ACE Brent (Action on the Climate Emergency, Brent) welcomes the appointment of a new Brent Council Cabinet Member with climate action in his brief - Cllr Jake Rubin - and the appointment of a Climate Champion - Cllr Mary Mitchell.
Representatives of ACE had our first meeting with Cllr Jake Rubin on 11th September, with Oliver Myers - Head of Environment Strategy, Waste & Climate Action.
Cllr Rubin expressed his commitment to climate change investment, and said he is hoping to oversee use of the Strategic CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy) for more measures in the areas of active travel investment, de-incentivising car use, trees and canopy cover, and resilience to rising temperatures. He welcomed regular meetings with ACE Brent and the attendance of other groups at these meetings. He will look at Brent Council supporting the Climate and Nature Bill initiative. Please let us know if you are interested in attending forthcoming meetings of ACE Brent with Cllr Rubin, at info@brentfoe.com.
Oliver Myers described changes through a corporate restructure, under which the climate team is now under the Communities and Partnerships Directorate. He stated he is continuing to consider possible ongoing climate participation mechanisms (which ACE has been strongly been pushing for) and would respond to ACE's table of requested measures. He said there is no plan to update the 2019 Climate Strategy, and is working on the 2024-6 Climate Delivery Plan. This is seen as a live document which can be inputted to as it goes forward.
Following this, ACE Brent worked hard to respond at short notice to the Climate and Ecological Emergency Programme 2024-6 report which went to Cabinet on 14th October. This includes a Climate Dashboard which is a way of benchmarking Brent's climate work, and was initiated following strong ACE Brent representation for a proper monitoring and prioritisation system re the impact of this work.
See links below to Council reports, and ACE Brent response (with below this the reply later received from Cllr Rubin).