Agenda and minutes

Communities, Environment and Highways Select Committee - Monday, 20 March 2023 12.00 pm

Venue: Committee Room, Woodhatch Place

Contact: Kunwar Khan, Scrutiny Officer 

Media

Items
No. Item

10/23

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND SUBSTITUTIONS

    Purpose of the item: To report any apologies for absence and substitutions.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Apologies were received from Stephen Cooksey.

     

    Robert Hughes and Richard Tear substituted for Cameron McIntosh, John Furey respectively.

     

11/23

MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETINGS: 8 FEBRUARY 2023 pdf icon PDF 322 KB

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

     

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    The minutes of the Communities, Environment and Highways Select Committee held on 8 February 2023 were formally agreed as a true and accurate record of the meeting.

12/23

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.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    None received.

13/23

QUESTIONS AND PETITIONS

    To receive any questions or petitions.

     

    The public retain their right to submit questions for written response, with such answers recorded in the minutes of the meeting; questioners may participate in meetings to ask a supplementary question. Petitioners may address the Committee on their petition for up to three minutes. Guidance will be made available to any member of the public wishing to speak at a meeting.

    Notes:

    1.    The deadline for Member’s questions is 12.00pm four working days before the meeting (14 March 2023).

     

    2.    The deadline for public questions is seven days before the meeting(13 March 2023)

     

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

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    None received.

14/23

STRATEGIC WASTE INFRASTRUCTURE PLAN pdf icon PDF 360 KB

    Purpose of report: To provide an outline programme of work for the development of strategic waste infrastructure, to support a resilient and efficient waste management service for residents.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Witnesses:

     

    ·         Natalie Bramhall, Cabinet Member for Property and Waste

    ·         Katie Stewart, Executive Director for Environment Transport and Infrastructure

    ·         Steven Foster, Interim Director for Waste

    ·         Rob Macpherson, Waste Contract & Project Officer

    ·         Jodi Johnston, Waste Contract Management Project Officer

     

    Key points raised during the discussion:

     

    1. The Chairman noted that several components of the strategy involved other entities and asked if alternative plans had been considered if agreements could not be reached. The Executive Director for Environment Transport and Infrastructure explained that third party market capacity would be considered if agreements could not be reached.

     

    1. A Member asked how the council work with districts and boroughs in a more collaborative way to provide resilience, security and value for money for the future of waste services, as outlined in the councils vision. The Interim Director for Waste noted the good level of horizontal cooperation between the districts and boroughs through the Surrey Environmental Partnership (SEP) and explained that the districts and boroughs, provided frontline resilience, the statutory obligations of the council provided security of service and value for money resulted from more efficiency around recycling by having a Surrey County Council (SCC) owned Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) to reduce costs. The Cabinet Member for Property and Waste noted the differing levels of services provided by the districts and boroughs and said that the SEP would work with them to provide support to implement change going forward.

     

    1. A Member asked what responsibility the council had to engage with residents. The Waste Contract Management Project Officer said that in addition to the districts and boroughs having their own communications plans, quarterly meetings took place between waste and recycling officers to agree communications strategies which were produced by the Surrey Environmental Partnership.

     

    1. A Member queried how the proposed introduction of a new operating model for the Community Recycling Centre (CRC) network would improve network efficiency and effectiveness and provide greater control over the quality of the materials collected. The Interim Director for Wasteexplained that the long term ambition was to rebuild six sites that were currently substandard rather than introduce a new operating model. The Waste Contract & Project Officeragreed that there were plans to redevelop the six sites to improve safety and efficiency with no new operating model proposed.

     

    1. A Member queried if the recycling credits offered to the districts and boroughs were progressive. The Interim Director for Wastesaid that from April 2023, with SEP members agreement, action plans would be in place for all 12 authorities to drive forward initiatives to reduce waste arisings and increase recycling. Progress against these plans would be assessed without penalties or deductions in the first and second year, however deductions to credit payments could be implemented in the third year if an authority is assessed as making insufficient progress to deliver on their stated actions.

     

    1. A Member queried if some disposal could be dealt with by the council in partnership with relevant third parties to reduce transportation costs. The Interim Director for Wastenoted the industry focus  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14/23

15/23

FUTURE BUS NETWORK REVIEW AND LOCAL BUS SERVICE INVESTMENT pdf icon PDF 148 KB

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    Purpose of report: To provide the Select Committee with an opportunity to scrutinise the Future Bus Network and Local Bus Service Investment report being presented to Cabinet on 28 March 2023.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Witnesses:

     

    • Matt Furniss, Cabinet Member for Transport, Infrastructure and Growth
    • Katie Stewart, Executive Director for Environment Transport and Infrastructure
    • Lucy Monie, Director, Highways and Transport
    • Paul Millin, Assistant Director, Strategic Transport

     

    Key points raised during the discussion:

     

    1. The Chairman queried the councils capital and revenue spending on buses in the financial years 2022/23 and 2023/24. The Assistant Director, Strategic Transportconfirmed that the revenue budget for 2022/23 was £10.5 million and the budget for 2023/24 was £12.2 million adding that Cabinet had agreed budget and pipeline funding at £49 million to support investment initiatives.

     

    1. The Chairman asked if residents expect this financial commitment to bus services in Surrey to continue. The Cabinet Member for Transport, Infrastructure and Growthgave reassurances that bus services and improvements to public transport were a priority for the council.

     

    1. A Member queried the lessons learnt from the Mole Valley Connect Scheme, Digital Demand Responsive Transport (DDRT) pilot and asked if residents not digitally aware would be deterred from using the service. The Assistant Director, Strategic Transport confirmed that telephone bookings would continue alongside online and app booking. Lessons learnt included the understanding that school journeys could not be provided as vehicles were tied up for significant parts of the day resulting in a reduction in availability for residents and the original electric vehicles could now longer cope with the daily mileage, which has increased throughout the day due to greater ridership, requiring their replacement.

     

    1. A Member asked if the DDRT would be council run or commercially operated services. The Assistant Director, Strategic Transportexplained that the DDRT services would be going to tender in April for services to start in September 2023, ideally with the aim of one or two contractors to provide a range of DDRT services with the ability to combine high levels of quality in delivery and control.

     

    1. A Member noted that Stagecoach bus drivers had been advising users of the 17 and 520 bus services that the route would be cut from September 2023 and sought reassurances that the council would provide clear communications about the change of services to residents. The Assistant Director, Strategic Transportcommitted to raise the issue of drivers giving incorrect information with Stagecoach senior managers and said that information about the proposed changes to services would be provided to local Members, with an early briefing planned post Cabinet.

     

    1. A Member said that residents needed a clear explanation of the DDRT service. The Assistant Director, Strategic Transportagreed and noted that as demand increased going forward, the service may evolve to a corner to corner service, rather than a home to destination service to improve service efficiency.

     

    1. A Member asked how the five areas of priority noted in paragraph 21 of the report had been identified and what were the improvements planned in these areas and their timescales. The Assistant Director, Strategic Transport explained that the five areas had been identified by considering where passenger growth could be maximised as referenced in the National Bus  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15/23

16/23

RECOMMENDATIONS TRACKER AND FORWARD WORK PROGRAMME pdf icon PDF 94 KB

17/23

DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING: 11 MAY 2023

    The next public meeting of the committee will be held on 11 May at 10:00am.  

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    The Committee noted its next meeting would be held on 5 July 2023.