To agree the minutes as a true
record of the meeting.
Minutes:
The minutes from the previous meeting on 3
July 2017 were agreed as a true and accurate record.
10.
DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
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All
Members present are required to declare, at this point in the
meeting or as soon as possible thereafter:
I.Any disclosable
pecuniary interests and / or
II.Other interests arising under the Code of Conduct in
respect of any item(s) of business being considered at this
meeting
NOTES:
·Members are reminded that they must not participate
in any item where they have a disclosable pecuniary interest
·As well as an interest of the Member, this includes
any interest, of which the Member is aware, that relates to the
Member’s spouse or civil partner (or any person with whom the
Member is living as a spouse or civil partner)
·Members with a significant personal interest may
participate in the discussion and vote on that matter unless that
interest could be reasonably regarded as prejudicial.
Minutes:
Members were
asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests relevant to
items on the agenda.
Councillor
Jonathan Essex declared a personal interest in regards to item 7,
as a trustee of a charity reuse furniture store called
‘Furnistore’.
Councillor
Wyatt Ramsdale declared a personal interest in item 7, as
Vice-Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at Waverley
Borough Council.
Councillor
Matt Furniss declared a personal interest in item 7, as Deputy
Leader of Guildford Borough Council.
11.
QUESTIONS AND PETITIONS
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To
receive any questions or petitions.
Notes:
1.The deadline for Member’s questions is 12.00pm
four working days before the meeting Thursday 31 August
2017.
2.The deadline for public questions is seven days
before the meeting Wednesday 30 August 2017.
3.The deadline for petitions was 14 days before the
meeting, and no petitions have been received.
Recommendations from the Select Committee were
submitted to the 18 July Cabinet meeting. Responses from the
Cabinet Member for Highways are attached to the agenda.
Following
the Cabinet Member’s response regarding Local Highway Funding
2017/18, members raised concerns over the reduction to the highways
funding for local committees.
Members
stated that many residents were being told by officers who managed
the highways budget centrally to approach the Local Committees for
funding. As Local Committees were having their respective highways
budgets reduced, it was important residents were not given false
hope for promised funding from Local Committees.
Members
raised concerns that funds were near enough depleted and that the
Cabinet’s Member’s response did not indicate any long
term solutions or commitment.
It was
stated that the burden of councillor responsibilities to carry out
highway improvements for residents would not be met unless funds
were increased.
Purpose of
the report:Scrutiny of Services
and Budgets and Performance Management.
To consult the
Environment & Infrastructure Select Committee on options to
make changes to the Community Recycling Centre Service that would
improve its value for money.
Mike Goodman, Cabinet Member
for Environment and Transport
Trevor Pugh, Strategic Director
for Environment and Infrastructure
Richard Parkinson, Waste
Operations Group Manager
Nick Meadows, Change
Consultant
Declarations of interest:
None
Key
points raised during the discussion:
The Select Committee
received a presentationfrom the waste
service covering the financial position of the council, cost
reductions already made from Community Recycling Centre’s
(CRCs), the public consultation undertaken and the proposed changes
being put before Cabinet.
Despite stories in
the press, the Cabinet Member for Environment & Planning
clarified that the council had not already made a decision to close
sites. Any decision on service changes would be made by Cabinet
taking into account the outcome of the consultation. The purpose of
the consultation was to allow residents to give their feedback on
two proposed options before Cabinet decided on which proposal to
adopt.
It was noted that
£3.3m savings were required from the operation of CRC
service. A saving of £1.4m would be met in 2017/18 from
changes introduced last year. Officers stated that additional
savings would need to be identified to achieve the overall savings
target of £3.3m.
Officers indicated
that the closure of every CRC two days in the week would
potentially save the service £385k and that discussions were
underway with Suez to develop an optimal solution of CRC day
closures.
The Committee raised
concerns around the possible increase in fly-tipping if the
proposed changes in the report were agreed by Cabinet. It was
agreed that a more uniform method of recording fly-tipping with
district & borough councils was needed which would also include
the recording of fly-tipping on private land.
It was noted that
although there was a national system for recording ( Waste Data
Flow), fly-tipping incidents including those on private land ,
however not all incidents on private land are recorded, as
landowners either don’t report all of them or district and
borough council’s don’t accept them. Some members
stated that more work needed to be done with partners in regards to
the proposals being taken forward including the potential impacts
on partners.
Concerns were also
raised around the removal of the free daily allowance for
construction waste and the possible increase in fly-tipping as a
result of this. Officers explained that since the introduction of
charging at CRC’s, there had been a reduction in the amount
of construction waste going to CRC’s, which had not
reappeared in as fly-tipping, in domestic and street sweeping waste
streams. The Cabinet Member present at the meeting stated that if
the free daily allowance of chargeable waste was stopped, and there
was an increase in fly-tipping that could be directly linked to
this change he would look at this with the service.
The Cabinet Member
for Environment and Transport whilst stating fly-tipping had fallen
over 1000 tonnes recognised members concerns that more consistent
and accurate data on fly-tipping was needed for the
county.
The
next public meeting of the committee will be held on Thursday 5
October 2017 at 10.30am in the Ashcombe
Suite, County Hall, Kingston upon Thames.
Minutes:
The next meeting of the Environment and
Infrastructure Select Committee will be held on Thursday 5 October
2017 at 10.30am in the Ashcombe Suite, County Hall, Kingston upon
Thames.
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