Agenda item

Questions must be submitted in writing to Democratic Services democratic.services@npt.gov.uk no later than noon on the working day prior to the meeting.  Questions must relate to items on the agenda.  Questions will be dealt with in a 10 minute period.

There had been one question submitted to Council.

Mr Holroyd was welcomed and asked the following question to Council:

Is Neath Port Talbot aware that even if we stopped all fossil fuel production today, food emissions alone would exceed the 1.5 limit of the Paris Agreement?

Did you know that the majority of food emissions come from meat and dairy, and a recent analysis of UK diets revealed that food emissions could be slashed by 75% with a plant-based diet?

As well as a climate crisis, we also face a biodiversity crisis. In fact, Britain has lost more of its natural biodiversity than almost anywhere else in Western Europe. 83% of farmland worldwide is used for animal agriculture, but it only supplies 18% of global calories. In fact, if every country ate and consumed like the UK, we would need another planet the size of Mercury to feed everyone. A plant-based food system on the other hand would create an opportunity to return three-quarters of agricultural land to nature, absorb carbon dioxide in the process and improve biodiversity.

If we switched to a plant-based food system we could also improve public health. If the UK population swapped meat for their weekday lunches, over 11,000 cases of Type 2 Diabetes could be prevented a year, and 366k fewer people could be living with cardiovascular disease. This council could help make that happen.

Research shows that the public trusts their local council representatives more than national governments, so I believe this council has a mandate to lead this initiative by introducing plant-based menus and defaults to help increase the consumption of plant-based food across Neath Port Talbot.

Several councils, including Edinburgh, Norwich, Lambeth, Exmouth and Belfast have endorsed the Plant Based Treaty and initiated real actions to reduce food emissions such as plant-based catering at meetings and events, carbon labelling in schools and universities, fruit and vegetable vouchers for low income communities, commitments to lower emissions of school plates, plant-based cookery workshops for the community and public education campaigns.

Will Neath Port Talbot show climate action leadership by endorsing the Plant Based Treaty and developing a Plant Based Treaty action plan?

The Cabinet Member for Nature, Tourism and Wellbeing thanked Mr Holroyd for his question along with raising the importance of this topic at Council.

The Cabinet member highlighted that Neath Port Talbot was providing clear leadership, and believed it was demonstrating its commitment in addressing the issues of Climate Change, Decarbonisation and Biodiversity.

The Council acknowledged the important role it has in reducing the impact on the climate and nature emergencies by working towards a more prosperous, fairer and greener Neath Port Talbot as detailed within the Corporate Plan.

It was noted that the production of meat and dairy had a significant impact on the climate. The Cabinet Member highlighted that consideration around improved environmental sustainability around both meat production and plant based choices  and that we will all need to eat less meat, and consider improved environmental sustainability both within meat production and with alternative plant-based choices. There are important conversations to be had around this issue locally as well as nationally, and that's the purpose of the Local Food Partnership. **

The Cabinet Member stated that although direct responsibility for agriculture lies with the Welsh Government, which has published ‘The Agriculture ( Wales ) Act 2023’, introducing the Sustainable Land Management Framework with a focus on sustainable food production, the Neath Port Talbot Food Partnership is bringing together people, businesses and organisations with an interest in the local food sector. It seeks to collaborate, connect and strengthen NPT’s food system and local food economy. Together, we are working towards those shared values and priorities, developing projects that promote healthy, local and sustainable food.  It’s about businesses, organisations and local residents, coming together to try and re-localise our food supply chain and support local small producers in the food system, and he said he would love to hear from anyone who is keen to be involved.

The Cabinet Member went on to explain that underpinning our commitment to addressing Climate Change, the Council published it’s ‘Decarbonisation and Renewable Energy Strategy’ in May 2020. Two years later, in September 2022, the Council declared a climate emergency.  This focused on key priorities approved by Council that it believed could progress and were within the Council’s control. This work has involved reducing carbon emissions across our estate, developing one of the UK’s first ‘energy positive’ commercial office buildings, decarbonising our vehicle fleet, and working towards a prosperous, low-carbon economy for Neath Port Talbot.

Neath Port Talbot Council also published its 1^st Biodiversity Duty Plan in 2017 demonstrating this council’s ongoing commitment to maintaining and enhancing biodiversity, and promoting the resilience of our ecosystems.  The latest revision to the Plan was in 2023, and it will be considered on a three year cycle, ensuring it remains relevant and demonstrates our long term vision to reverse the decline in Biodiversity. 

At present Neath Port Talbot Council does not have a ‘Corporate Food Strategy’, and the Cabinet Member stated that this is certainly something the Council will consider. Schools provide over six and a half thousand meals every day, and promote a healthy balanced diet with a wide choice of non-meat and non-dairy produce, including vegetables, salads and fresh fruit. Similar diverse menu options are also available at a number of sites owned by the Council that provide catering for customers, such as Margam Park.  The Cabinet Member was keen that we continue to improve and enhance our plant-based offerings, and to encourage people to consider alternative options to meat and dairy products, as part of a balanced healthy diet.

He stated he was aware of the Plant Based Treaty and that research is ongoing to discover best practise within other Local Authorities. He re-iterated the commitment as a Council in addressing Climate Change, Decarbonisation and Biodiversity, and as we review our key delivery plans the Cabinet Member stated he will be asking officers to take into account the important issues raised by the Plant Based Treaty.

Mr Holroyd was thanked for the question and for highlighting this issue.

Mr Holroyd thanked the Cabinet Member for his response and finished with a poem on the Plant Based Treaty.