Initial Climate Change Impact Assessment (Form created August 2021)

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	Double Devolution
Brief description of proposal	The proposal for local government reorganisation in North Yorkshire included a commitment to pilot double devolution and provide opportunities for town and parish councils and community groups that would like to manage services and assets on behalf of the unitary council.  This project is looking at identifying 6 pilot areas to commence from April 2024.
Directorate	Local Engagement
Service area	Locality
Lead officer	Rachel Joyce (ACE) and Marie-Ann Jackson (Head of Stronger Communities)
Names and roles of other people involved in carrying out the impact assessment	Abigail Burns (Project Manager)

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 council	For the county	Overall
Greenhouse gas emissions	Decreases emissions	Decreases emissions	Decreases 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)	Decreases pollution	Decreases pollution	Decreases 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)	Positive impact on ecology	Positive impact on ecology	Positive impact on ecology
Heritage and landscape	Increases protection of heritage and landscape	Increases protection of heritage and landscape	Increases protection of 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:	Continue to full CCIA:	X
Reason for decision	A full CCIA is required for the 6 identified pilot areas of the project as dependent upon which pilots are chosen there is potential for decreases in the use of vehicles to more local areas, buildings to be repaired and put to new uses, or potentially for street markets to be revitalised and an increase in use. It would be advisable for each pilot to review a CCIA screening tool as each pilot will have slightly different requirements dependent on what the outcome is expected to be.   Having spoken to the Climate Change officer, Jos Holmes, this has been agreed. Jos has suggested that we can look at either directorate based Climate Change officers being involved dependent on the pilot taken forward and therefore which directorate the responsibility sits or a Climate Change officer who has links to the area in which the pilot is to be developed.
Signed (Assistant Director or equivalent)	Rachel Joyce
Date	23/5/23 Agreed by sponsor at KIT 9/6/23