Councillor Colm Merrick (East Renfrewshire Council); Councillor Ken Andrew (Glasgow City Council); and Councillor David Wilson (Inverclyde Council).

There were no declarations of interest intimated prior to the commencement of the meeting.

There was submitted the Minute of the meeting of this Joint Committee held on 27 June 2022.

DECIDED: That the Minute be approved.

There was submitted a joint revenue budget monitoring report by the Treasurer and the Strategic Development Plan Manager for the period to 19 August 2022. 

The report intimated that by 31 March 2023, the forecast position for Clydeplan was a projected underspend of £91,266 and further detail was provided in section 4 of the report.

The report noted that there had been no budget adjustments since the start of the financial year.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

Under reference to item 6 of the Minute of the meeting of this Joint Committee held on 27 June 2022, there was submitted a report by the Treasurer providing an update on the audited annual accounts for 2021/22.

The report intimated that the unaudited annual accounts were presented to the Joint Committee at its meeting held on 27 June 2022 and then submitted for audit by the statutory deadline of 30 June 2022. Local Government Finance Circular 6/2022 provided an extension to the statutory deadline for approval of the audited annual accounts and the report advised that the Clydeplan audited accounts for 2021/22 were expected to be completed for approval by 24 October 2022.

The report recommended that it be noted that a special meeting of the Joint Committee would be called on 24 October 2022 to approve the audited accounts. The Convener proposed that this matter be considered later in the meeting. This was agreed unanimously.

DECIDED:

(a) That the revised deadline for the Joint Committee to approve and publish its audited accounts be noted; and

(b) That consideration of a special meeting of the Joint Committee being held on 24 October 2022 to approve the audited accounts be considered later in the meeting.

The Strategic Development Plan Manager provided a verbal update on National Planning Framework 4 and advised that the Scottish Government had now indicated that approval of NPF4 would now not be considered until autumn 2022 and as such it had not been published in summer 2022 as indicated. 

It was proposed that the Convener, on behalf of the Joint Committee, write to the Scottish Government expressing the Joint Committee’s disappointment and frustration in the delay of the publication of NPF4. This was agreed unanimously.

DECIDED:

(a) That the update provided be noted; and

(b) That the Convener, on behalf of the Joint Committee, write to the Scottish Government expressing the Joint Committee’s disappointment and frustration in the delay of the publication of NPF4.

There was submitted a report by the Strategic Development Plan Manager relative to the recruitment of a new Clyde Peatlands Project Officer as part of the suite of Green Network Blueprint delivery initiatives.

The report intimated that the Clyde Peatlands had been launched and endorsed by the Glasgow City Region Cabinet in June 2022 with the aim of bringing about a step change in the scale and rate of peatland restoration across the City Region which would make a significant contribution to the region’s drive for net zero and respond to the ecological crisis by restoring a UK and Scottish priority habit.

The report advised that the original intention had been that a new senior project officer and a new project officer be employed with both posts being fully funded through NatureScot’s Peatland Action Fund, currently secured until March 2024. The posts had been advertised with only applicant for each post with neither meeting the necessary criteria. This had allowed for a review of how Clyde Peatlands should be resourced going forward and the report provided details of the proposal.

The report noted that in discussion with NatureScot’s Peatland Action Team, the preferred option was the creation of a new higher-grade post benchmarked against the Green Network’s Development Officers, £35,000 to £39,000, with support from the Peatland Action Team and Green Network. The Peatland Action Fund was resourced directly by the Scottish Government with funding allocated in two-yearly cycles, with the current cycle running until March 2024, which meant that Clyde Peatlands could currently only offer a firm contract up until that date. Peatland Action hoped that the next cycle of funding from April 2024 to March 2026 would be confirmed as early as October/November 2022 and had indicated that if the money could be found to underwrite a new contract beyond March 2024, they would provide a written assurance that when the next tranche of Scottish Government funding was released, the money used to underwrite the contract would be taken off the table and replaced with Peatland Action funding. The Letter of Comfort from NatureScot was appended to the report.

The report further advised that the cost of underwriting the contract for a year was estimated at £45,000 and requested that Clydeplan cover this cost through the utilisation of reserves. It was noted that the preferred option would be that the new officer would be hosted directly within the Green Network team and employed through Renfrewshire Council, similar to that of the recently appointed Green Network Wetlands and Grasslands Officer.

DECIDED:

(a) That the creation of a Clyde Peatlands Project Officer post be agreed; 

(b) That the use of Clydeplan reserves to underwrite a year’s extension to the initial contract advertised be agreed, with funding covered by a Letter of Comfort from Peatland Action, a copy of which was appended to the report, and as detailed in paragraph 5.3 of the report; and

(c) That it be agreed that the Green Network Partnership directly host the new post via Renfrewshire Council.

Under reference to item 8 of the Minute of the meeting of this Joint Committee held on 27 June 2022, there was submitted a report by the Clerk relative to arrangements for future meetings.

The report intimated that prior to the pandemic, the Joint Committee met in a room in Exchange House, 231 George Street, Glasgow and that Glasgow City Council had confirmed that this meeting room would be made available for Joint Committee meetings. The meeting room had capacity for 30 people but did not have a hybrid meeting facility to allow members to join remotely, therefore, meetings held in this location would require to be ‘in-person’ meetings only as there would be no option for members or officers to attend remotely.

Following discussion around the business being scheduled for each meeting and a flexible approach being taken to remote and ‘in -person’ meetings, the Convener proposed (i) that a meeting of the Joint Committee be held at 11.15 am on 24 October 2022 to consider Clydeplan’s audited annual accounts and that this meeting be held remotely on MS Teams; (ii) that the meeting of the Joint Committee being held at 11.15 am on 12 December 2022 be an ‘in-person’ meeting in Exchange House, Glasgow; and (iii) that it be delegated to the Clerk, in consultation with the Strategic Development Plan Manager and the Convener, to decide how meetings be held following consideration of the business for meetings with decisions being taken from meeting to meeting. This was agreed unanimously.

DECIDED:

(a) That a meeting of the Joint Committee be held at 11.15 am on 24 October 2022 and that this meeting be held remotely on MS Teams;

(b) That the meeting of the Joint Committee being held at 11.15 am on 12 December 2022 be an ‘in-person’ meeting in Exchange House, Glasgow; and 

 

(c) That it be delegated to the Clerk, in consultation with the Strategic Development Plan Manager and the Convener, to decide how meetings be held following consideration of the business for meetings with a decision being taken from meeting to meeting.

DECIDED: 

(a) That it be noted that the next meeting of the Joint Committee would be held at 11.15 am on 24 October 2022 and that this meeting would be held remotely on MS Teams; and

(b) That it be noted that the meeting of the Joint Committee being held at 11.15 am on 12 December 2022 would be an ‘in-person’ meeting in Exchange House, Glasgow.