Initial Climate Change Assessment

The intention of this document is to help the council to gain an initial understanding of the impact of a project or decision on the environment. This document should be completed in consultation with the supporting guidance. Dependent on this initial assessment you may need to go on to complete a full Climate Change Impact Assessment. The final document will be published as part of the decision-making process.

If you have any additional queries, which are not covered by the guidance please email climatechange@northyorks.gov.uk

Title of proposal	Armed Forces Covenant
Brief description of proposal	The Armed Forces Covenant is a promise from the nation that those who serve or have served in the armed forces, and their families, are treated fairly. The Armed Forces Act 2021 enshrines the Covenant into law to help prevent serving armed forces personnel and veterans from being disadvantaged when accessing commercial and public services. One key feature of the Act is a new duty to specified persons or bodies, including councils, to have due regard to the principles of the Covenant, when exercising certain housing, education or healthcare functions (excluding social care). The Armed Forces Act 2021 and the new due regard duty on local councils, along with local government reorganisation in North Yorkshire, is a timely opportunity to consolidate the good work which is already undertaken within the county and set out the steps that the new council will need to undertake to meet the new duty going forward.
Directorate	Corporate Services
Service area	Policy, Partnerships and Communities
Lead officer	Anthony Ruddy, Senior Strategy Officer
Names and roles of other people involved in carrying out the impact assessment	Neil Irving, Assistant Director Policy, Partnerships & Communities (and sponsor); Jos Holmes, Climate Change Policy Officer.

The chart below contains the main environmental factors to consider in your initial assessment – choose the appropriate option from the drop-down list for each one.

Remember to think about the following;

· Travel · Construction · Data storage		· Use of buildings · Change of land use · Opportunities for recycling and reuse
Environmental factor to consider	For the county council		For the county	Overall
Greenhouse gas emissions	No effect on emissions		No Effect on emissions	No effect on emissions
Waste	No effect on waste		No effect on waste	No effect on waste
Water use	No effect on water usage		No effect on water usage	No effect on water usage
Pollution (air, land, water, noise, light)	No effect on pollution		No effect on pollution	No effect on pollution
Resilience to adverse weather/climate events (flooding, drought etc)	No effect on resilience		No effect on resilience	No effect on resilience
Ecological effects (biodiversity, loss of habitat etc)	No effect on ecology		No effect on ecology	No effect on ecology
Heritage and landscape	No effect on heritage and landscape		No effect on heritage and landscape	No effect on heritage and landscape

If any of these factors are likely to result in a negative or positive environmental impact then a full climate change impact assessment will be required. It is important that we capture information about both positive and negative impacts to aid the council in calculating its carbon footprint and environmental impact.

Decision (Please tick one option)	Full CCIA not relevant or proportionate:	ü	Continue to full CCIA:
Reason for decision	Initial review completed with input and guidance from the Council’s climate change specialist and advised that full CCIA not relevant or needed.
Signed (Assistant Director or equivalent)	Neil Irving, Assistant Director Policy, Partnerships and Communities.
Date	14 December 2022