confirmed 22 May 2024

Chair