Agenda and minutes

To note any changes to the membership of the Committee following the Council meeting on 12 May 2015.

Following the Full Council meeting on Tuesday 12 May 2015, a number of changes were made to the Environment Select Committee membership with immediate effect:

Cllr Philip Whalley was now a member of the Committee, in place of Cllr Christopher Newbury.

Cllrs John Noeken and Anna Cuthbert were now substitute members.

To elect a Chairman of the Committee for the forthcoming year.

Cllr Bridget Wayman was elected as Chairman of the Committee for 2015/16.

To elect a Vice-Chairman of the Committee for the forthcoming year.

Cllr Peter Edge was elected as Vice-Chairman of the Committee for 2015/16.

To receive any apologies or substitutions for the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Linda Packard who was substituted by Cllr Rosemary Brown.

To approve and sign the minutes of the Environment Select Committee meeting held on 14 April 2015.

Members considered matters arising from the previous meeting and it was confirmed that the recycling review was going to Cabinet on 16 June 2015 as part of the ‘Citizens’ Dashboard’ (agenda item 7). The Cabinet member confirmed that the guide to inform councillors about road surface repairs and safety was being produced.

Resolved:

To confirm as a true and correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 14 April 2015.

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 Chairman.

Meetings with the Cabinet members

The Chairman highlighted the upcoming meetings between the Environment Select Chairman and Vice-Chairman and Cabinet Members with responsibility for the services whose work the Committee was responsible for reviewing. The Chairman explained that the objective was to review and update the forward work programme and invited members of the Committee to suggest any topics for discussion. It was confirmed that the following areas would be the subjects of these meetings:

·       Highways and Transport

·       Waste

·       Economic development

·       Housing, Leisure, Libraries and Flooding

·       Hubs, Heritage & Arts, Governance, Support Services (joint with the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee)

Learning and Development

The Chairman explained that there was a new approach for providing learning and development for councillors. The programme would be delivered through Frontline Consulting and led by a trainer well-known to the council with five half-day events bookable in 2015/16. Further detail would be provided after the confirmation of dates and content.

For further information, these reports were presented to the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee on 19 May 2015. Click here to access the information.

LGA Peer Review

The Chairman explained that the formal feedback letter from the LGA Peer Challenge on Wiltshire Council’s approach to overview and scrutiny was considered at the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee on 19 May 2015 alongside a draft action plan.

These documents are available in the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee minutes from 19 May 2015. Click here to access the information.

Committee members were encouraged to contact the Scrutiny Officer with comments on any actions that the Environment Select Committee could take to meet the recommendations made by the Peer Challenge team.

Upcoming Events

A Home Grown Energy conference and Community Open Day organised by Westmill Sustainable Energy Trust (WeSET) at the Westmill Wind and Solar Farm Visit (Watchfield, Swindon, SN6 8TH - beside A420 and off B4508). Any interested members were encouraged to contact the Scrutiny Officer.

Resolved:

To note the Chairman’s announcements.

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 Tuesday 2 June 2015.  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.

The Committee raised the issue of switching off street lighting which was to be rolled out across the county from 1 July 2015. Some members suggested that there ought to have been more consultation before the rollout. 

The Cabinet member, Cllr Philip Whitehead, explained that there had been consultation in April 2012. The street lighting reduction scheme had been successfully piloted in Trowbridge for six months. It was also noted that ongoing consultation with local people was a key element of the street lighting reduction scheme in Trowbridge and that this approach was to be echoed across the county.

On 28 October 2014 the Environment Select Committee agreed that Communications to householders regarding waste and recycling was a work priority and resolved to reconvene the Waste Task Group to review this area.  The Waste Task Group met on four occasions and presented its final recommendations to the Committee in April 2015. The Committee endorsed the recommendations (available in the agenda pack) and referred the report to the Cabinet member for response.

A response to the recommendations will be provided at the meeting.  

The Committee received a response (attached to these minutes) from Cllr Toby Sturgis, Cabinet member for Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning (strategic and development management), Property, Waste and Strategic Housing, as a result of the recommendations endorsed by the Committee at its meeting on 14 April 2015 following a report from the Waste Task Group.

Cllr Toby Sturgis explained that there was a comprehensive communications strategy in place to explain the changes to Household Recycling Centre (HRC) opening hours and the changes to garden waste collection arrangements.

It was recognised that the durability of the decals (stickers) placed on some of the bins was faulty. It was advised that these decals would be replaced if affected households contacted Customer Services. The public should be reassured that drivers would have details of which properties had signed up for the garden waste collection service. Cllr Toby Sturgis advised that any members of the public who experienced difficulties should contact Customer Services.

It was reported that 61,000 people had signed up for the garden waste collection service at the time of the meeting. It was commended that a high number of people had signed up for this service.The Committee considered that it would be appropriate to provide more detailed information about what items could be recycled and the Cabinet member agreed and explained that this would be addressed once the new procurement contract was in place. It was also advised that the toolkit for recycling and composting was under development and being fully trialled in Westbury; it was expected to be circulated to all councillors in early 2016.

Cllr Jose Green, the Chairman of the Task Group, suggested that, although the final report had been submitted, there was a continued need for the Waste Task Group particularly in respect of monitoring the Household Recycling Centres (HRC) and the impact of the changing hours. The Cabinet member suggested that the upcoming meetings between the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Committee and the relevant Cabinet members would address this.

The Committee suggested that, owing to the £40 per year charge for the garden waste collection service, the savings of £800,000 envisaged in the budget might be exceeded. The Cabinet member, Cllr Toby Sturgis, advised that 131,000 households used the service prior to the introduction of a charge and it was anticipated that roughly half of those households would eventually sign up for the service. The Cabinet member suggested that the additional income would cover the cost of the garden waste collection service.

It was also advised that payment for the garden waste collection service by instalments and/ or direct debit was being considered. The Committee recommended that these methods of payment be introduced in time for renewal payments in 2016 and encouraged the Cabinet member to investigate this as a priority. The Committee suggested that it might be beneficial for the Budget Scrutiny Task Group to investigate the income, costs and total savings arising from the introduction of the charge for the garden waste  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33a

At its last meeting Tracy Carter, Associate Director for Waste and Environment, gave an overview of recycling performance up to January 2014.

The Committee now receives, and is asked to comment upon, a report on the annual performance for recycling  prior to consideration by Cabinet on 16 June 2015.

Tracy Carter, Associate Director for Waste and Environment, introduced the report on waste management performance that set out key figures monitored from 2014 – 2015. It was highlighted that there had been a reduction in the waste which was landfilled to 20.3% of the total waste collected which was significantly better than the target of 25%. It was reported that 46.4% of waste collected was recycled or composted. Although this was below the target of 50%, it was acknowledged that there was a late spring, and a change in the method of calculation which may have had some impact on this figure.

The Committee suggested that it would be informative to know the increase in households in the county to calculate the impact on waste targets and the Associate Director informed the Committee that the impact of increased households was being discussed.

It was also noted that some of the household waste produced in Wiltshire could be used as fuel (solid recovered fuel) instead of being diverted to landfill. It was questioned when a local plant that could use solid recovered fuel was to be constructed. It was also highlighted that a recent report by Hills appeared to use different data to that presented in the update on waste management performance. 

It was explained that an objective in the Hills contract was to find a local plant to use solid recovered fuel and that the planning process for a local plant was underway. The Associate Director commented that Hills’ data may include waste collection for other clients and suggested she liaise with Hills to affirm whether the same base data was used.

The Chairman commented that it might be informative to see the recycling performance of community areas to address underlying local issues. The Associate Director explained that the efficient routes of waste collection vehicles made this more complicated as the routes cross community area boundaries.  However, trends were visible based on the old district council boundaries, for example fewer dry recyclables were collected in the west, probably because more residents still have larger bins for non-recycled waste than those in other areas of the county.

Resolved:

To note the report on waste management performance.

Written updates on Environment Select Committee Task Group activity are attached, further verbal updates may be provided at the meeting.

Public Transport Review Task Group

The Chairman drew attention to the written update in the agenda pack. It was requested that the Task Group look at an integrated transport strategy and the Wilton Parkway Station in partnership with TransWilts and the Committee agreed an integrated approach to transport was desirable.

Highways and Streetscene BBLP Task Group

The Chairman highlighted the written information provided in the agenda pack.

Attention was drawn to the public concern about littering on highways. The Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport, Cllr Philip Whitehead, informed the Committee that the council was aware of the issue. He explained that work was now being done to address the root cause of this littering; this included publicity, support for volunteer groups, and local council enforcement options to discourage littering.

The Committee discussed the issue of community litter picking groups. It was considered that littering was also an issue of animal welfare and attention was drawn to the requirement that some Parish Councils pay for waste collection from volunteer litter picks. Some members of the Committee urged that the council should be prepared to deal with the waste from litter picks as this activity encouraged resilient communities, which was at the heart of the business plan. Other members agreed that it would be helpful to have a universal approach to this issue.

It was confirmed that the type and location of roadside litter strongly suggested that the majority resulted from motorists. It was also explained that the council was aware of and engaging in the Keep Britain Tidy campaign.

The Committee also discussed the recent cycle of grass cutting. It was suggested that the grass was knee height in some locations before being cut.

Cllr Philip Whitehead clarified that the Streetscene contract had always been measured by outcomes and the grass had been cut by length, rather than on a timescale, since 1 June 2013. It was agreed that the grass cutting timescales would be investigated in more detail by the Highways and Streetscene BBLP Task Group.

The Scrutiny Officer thanked members for their feedback on experiences with BBLP and explainedthat feedback would be catalogued.

Resolved:

To agree that the Public Transport Review Task Group would include consideration of an integrated transport strategy and the Wilton Parkway Station in partnership with TransWilts and approve the membership of the Task Group as follows:

Cllr Peter Evans

Cllr Terry Chivers

Cllr Mollie Groom

Cllr Jacqui Lay

Cllr Magnus Macdonald

Cllr Graham Wright

To agree that the grass cutting timescales would be examined by the Highways and Streetscene BBLP Task Group.

To note the Task Group updates.

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

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

The Committee was informed of a new housing Act: the Self and Custom Build Housing Act 2015. This was noted by the Chairman who would take the issue to the upcoming meeting with the Cabinet member.

Following questions about the implementation of recommendations from the Adoptable Estates Task Group final report, it was confirmed that the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee was looking into the implementation of recommendations and tracking of decisions for all task group final reports.

The Committee was informed that the items on the forward work plan for the Wiltshire Housing Site Allocations Development Plan Documents (DPD) and Gypsy and Traveller Plan would be updated after the meetings between the Chairman and Vice-Chairman and the Cabinet members.

Resolved:

To note the progress of items on the Forward Work Programme.

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

There were no urgent items.

To confirm the date of the next scheduled meeting as 1 September 2015.

The next ordinary meeting of the Committee would be held on 1 September 2015.