Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Streetscene Scrutiny Panel held on 16 November 2023.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Streetscene Scrutiny Panel held on Thursday 16 November 2023 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

There were no Chairman’s announcements.

To receive any declarations of interest from members in accordance with Standing Orders and the Council’s Code of Conduct and disclosures of advice or directions received from Group Leaders or Political Groups, in accordance with the Council’s Constitution.

There were no declarations of interest made at this meeting.

To receive any deputations of which notice has been received.

There were no deputations made at this meeting.

To consider any item of business dealt with by the Executive since the last meeting of the Panel, that falls under the remit of the Streetscene Portfolio. This will include any decisions taken by individual members during the same time period.

Councillor Mrs C Bainbridge asked a question in respect of the overspend on the Streetscene budget as presented under the Policy and Resources portfolio at the Executive meeting held on 08 January 2024.  The Director of Neighbourhoods undertook to update Councillor Bainbridge on this matter outside of the meeting.

To consider a report by the Director of Neighbourhoods which provides an opportunity for the Panel to scrutinise the performance of the refuse and recycling services delivered by the Council.

The Panel considered a report by the Director of Neighbourhoods which provided an opportunity for members to scrutinise the performance of the refuse and recycling services delivered by the Council.

Members raised and discussed a number of concerns in respect of the proposals outlined in the Environment Act 2021 which will require all Local Authorities in England to collect the same recyclable waste streams for recycling or composting from households. Concerns included:

(i)            the potential need for residents to be able to store several different bins and containers at their properties;

(ii)          the costs of providing the bins and containers and any necessary resources required to be able to implement changes to collection arrangements;

(iii)         the potential for food waste containers to be compromised by wildlife;

(iv)         how residents can be encouraged to embrace changes to recycling collection arrangements; and

(v)          the need to ensure that any new arrangements for recycling and collection are not counterproductive in working towards the Council’s carbon neutrality commitment.

Officers advised the Panel the Government had published its response to the recent consultation and that Regulations, which would confer statutory recycling responsibilities on the Council, were awaited.  No decisions would be taken on the Council’s approach to implementing the changes until the Regulations were published.  The consultation refers to both capital and revenue funding for any new burdens that arise from implementing the requirement and an announcement on this is awaited.

Officers recognised the importance of gaining commitment from residents to improve recycling rates and a strong communication and educational campaign will be required for successful implementation of the new requirements.

At the invitation of the Chairman, Councillor I J Bastable, Executive Member for Streetscene, addressed the Panel on this item to advise that education would be a key element of any successful implementation and that both consumer and manufacturing habits needed to change.  The Council’s approach will be to improve the recycling rate but will move slowly until it is clear what the statutory requirements are. A careful approach to rolling the changes out across the Borough would be important.

RESOLVED that the Streetscene Scrutiny Panel notes the content of the report.

To provide an opportunity for Members to consider the scrutiny priorities for the Streetscene Panel.

Members discussed the Scrutiny Priorities for the Streetscene Panel.

At the request of Councillor Mrs C Bainbridge, the Director of Neighbourhoods undertook to ensure that members are updated at a future meeting of the Panel on the action to be taken in respect of the “Bins for Boys” motion submitted to the Council at its meeting held on 14 December 2023.

It was requested by Councillor Mrs Hayre that an update on Allotment Arrangements across the Borough be added to the scrutiny priorities.

It was noted that with the adoption of new corporate priorities under the Council’s Corporate Strategy 2023-2029, it would now be appropriate to re-align the Panel’s scrutiny priorities with the new Corporate Strategy.  The Director of Neighbourhoods advised that the agenda for the final meeting of this municipal year would be arranged from items of business already in hand and that the Panel could then review at the first meeting of the new municipal year what the priorities would be going forward.

RESOLVED that the Streetscene Scrutiny Panel considered the Scrutiny Priorities.