Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Cllr Jose Green, Cllrs Alan Hill, Chris Humphries, Leo Randall and Peter Doyle.

Cllrs Tony Trotman and George Jeans were substitutes at the meeting.

To confirm and sign the minutes of the Environment Select Committee held on 6 July 2010.

The Minutes of the previous meeting held on 6 July 2010 were signed and approved as a correct record with the following amendment:

Item 84 (Real Time Passenger Information) – the meeting was temporarily adjourned for approximately 30 minutes due to a fire drill and not 15 minutes as detailed within the minutes.

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

Cllr Rosemary Brown declared a personal interest in Item 9 – Real Time Passenger Information (RTPI) – as an employee of BLB Solicitors who represented Trapeze.

The Chairman confirmed that, as agreed at the last meeting, the focus of the agenda would be Climate Change with further details on the work being undertaken by Cllr Toby Sturgis (Cabinet member for Waste, Property and Environment) and Ariane Crampton (Head of Climate Change).

The agenda for the next meeting in November was not yet finalised.  Councillors were reminded to inform the Chairman or Senior Scrutiny Officer of any items that Committee members wished to be included.

The Chairman was minded to invite Stuart Wheeler (Cabinet member for Leisure) to the next Committee in November in advance of the Leisure Services report submission to Cabinet in December following recommendations emerging from the consultation on changes to the service.

The Council welcomes contributions from members of the public.

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.  The Chairman will, however, exercise his discretion in order to ensure that members of the public have the opportunity to contribute. 

Members of the public wishing to ask a question should give written notice (including details of any question) to the officer named above by 12:00 noon on Friday 3 September 2010.

There was no public participation at the meeting.

In July, the Head of Climate Change agreed to return to the Committee with an update on the development of the authority’s Climate Change Strategy and Carbon Management Plan. 

The draft Climate Change Strategy and covering report are attached for consideration by the Committee prior to the Strategy’s submission to the Climate Change Board on 20 September 2010. 

The Carbon Management Plan will be considered by Cabinet on 16 November 2010.  Accordingly the Head of Climate Change will provide the Committee with a presentation detailing the status of the Plan to date.

Recommendation:

The Committee is asked to:

1)         note the report on the Climate Change Strategy and make recommendations as appropriate.

2)                 note the update provided on the Carbon Management Plan and to provide recommendations as appropriate; and

3)                 decide whether to make arrangements to scrutinise a copy of the Carbon Management Plan prior to it’s submission to Cabinet on 16 November 2010.

The Head of Climate Change attended the meeting to present the draft Climate Change Strategy to the Committee prior to the Strategy’s submission to the Climate Change Board on 20 September 2010 and provided a presentation on the current position of the Carbon Management Plan.

The Cabinet Member for Waste, Property and Environment and Service Director for Economy and Enterprise were also in attendance to answer any questions arising.

Climate Change Strategy

Discussion commenced with members expressing their support for the strategy and providing acknowledgement of the work that had been undertaken to date. 

Members were asked to consider the ambitions of the document and how best these could be achieved.  The following points were made:

-       Details of monitoring responsibility should be included within the Strategy to ensure that the Strategy was effective (the Climate Change Board was proposed as one such monitoring body). 

-       Nottingham Declaration and the 10:10 Agreement should be referenced within the Legal and Policy Context section of the Strategy (although it was understood they did not hold legal obligations).

-       That there was a need for officers to show commitment to the requirements of the Strategy in order to influence the community around them.  (Supporting Stronger Resilient Communities was raised as a way to help implement the strategy within the community).

-       That the policy decision regarding Fair Trade should be referenced in the Strategy.

-       That the relationship with Wessex Water should be strengthened and that a relationship with Thames Water (which was not currently mentioned within the Strategy) should also be developed and strengthened.

-       The Strategy required the support of other public organisations to be truly effective.  Acknowledgement was made that a paper would be submitted to the Public Service Board on 15 September where discussion would include public assets, how the council managed it’s properties and Climate Change Adaptation.  Public services were required to sign up to the contents of the Public Service Board document.

-       The Strategy would not be effective without the appropriate financial support and was likely to be influenced by the budgetary details released by central government in October.  Details of the financial commitment required should be included.

-       That clarification should be provided on the definition of Greenhouse Gas Equivalents data supplied by the University of Exeter.

-       That the coordination of adaptation approaches and responses with other public service organisations should be included as a risk within the Strategy. 

-       Further clarity should be provided on the emissions that the council managed directly and had the power to influence.   Examples of the work already undertaken by the council to demonstrate commitment should also be included.

-       That although the council had little control over emissions by schools, encouragement should be given for schools to work within their travel plans, this could also be achieved through encouragement via the education programme.

-       Indicative targets (and expected timeframes) should be included.

-       That resource savings made as a result of the strategy should be reinvested  ...  view the full minutes text for item 96.

A report from the Service Director – Strategic Services, was received by the Committee at its meeting in July 2010 which provided an update on the delivery of the RTPI system.

The Committee noted the update and requested that a further report was submitted to the Committee at it’s next meeting outlining in more detail the financial implications of converting the system to GPRS.

Recommendation:

The Committee is asked to consider the report and assess whether any recommendations should be made to the Cabinet member responsible for transport in relation to the future of RTPI in Wiltshire.

An update report, which provided further information on the financial implications of converting the RTPI system to GPRS, was presented by the Service Director, Strategic Services following a request by the Committee in July 2010.

The Portfolio Holder for Transport was also in attendance to answer questions.

Clarification was provided that the implementation of the new GPRS system was expected to be completed by March 2011 and would result in an anticipated 93% coverage rate.

The Committee acknowledged the need for the RTPI system to be effective in order to encourage maximum use of the public transport system and that the GPRS system would provide this.

Resolved:

That the Committee:

1)                 Supported the performance and financial reasons for converting the RTPI system from its existing communications platform of Private Mobile Radio to GPRS technology.

2)                 To receive an update report on the GPRS system in 18 months to provide clarity on the effectiveness of the new system.

A copy of the draft Forward Work Programme is attached for consideration.

The Committee noted the Forward Work Programmes provided with the following comments:

It was understood that the maintenance and cleansing of public conveniences was to become the responsibility of Parish and Town councils.  Further research would be conducted to clarify this.

That the proposed harmonised waste collection service would be based on 2 weekly collections of free garden waste, plastic bottles and cardboard, the retention of the black box for glass, paper, cans and textiles and a 2 weekly collection of residual waste and would be implemented as soon as possible subject to approval by Cabinet on 19 October.

Ensuing discussion followed regarding the council’s consultation process.  Members of the Committee considered the need for the process to be reviewed and, accordingly, proposed that the subject be raised at the Organisation & Resources Liaison Board for further discussion.

Members also noted that no further information had been received by the Committee following the Gypsy and Traveller Consultation process.  Cllr Jose Green, as the Committee’s appointed representative on the Gypsy and Traveller Strategy Project Group, would be asked to provide the Committee with an update.

It was also noted that no further updates had been received by the Committee on the Housing PFI project.  The Senior Scrutiny Officer confirmed that he would contact the Cabinet Member responsible for Housing for an update accordingly.

Leisure Facility Review would be added to the Committee’s Forward Work Programme for consideration in November 2010.

2 November 2010.

2 November 2010.

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

No urgent items were considered.