Agenda and draft minutes
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Minutes of Previous meeting To consider the minutes of the meeting held on 15 July 2021. Minutes: The minutes of the meeting held on 10 June 2021 were approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record. |
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Apologies for Absence and Temporary Appointments Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Mike Cahill, Owen Collins, Harry St John and Ben Woodruff. Councillor Joy Aitman substituted for Councillor Andrew Coles. |
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Declarations of Interest To receive any declarations of interest from Councillors relating to items to be considered at the meeting, in accordance with the provisions of the Council’s Local Code of Conduct, and any from Officers.
Minutes: There were no declarations of interest. |
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Participation of the Public Purpose: To receive any submissions from members of the public, in accordance with the Council’s Rules of Procedure.
Additional documents: Minutes: Duncan Wood, owner of a commercial property off Bridge Street, Witney, part of the Old Mill flooded last Christmas, registered to speak, and addressed the Committee. William Wareing representing the Witney Flood Mitigation Group (WFMG), addressed the Committee and circulated papers. Copies of both submissions are attached to the original copy of these minutes. Councillor Poston asked Mr Wareing if the Witney Flood Mitigation Group were speaking in relation to upstream Windrush and Mr Wareing confirmed that the WFMG were concentrating on the Witney town centre. The Chairman clarified that the Witney Flood Mitigation Group had been sent a written reply to a letter sent from them to the Leader of the Council, and all the Councillors. The reply was from Councillor Norman MacRae on behalf of the Council. Mr Wareing confirmed receipt of the letter and said he would subsequently reply to that. Councillor MacRae confirmed that work was going on in the background with officers, which the Witney Flood Mitigation Group were aware of. The Chairman summarised that this was a distressing situation and that the Witney Flood Mitigation Groups technical and detailed report, and statement circulated, urged working collaboratively with different responsible bodies, some of which were also represented by Councillors present at the meeting. He suggested that Members of the Committee also would like to see the answers and responses. Councillor Eaglestone proposed that the Environment Agency, County Council, Witney Town Council and West Oxfordshire District Council Cabinet respond to the Witney Flood Mitigation Group and copy the Committee into their answers. Councillor Poston seconded the proposal, this was put to the vote and was carried.
The Chairman thanked the public and the Witney Flood Mitigation Group for their participation and hoped the spirit of joined up working would continue and yield results. The Chairman then suggested dealing with the Committee Work Programme as confirmation of Environment Agency (EA) participation had been received after the agenda had been published. He advised the meeting that this was an opportunity to hear from the Environment Agency as to what they had been doing and planned to do. The Chairman introduced Mrs Joanne Emberson-Wines the representative from the Environment Agency. Mrs Emberson-Wines introduced herself as the Area Flood Risk Manager for the Thames Valley Area and explained that she worked closely with other EA representatives who had visited the area recently, and oversaw the work they were doing. Mrs Emberson-Wines explained that the Warn and Inform System had been in place in 2020, measuring river flows and levels and combining with weather forecast enabled the EA to flood forecast. The Warn and Inform System was upgraded after 2007 and tested in 2014. She highlighted the changes in weather systems being seen due to climate change and increased rosters were put in place over Christmas, with extra standby duty personnel. In December, calls had come in to the incident hotline from Witney residents, triaged and responded to, and officers had visited site to check blockages within the river. An incident ... view the full minutes text for item 21. |
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Consideration of the introduction of Waste & Recycling Container Delivery Charging Purpose: To give the Committee the opportunity to comment on the Cabinet Report. Recommendation: That the Committee decides whether to express a view to the Cabinet meeting on 13 October 2021.
Minutes: Members received a report from the Contracts Manager, Scott Williams, which outlined the results of a review, which had been completed on the numbers and costs of delivering waste and recycling containers to households in the district. The report proposed a number of options outlined at sections 2.4 to 2.11 with a view to introducing a charge for container deliveries. Mr Williams highlighted that the total detailed in section 3.2 of the report needed to be amended. Councillors discussed the extra containers usage, those stolen and damaged and the quality of the bins. Mr Williams clarified that any containers that had been stolen or damaged, would not incur a charge. In addition, action would be taken for those containers that were damaged on collection. If a larger household required extra containers, the request would be considered and may not incur a charge. Any household that had requested extra bin collections, would be listed on the collection rota; any household that put more than their allocation of bins out for collection, would be noted and investigated. Councillors then went on to discuss the actual costs incurred in each scenario and the relevant options being proposed. The Chairman asked for clarity on the figure quoted in paragraph 3.1 – Purchase and Delivery and Mr Williams confirmed that this was the total budget. Councillor Poston proposed that the minimum cost charge outlined as Option 1, be adopted. This was seconded by Councillor Eaglestone. The proposal went to a vote and was carried. Resolved that the report be noted, with a recommendation that the charging option 1 be adopted.
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Introduction of Charges at the Public Conveniences at New Street Car Park, Chipping Norton Purpose: To give the Committee the opportunity to comment on the Cabinet Report. Recommendation: That the Committee decides whether to express a view to the Cabinet meeting on 13 October 2021.
Minutes: The Chairman introduced Mrs Maria Wheatley the Parking Services Manager. The Committee received a report from the Shared Parking Services Manager which asked Members to consider the introduction of charges at the public conveniences located at New Street Car Park, Chipping Norton. At present, the Council had charges in place at all the other eleven Council owned public convenience sites except this one. Councillor Leffman enquired if the option of paying by coin or by card could be adopted. In response, the Shared Parking Services Manager confirmed that some sites did have both payment options in the Cotswolds however, this required new payment devices which was quite expensive to install. She also confirmed that the Council had not received any enquiries or complaints relating to these options, however it was something that could be looked at in the future. Having considered the report and having heard from the officers present, the Committee Resolved that the report be recommended to Cabinet. |
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Committee Work Programme 2021/22 Purpose: To provide the Committee with an updated Work Programme for 2021/2022. Recommendation: That the Committee notes the work programme, provides comment where needed and makes amendments where required.
Minutes: The Chairman addressed the meeting and provided an update on the Committee Work Programme as follows: Review of the Section 19 Report – officers were still awaiting a date of issue; Riparian Work – this was continuing in the background and an invitation had been extended to Bill Oddy, for an update at the December Committee; An air quality report had been sent to the relevant government inspector and officers were awaiting a response; Local Natural Partnership – the Chief Executive, Giles Hughes had been asked to set up a meeting. Councillor Leffman proposed an addition to the work programme. She advised that the Government had suggested new proposals for waste and recycling for 2023/2024 and she suggested that the Committee review what was being asked for by the government. The Chairman advised that the District Council was the collection authority, and the County Council was the disposal authority therefore any change in legislation could have a bearing on the way the Council dealt with waste and recycling. Councillor Leffman also added that she thought one of the Governments initiatives may be to introduce free garden waste collections, which at the moment the Council charged for. In response, the Contracts Manager, Scott Williams explained that the government’s steer on free garden waste collections was that there should be no new burden on the local authority to meet the costs of this initiative. He confirmed that a review was being carried out and suggested that a quarterly update moving forward should be sufficient at this stage. Resolved that the Committee Work Programme be agreed with the following addition: An update on the Government initiative on waste and disposal for 2023/2024. |
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Cabinet Work Programme Purpose: To give the Committee the opportunity to comment on the Cabinet Work Programme -September to December 2021. Recommendation: That the Committee decides whether to express a view to the Cabinet on relevant issues in its Work Programme.
Minutes: Resolved that the report be noted. |
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Members' Questions Purpose: To receive questions from Members relating to the work of the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee. In order to ensure that appropriate information is to hand at the meeting, Members may wish to give notice of any questions through the Committee Officer. Recommendation: That Members’ questions be dealt with as appropriate.
Minutes: Councillor MacRae advised that he had received an update from the Shared Principal Engineer, Laurence King, and the new emergency flood response plan was due at the end of October and the Section 19 report was being worked on behind the scenes. |