Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies or substitutions for the meeting.

Apologies were received from Cllr Ian McLennan and Cllr Stephen Oldrieve and Cllr Chris Cochrane.  Cllr Trevor Carbin substituted for Cllr Stephen Oldrieve.

To approve and sign the minutes of the Environment Select Committee meeting held on 01 November 2012.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 1 November 2012 were approved and signed as a correct record.

To receive any declarations of disclosable interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive any announcements through the Chair.

No announcements were made.

The Council welcomes contributions from members of the public.

Statements

If you would like to make a statement at this meeting on any item on this agenda, please register to do so at least 10 minutes prior to the meeting. Up to 3 speakers are permitted to speak for up to 3 minutes each on any agenda item. Please contact the officer named above for any further clarification.

Questions

To receive any questions from members of the public or members of the Council received in accordance with the constitution. Those wishing to ask questions are required to give notice of any such questions in writing to the officer named above no later than 5pm on Thursday 13 December 2012. Please contact the officer named on the first page of this agenda for further advice.  Questions may be asked without notice if the Chairman decides that the matter is urgent.

Details of any questions received will be circulated to Committee members prior to the meeting and made available at the meeting and on the Council’s website.

There was no public participation.

To receive an interim report from the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Task Group.

The Chairman of the CIL Task Group, Cllr Tony Trotman, was in attendance to present an interim report on the work of the Group to date.

In presenting the report clarification was made that the Group had considered consultation documents prior to the first round of public consultation which commenced on 1 October 2012 and had sought the views of stakeholders on the implications of the CIL.

The Committee were drawn to the recommendations contained which requested that the work of the Task Group be put on hold until further clarification had been provided from central government, noting that the views of local authorities were currently being sought which could result in revisions to the guidance issued.

The Chairman thanked the Task Group members on behalf of the Committee for the hard work undertaken and upon vote all were in favour of the recommendation provided.

Resolved:

That the Committee agree to the work of the Task Group being held in abeyance until the latest guidance from Central Government on CIL is published.

At the meeting of the Committee on 1 November 2012, it was agreed that a rapid scrutiny exercise should be undertaken to consider the new Community Teams, particularly with regard to their relationship with the Community Area Managers. A request for expressions of interest was circulated but no expressions of interest were registered for this exercise.

A report about the Community Teams has been provided by the service for Members’ consideration.

Following agreement by the Committee on 1 November 2012 a request for expressions of interest was circulated for participation in a Rapid Scrutiny Exercise to consider the new Community Teams.

As no interest was received a report from the Head of Local Highways and Street Scene, Adrian Hampton, was presented for the Committee’s consideration.

In presenting the report clarification was made that the formation of the Community Teams within the new Highways and Streetscene Contract would help to alleviate the duplication of work that currently existed and bring together generic officers to ensure robustness across the service.

Current trials had highlighted the benefits of the revised structure with officers working to community area priorities as set by Community Area Boards.  Continued feedback between the new Co-ordinator post, the Community Area Transport Group (membership as set by the Area Boards) and Town and Parish Councils would provide a consistent line of communication and ensure the priorities of each area were addressed. 

In highlighting the scope of services that could be identified as priorities within each area, it was noted that future provision would be sufficiently flexible to accommodate the service demands of the individual communities.

The Committee noted the report, thanked the officer for his attendance and resolved as follows:

Resolved:

1)    That the Overview & Scrutiny Management Committee be requested to consider the impact on town and parish councils as a result of available resources; and

2)    That the Overview & Scrutiny Management Committee at the appropriate time be requested to consider the IT system being implemented to support the revised structure and how this would fit into other client facing systems.

In August 2012, members of the Environment Select Committee (ESC) each received an email invitation from Mark Luntley, Chair of the Westmill Community Wind Farm Cooperative, to visit the Wind Farm.  As a number of members expressed an interest in visiting the Wind Farm, the Chair of the ESC agreed a date should be set so that members could visit together.

Several members had to drop out, but three members visited the Wind Farm on 8 October 2012.  Their guide on the day was Mike Blanch, Chair of the Westmill Sustainable Energy Trust.

Cllr Chris Cochrane has submitted a report on behalf of those members that attended.

A rapid scrutiny exercise was carried out on 7 December 2012 into the Street Light Savings project. The report will be circulated to members of the Environment Select Committee to ensure that Members have the opportunity to comment on the report before its submission to the Cabinet meeting on 18 December 2012, and the conclusion and potential future actions noted by the Committee on 20 December 2012.

The report will be to follow.

A report on street light savings plans, arising from the rapid scrutiny exercise undertaken on 7 December 2012, was circulated as an agenda supplement on 14 December 2012 to allow members time to consider the report ahead of its submission to Cabinet on 18 December.

The lead member of the rapid scrutiny exercise, Cllr Nigel Carter, introduced the report and confirmed that a healthy debate was undertaken when the report had been presented to Cabinet and the recommendations duly considered.

Although a response had yet to be formally received from the Cabinet member to the recommendations of the rapid scrutiny exercise, it was noted that the recommendation proposed by the Task Group that option 4 (installation of LED lighting) be considered alongside option 3 was not favoured by Cabinet but that option 4 would be reviewed in 12 months.

In noting that the report had been circulated to all members ahead of the meeting to allow for comment prior to consideration by cabinet it was resolved as follows:

Resolved:

1)    To note the report; and

2)    That the response from Cabinet to the recommendations of the Committee would be circulated once received.

Written updates on Environment Select Committee (ESC) Task Group activity are attached.

The Committee considered the updates as provided and the additional information as detailed below:

Low Carbon and Renewables rapid scrutiny exercise

In noting that only one expression of interest had been received, Cllr Nigel Carter agreed to meet with climate change officers and report back to the Committee thereafter.  A further scoping meeting would, if required, take place thereafter if so agreed by the Committee.

Resolved:

The updates as provided were noted.

To note and receive updates on the progress of items on the forward work programme.

Under the revised Overview and Scrutiny arrangements there is now a single Overview and Scrutiny work programme controlled by the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee, linked to priorities in the Business Plan.

Therefore it should be noted that, whilst any matters added by Members are welcome, they will be referred to the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee for approval before formal inclusion in the work programme for the Environment Select Committee.

A copy of the Overview and Scrutiny Forward Work Programme for the Environment Select Committee is attached for reference.

The Committee considered the Forward Work Programme and acknowledged that final reports from Task Groups and Rapid Scrutiny activity would need to be presented to the Committee ahead of elections to ensure business had been duly concluded where possible.

Resolved:

To note the Forward Work Programme.

To confirm the date of the next scheduled meeting as 21 February 2013.

Any other items of business which the Chairman agrees to consider as a matter of urgency.