Environment and Coastal Portfolio

Working to reduce the impact on our special environment and protecting communities by managing our changing coastlines'

Portfolio holder, Councillor Steve Davies

On this page:

Portfolio holder introduction

To help us reduce our impact on the environment we will aim to provide the New Forest with a cost effective, sustainable and carbon efficient waste and recycling service that will maximise the recovery of valuable natural resources, align with the national strategy and meet the needs of our residents.

Managing our coastline remains a priority to protect our communities from the impacts of flooding and coastal erosion risk or to enable them to adapt to future flooding and coastal erosion risk.

We will further explore our options for delivering our coast protection function as well as securing partnership funding to support the delivery of future flood and coastal erosion risk management activities.

Modernisation of car parking will ensure up to date facilities, contribute towards air quality and support the local economy.

Priorities

Our key priorities are:

working with others to protect and enhance our natural environment
reducing waste and increasing recycling
developing plans and funding opportunities to protect our coastline
supporting sustainability and the local economy through the strategic review and use of car parking assets
developing a strategy for our assets at Keyhaven, considering environmental objectives, flood protection and the local economy

Key activities

Our key activities are:

contribute towards the overarching sustainability strategy which will set out our actions to protect the local environment and reduce our impact on climate change
develop and implement a new modern waste strategy for the council working with the Project Integra Board
adoption of the Christchurch Bay and Harbour Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy to identify future flood and coastal erosion projects
review car parking infrastructure and technology and deliver the actions from the Parking Working Group to develop and implement a modern car park strategy

Action plan and achievement measures

This plan of specific actions that will directly contribute towards the delivery of the priorities within each portfolio.

These actions will be refreshed annually to keep them up to date.

Achievement indicators for each portfolio have been identified to help monitor progress against the delivery of the priorities and provide tangible measures of success.

Progress updates on specific actions and achievement indicators will be reported to the relevant overview and scrutiny panel during the year.

Specific actions

Specific actions are:

contribute towards the overall sustainability strategy, identifying local actions to address the impact of climate change
cabinet approval of waste strategy during 2022
procure an operations ICT system in order to support the council's waste strategy
explore opportunities to support in the delivery of future Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM) activities and the council's role as the Coast Protection Authority
develop a business case for submission to the Environment Agency to support beach management plan operations for Hurst Spit in the short-term
work with the Environment Agency to develop a Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM) strategy for Hurst Spit to Lymington
work with Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council in the delivery of the Christchurch Bay and Harbour Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM) Strategy
implement the findings of the depot review
review of car parks across the district to inform car parks strategy including looking at the introduction of cycling parking in key locations and increasing the number of electric charging points
review of Keyhaven strategy

Achievement indicators

Achievement indicators are:

increase in household waste sent for reuse, recycling, and composting (%)
increase in coastal funding to achieve specific actions (£)
increase the number of electric charging points by 10 by 31/12/2022 (Number)
total CO2 emissions saved through electric vehicle charging points (Number)