Agenda and minutes

            Apologies for inability to attend were reported from Alderman Copeland and Councillors T. Brooks and Maskey.

            The minutes of the meeting of 12th June were taken as read and signed as correct.  It was reported that those minutes had been adopted by the Council at its meeting on 1st July.

            No declarations of interest were reported.

            The Director presented the following motion to the Committee, which had been proposed by Councillor Groogan and seconded by Councillor T. Brooks:

“This Council recognises the ambition set out in the Belfast Agenda that Belfast will be a “vibrant, attractive, connected and environmentally sustainable” city by 2035, as well as somewhere “where everyone experiences good health and wellbeing”. 

The Council celebrate the good work already happening right across the city that will help us achieve this aim; alleyway greening, community growing projects, the Blackstaff greenway, development of a neighbourhood net-zero framework, the One Million Trees project, and many more initiatives working to improve biodiversity, make green spaces more accessible and help make Belfast a greener and cleaner city.

The Council believes that a city where people, places and nature are better connected is one that not only helps us to tackle our climate and biodiversity crisis but leads to better health and wellbeing outcomes for everyone in the city. 

As such, this Council commits to supporting the move to become a National Park City, convening stakeholders from across the city, improving support to empower local communities, bringing together existing projects, and developing a clear roadmap to how we collectively can restore nature for the benefit of people, wildlife and planet.”

He reminded the Committee that, as it had responsibility for making recommendations on the Council’s approach to addressing the climate crisis and the Council’s role and responsibilities at city level, including but not limited to considering public campaigns/public education programmes which the Council might wish to deliver to change behaviour amongst residents and businesses; and to take account of the Council’s statutory responsibilities on sustainable development, the motion had been referred to it.

A number of Members expressed their support for the motion and their aspirations for the City to become a designated “National Park City”. 

One Member requested that the Committee invite Dr. Neil Galway, Senior Lecturer at the School of Natural and Built Environment at Queen’s University, and Mr. Conor McKinney, Wild Belfast, to attend a future meeting to discuss the issue.

A further Member added that he would like to see officers engage with their counterparts in the City of Galway, which was also aspiring to become a National Park City.

After discussion, the Committee agreed:

·         to invite Dr. Neil Galway, Senior Lecturer at the School of Natural and Built Environment at Queen’s University, and Mr. Conor McKinney, Wild Belfast, to attend a future meeting;

·         that officers would liaise with their counterparts in the City of Galway as part of the scoping exercise; and

·         that a subsequent report be brought to the Committee outlining a detailed consideration of the Notice of Motion and the potential cost implications.

            (Ms. M. Quigley, Adaptation and Resilience Advisor, attended in connection with this item.)

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

“1.0      Purpose of Report/Summary of Main Issues

1.1        The purpose of this report is to inform members about the recent public consultation on the Draft NI Climate Change Adaptation Programme 2024-2029

2.0        Recommendation

2.1        The Committee is requested to:

                                      I.    Note that the NI Climate Change Adaptation Programme has been drafted and refers to a series of climate risks for Northern Ireland based on the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment 2022.

                                     II.    Note that the current Programme out for consultation identifies a range of actions to be carried out by local government up to 2029.

                                   III.    Retrospectively approve the response that was submitted by Belfast City Council to the Public Consultation which closed on 4th August 2025.

                                   IV.    Agree that further discussion and engagement should be requested with DAERA on the actions to understand the resource implications of these on the Council before they can be agreed and adopted.

3.0        Main Report

3.1        Background

            The Climate Change Act 2008 places a statutory duty on Northern Ireland Executive Departments to lay programmes before the Northern Ireland Assembly, which set out their objectives, policies, proposals and timelines for introducing those policies and proposals in response to the most recent UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) which was published in January 2022.

            To fulfil this legal requirement the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) has led on the development of a series of single coordinated adaptation programmes, which are known as the Northern Ireland Climate Change Adaptation Programme (NICCAP), since the 2008 Act came into effect.

The recent public consultation, which opened on 9 June 2025 and closed on 4th August 2025 sought the views of stakeholders on the draft third iteration of these programmes (NICCAP3) which has been developed with input from all Departments and a range of key stakeholders, in response to the latest Third UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA3).

            The Climate Change Committee are obligated under section 57 of the 2008 Act to produce an Independent Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA-IA) on a five yearly cycle, which is used to inform the development of the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) which must be laid in Parliament every five years under section 56.

            Section 60 of the Act provides for Northern Ireland Departments to respond to each CCRA through an adaptation programme setting out:

-         the objectives of the department in relation to adaptation to climate change,

-         the department’s proposals and policies for meeting those objectives, and

-         the timescales for introducing those proposals and policies.

            Effective climate change adaptation action requires a collaborative approach and so in recognition of this, DAERA has led on the development of a coordinated Northern Ireland Climate Change Adaptation Programme (NICCAP) with the input of adaptation responses from across each of the NI Executive Departments.

            The consultation document states that it also recognises the important role that key stakeholders including Local  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

            (Ms. B. Roddy, Project Support Officer (Climate), attended in connection with this item.)

            The Project Support Officer (Climate) outlined that, following discussions with Elected Members, it was proposed that a two hour in-person climate training workshop would be delivered immediately after the Committee meeting on 11th September, 2025. She explained that the workshop would be delivered by Sustainable NI and supported by members of the Council’s Climate Team. The Committee was advised that the content would be tailored to the findings of a training needs assessment carried out with Members of the Climate and City Resilience Committee.

            The cost for up to 15 Elected Members to attend the training was covered within the Council’s subscription as a partner to Sustainable NI for 2025/26.  If additional places were required, the cost would be £150 per delegate, a 50% reduction on the regular charge, and would be funded via the existing City and Organisational Strategy budget.

The Committee:

              I.        noted that Sustainable NI would deliver a two hour in-person Climate Workshop, on Thursday 11th September 2025, immediately following the Committee meeting, as a pilot for the wider group of Elected Members;

            II.        gave approval to commission training; and

           III.        agreed that Members should confirm their attendance by 22nd August.

      Resolved – That the Committee agrees to exclude the members of the press and public from the meeting during discussion of the following item as, due to the nature of the item, there would be a disclosure of exempt information as described in Section 42(4) and Schedule 6 of the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 2014.

            Members were also reminded that the content of ‘restricted’ reports and any discussion which took place during closed session must be treated as ‘confidential information’ and that no such information should be disclosed to the public as per Paragraph 4.15 of the Code of Conduct.  

            The Climate Commissioner provided the Committee with an update on the high-level feasibility study of a Belfast City, Central Heat Network.

            The Committee was reminded that Belfast City Council had committed to ambitious actions to address climate change across all areas of the Council and the City. The Council had commissioned a Local Area Energy Plan (LAEP) which had been launched in September 2024. The plan integrated detailed energy system modelling with extensive stakeholder engagement. The LAEP outlined five priority projects for the near term, including the development of a heat network. The BCC Working Group continued to support delivery and the work was coordinated within the Council via the City Regeneration and Development Board and at the City level through the Belfast Net Zero group which reported into the Our Planet Board.

            The Committee was advised of the results of the heat mapping and master-planning study.

            The Committee noted that the work had been funded through the Innovate UK Pathfinders Project and had been delivered in partnership with the Energy Systems Catapult. Discussions were underway regarding the funding of the next phase of feasibility work ahead of further engagement and updates on options for the next steps.

After discussion, the Committee noted:

I.            that Belfast City had particularly advantageous conditions for a heat network, due to the compact heat load, and variety of energy centre locations;

II.           that the work to date was a high-level study, that figures were subject to change as and when more detailed feasibility progressed - a site to host the energy centre, choice of technology, anchor loads and network route were variables which might change as feasibility progressed;

III.          that, to progress the heat network project, further investment was required in feasibility, and market engagement activities;

IV.         That further work was required to lower the heat tariff to one more closely aligned with the price of gas;

V.          the results of the market readiness assessment and business model analysis;

VI.          that the Climate Team had been engaging with key city stakeholders, central government departments and facilities managers and sustainability leads for the key base load buildings; and

VII.         that the Corporate Management Team be requested to consider the issue at a future meeting to move the project forward.