Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors R Ford and B Price.  Councillor C Cooke attended as Councillor R Ford’s substitute.

The Chair welcomed Councillors D Maycock and R Rogers as members of the Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chair noted there were no minutes of the previous meeting (26^th September 2022) for approval at this meeting given the proximity of the two meetings.

(To receive a quarterly update on the dual stream recycling service)

The Chair welcomed the Portfolio Holder for Skills, Planning, Economy and Waste, Councillor Doyle and the Chief Executive, Mr Andrew Barratt, the General Manager of the Joint Waste Service, Mr Nigel Harris, and the Customer Relations and Performance Manager of the Joint Waste Service, Ms Victoria Woodhouse to this meeting.

The General Manager provided an overview of the Report and confirmed that the service reliability remained good.  He reported that the plans set out in the Report for the Christmas and new year period needed to be amended as the tipping facilities would not be open long enough on Saturday 24^th and 31^st December.  He reported that revised plans would be recirculated to members.

The Committee commented and sought clarifications in the following areas:

1.    The Committee commented that the data in the Report was helpful and the Committee requested data be shown in graphical form and to also include data from prior years to help show the trends, and it was agreed that this would be provided going forwards.

2.    The Chief Executive reported that the next quarterly update would provide a written update on the report on the Interim Review which had been commissioned.  In summary the report considered whether the service was fit for purpose, had sufficient capacity, looked at communications and whether this could be improved, looking at the utilisation of data and using data to drive the service forward and at the facilities used by the service.  The report highlighted that contamination levels had reduced and there would be a measurable action plan from this report.

3.    The Committee sought further information on the robustness / quality / lifecycle of the blue bags. It was reported that there had been no widespread issues reported.  It was expected that over time there would be further information on this which could be reported. The service had modelled a 10% replacement of bags in each year, however there was no clear data as yet to assess whether this accurately reflected the position. The Committee requested whether there was any data related to this from neighbouring authorities which had adopted the bag strategy. The General Manager agreed that relevant statistics for this would be monitored going forwards.

4.    Whether contaminated bins were from the same properties where it was reported that this data was not currently recorded.  The Committee commented that going forwards they would like to see this data.

5.    Whether there were any plans for proactive communication advising residents that additional bags were available prior to Christmas.  It was reported that other authorities had adopted this strategy.

6.    Clarification was requested on how the cost of the additional infrastructure was resourced from the additional income received and it was reported that the additional income resulted from a higher price for higher quality (uncontaminated) waste and this price had held up at the start of this year but there were signs that there could be some reductions in price going forwards, however, the quality of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 54.

None to report back on since the last meeting.

(Discussion item)

None.

(Discussion item – link to Forward Plan is attached)

http://democracy.tamworth.gov.uk/mgListPlans.aspx?RPId=120&RD=0&bcr=1

No further items were identified from the Forward Plan for this Committee’s consideration at this time.

To receive updates from any Working Groups

It was reported that the Facilities for HGV Drivers working group meeting had to be rescheduled and would met shortly.

It was reported that information was awaited from the County Council prior to commencing the working group (in conjunction with the Health & Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee) on the travelling community.

There was a transport integration update later on the Agenda.

(Update and discussion on the Infrastructure Safety & Growth Scrutiny Work Plan)

The Committee considered its Work Plan and updated it as follows:

Infrastructure, Safety and Growth Scrutiny Work Plan

To consider excluding the Press and Public from the meeting by passing the following resolution:-

“That in accordance with the provisions of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meeting and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012, and Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of the following business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act and the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public  interest in disclosing the information to the public”

At the time this agenda is published no representations have been received that this part of the meeting should be open to the public.

(Report of the Leader of the Council)

The Committee received the report of the Leader of the Council which set out proposals which would be presented to Cabinet regarding the approaches to marketing and disposing of the Marmion house site for redevelopment.

RESOLVED that the Committee endorsed the proposals for Cabinet consideration.

(Moved by Councillor S Goodall and seconded by Councillor M Cook)

The Leader of the Council left the meeting.

(Report of the Portfolio Holder for Skills, Planning Economy and Waste)

The Committee received the report of the Portfolio Holder for Skills, Planning Economy and Waste which set out actions which would be presented to Cabinet regarding the future development of Amington Local Centre

RESOLVED that the Committee endorsed the proposals for Cabinet consideration.

(Moved by Councillor S Goodall and seconded by Councillor M Cook)

The Portfolio Holder for Skills, Planning, Economy and Waste, the Assistant Director, the Head of Economic Development and Regeneration and the Regeneration Officer left the meeting.

To receive an update from the transport integration working group

The Committee received an update from the working group members.  It was agreed that Councillor M Cook joined the working group.

Following discussion the Committee requested that the working group undertake further work in terms of the demand for different transport options, engage further, including with local businesses and investigate possible funding streams available, including from the County Council and national Government.