Councillors and committees

Agenda and minutes

Venue: REMOTE MEETING

Contact: Ross Pike, Committees Business Manager 

Note: Please note that due to the Covid-19 situation this meeting will take place remotely. 

Items
No. Item

15.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND SUBSTITUTIONS

    To report any apologies for absence and substitutions.

16.

MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETINGS: TUESDAY 24 MARCH 2020 pdf icon PDF 131 KB

    To agree the minutes of the previous meeting of the Communities, Environment and Highways Select Committee as a true and accurate record of proceedings.

     

    Minutes:

    The minutes were agreed as a true record of the meeting.

17.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

    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); and

     

    ·         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:

    None received.

18.

QUESTIONS AND PETITIONS

    To receive any questions or petitions.

    Notes:

    1.    The deadline for Member’s questions is 12.00pm four working days before the meeting (12 June 2020).

     

    2.    The deadline for public questions is seven days before the meeting(11 June 2020)

     

    3.    The deadline for petitions was 14 days before the meeting, and no petitions have been received.

     

     

     

    The public retain their right to submit questions for written response, with such answers recorded in the minutes of the meeting. Petitioners may address the Committee on their petition for up to three minutes.

    Minutes:

    None received.

19.

ENVIRONMENT TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURE DIRECTORATE RESPONSE TO CORONAVIRUS pdf icon PDF 80 KB

    Purpose of report:

     

    To provide the Committee with an update and overview of the activity of the Environment Transport and Infrastructure (ETI) Directorate in providing services over the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the latest efforts to recover services to a new normal.

     

    Minutes:

    Witnesses:

     

    Denise Turner Stewart, Cabinet Member for Communities

    Natalie Bramhall, Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change

    Matt Furniss, Cabinet Member for Transport

     

    Katie Stewart, Executive Director – Environment, Transport and Infrastructure

     

    Key points raised during the discussion:

    1. The Cabinet Member for Communities provided an overview of the work of the Environment Transport and Infrastructure (ETI) Directorate during COVID-19. An International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) accreditation approach was being undertaken and a new Director of Resilience would add additional capacity to the service. The Cabinet Member relayed how the relationship with funeral directors had been crucial throughout this period in enabling the death management approach to run smoothly. Protecting the workforce and preparing staff return to work was being undertaken, with the help from the health and safety team, whilst the support for armed forces personnel had continued and new grants awarded for the veteran’s hub.

     

    1. With regard to the Coroners Service, the Cabinet Member reported that there had been a significant reduction in waiting times for post-mortems, with a marked improvement in systems and processes. Hearings had continued with remote access enabled for the public.

     

    1. Simultaneously, Surrey Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) had continued to respond to all emergencies whilst developing the community protection offer. SFRS was one of the first services to access key worker testing and the council was supporting the National Fire Chiefs Council in lessons learned with partner fire and rescue services. The Community Protection Group had advanced on its transformation programme – building back services and acting as a key component in the COVID-19 response. The Community Safety Team had been working to support domestic abuse provision and a new refuge had been established.

     

    1. The Chairman referred to the government’s active travel grants querying the status of the council’s bids. The Cabinet Member stated that, in total, the government had allocated £8.5m to Surrey and the council had applied for the first tranche of this to be granted as revenue funding. The majority of this funding would go on measures already being installed in Farnham, Reigate & Banstead and Mole Valley. The focus would largely be on unpedestrianised retail areas. These pilots would develop the template for the rest of the county, and it was anticipated that the second tranche of funding would be received in the summer. A newly appointed officer had increased the capacity of the team for project development.

     

    1. The Chairman asked whether Members and residents could be involved in the process prior to the submission of bids. The Cabinet Member responded that a new virtual map on where residents could mark and nominate areas for improvement was due to be launched and would help prioritisation. The Cabinet Member assured the Committee that Members would be included in any consultations taking place in their area, and urged Members to think how walking, cycling and bus routes could be improved in their area.

     

    1. The Chairman raised pressures on bus operators due to the declining bus usage during lockdown. This conflicted with both the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

20.

WASTE COMMISSIONING STRATEGY pdf icon PDF 121 KB

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    Purpose of report:

     

    To seek the Committee’s views on the development of the council’s waste commissioning strategy including outcomes and procurement programme.

     

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Witnesses:

    Natalie Bramhall, Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change

     

    Katie Stewart, Executive Director – Environment, Transport and Infrastructure

    Richard Parkinson, Environment Delivery Group Manager

    Mark Allen, Interim Waste Programme Manager

     

     

    Key points raised during the discussion:

     

    1. The Cabinet Member stated that the existing waste Private Finance Initiative (PFI) was due to expire in September 2024 thus new service arrangements would be commissioned and a strategy developed to meet the council’s statutory duties. The commissioning strategy would consider approaches ranging from full re-procurement to division of the service into separate packages that could be procured within a shorter timescale. The council would actively engage with all district and borough councils on future models.

     

    1. Reduction of residual waste by encouraging residents to produce less waste and separating the collection of recycled waste and food waste would be a key element of the strategy. To help achieve this, a review of the variable elements of the funding mechanism through which the council funded the Surrey Environmental Partnership (SEP) and the districts and borough councils was underway and due for completion in September 2020. With the approval of this paper, the Executive Director would establish suitable board and governance arrangements with representatives from Surrey Chief Executives and the SEP.

     

    1. A Member requested that the council’s Climate Strategy be adhered to with regard to residual waste, either by managing it locally or transporting it further for treatment by a fleet of electric vehicles. The Executive Director agreed that reference in the report to climate change needed emphasising and more work needed to be undertaken to set out how carbon emissions could be monitored and reduced. The Environment Delivery Group Manager stated that adherence to ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ would generate a significant carbon emissions reductions.

     

    1. A Member requested that the 20 action points to deliver on climate change from the Council’s Climate Change agenda be included in the Waste Strategy. The Waste Advisor confirmed that the climate change action points and council strategy work would be considered but more work needed to be done around carbon modelling.  The Committee thought that the CRC Task Group recommendations should also feed into the Waste Strategy. The Group Manager assured the Committee that the Task Group recommendations would be taken into consideration.

     

    1. A Member asked that the impact on emissions of every 1% improvement in recycling be measured and tracked albeit greater emphasis should be focused on increasing waste reduction and waste reuse. The carbon reduction effect of the latter is far greater and would link to the consumption transformation challenge. The Waste Advisor confirmed that rate analysis would be carried out but it would also be important to consider the following factors to provide a carbon impact of the existing service: how waste and recycling are collected; what vehicles collect waste; the efficiency of waste collection vehicles; how far the vehicles travel; the infrastructure that waste is taken to. The cost, recycling and carbon impacts of each waste strategy option could be considered before a final decision.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.

21.

COMMUNITY PROJECTS FUND pdf icon PDF 238 KB

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    Purpose of the report:

     

    To provide the Committee with an update and overview on the development of the Community Projects Fund.

    Minutes:

    Witnesses:

     

    Katie Stewart, Executive Director – Environment, Transport and Infrastructure

    Matthew Snelling, Strategic Lead – Policy and Strategy

     

     

    Key points raised during the discussion:

     

    1. The Select Committee noted the interim reports.

     

    1. Members requested that the minutes of the CPF Task Group meetings be circulated to members of the Select Committee.

     

     

    1. The Chairman stated that the final task group report would be finished in time for the Cabinet meeting.

     

    1. Members stressed that strong a governance framework behind the Community Projects Fund would be key.

     

     

    Actions:

    i)              The Democratic Services Assistant to circulate the minutes of the CPF Task Group meetings to the members of the Communities, Environment and Highways Select Committee.

     

22.

RECOMMENDATIONS TRACKER AND FORWARD WORK PROGRAMME pdf icon PDF 69 KB

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    Purpose of report: for the Select Committee to review the attached recommendations tracker and forward work programme, making suggestions for additions or amendments as appropriate.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Key points raised during the discussion:

     

    1.    The Executive Director agreed with Members’ suggestion to form a task group to support development of the Council’s Land Use Strategy, due for completion in March 2021.

     

    2.    The Committee requested the following topics to be developed for future meetings of the Select Committee: countryside and rights of way; highways capital investment as agreed by the Council.

     

23.

DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING: WEDNESDAY 16 SEPTEMBER 2020

    The next public meeting of the committee will be held remotely on Wednesday 16 September 2020.  

    Minutes:

    The Committee noted its next meeting would be held on 16 September 2020.

     

     

     

    The meeting finished at 11:51.