Agenda and draft minutes
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Media
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Apologies for Absence and Temporary Appointments To receive any apologies for absence and temporary appointments. Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Hugo Ashton, Julian Cooper, Liz Leffman, Dan Levy, Sandra Simpson, and Mark Walker. Councillor David Jackson substituted for Councillor Liz Leffman and Councillor Rosie Pearson substituted for Councillor Sandra Simpson. Councillor Thomas Ashby left the meeting at 19:12. Councillor Natalie King left the meeting at 19:20.
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Declarations of Interest To receive any declarations from Members of the Committee on any items to be considered at the meeting. Minutes: There were no declarations of interest received from Members of the Committee. |
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Minutes of Previous Meeting To approve the minutes of the meeting held 6 November 2024. Minutes: Councillor Alex Wilson proposed that the minutes of the previous meeting, held on Wednesday 6 November 2024, be approved by the Committee as a true and accurate record. This was seconded by Councillor Michele Mead, was put to a vote and it was unanimously agreed by the Committee. RESOLVED: The Committee approved the minutes of the meeting held on 6 November 2024.
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Chair's announcements To receive any announcements from the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. Minutes: The Chair welcomed Members to the meeting and explained what to do in case of a fire.
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Participation of the Public To receive any submissions from members of the public, in accordance with the Council’s Rules of Procedure, anyone who lives in the district or who pays council tax or business rates to the Council is eligible to read a statement or express an opinion at this meeting. You can register to speak by sending your written submission of no more than 750 words to [email protected] by no later than 10.00am on the working day before the meeting. Minutes: There was no participation of the public. |
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Ubico Business Plan 2025-26 (presentation) Purpose: To provide a Presentation on Business Plan engagement.
Recommendations: That the Committee resolves to: 1. Agree any recommendations it wishes to submit to the Executive on 11 December 2024.
Invited: Councillor Lidia Arciszewska – Executive Member for Environment Bill Oddy – Assistant Director, Commercial Development Beth Boughton – Managing Director, Ubico
Minutes: The Managing Director of Ubico provided a Presentation on Business Plan engagement. A presentation that contained the five pillars of Ubico’s business plan engagement was shared and included elements of staff engagement, operational performance goals including benchmarking, reduction of climate emissions, waste reduction measures and business innovation. The following points and suggestions were noted by the Committee: · The choice of using HVO as a fossil fuel alternative was an issue that the Council needed to consider. · The collection of bio-plastics was also a further option for the Council to consider and how to collect these items could be discussed further. · In terms using proactive measures and emailing the Council to explain why a street was missed during rubbish/recycling collections, the issue would be discussed with Officers as the data did exist but it was a case of how to find an efficient way to get that information through from the Ubico back office and then communicated to the Council. · Reduction of pesticide usage and targets was again a Council decision and there was ongoing work around looking for partners to see what new alternatives could reduce pesticide use. · Information was provided on cross boundaries for waste/recycle vehicles which was provided in conjunction with Council costs, achievements and performance. Pilot projects were underway to increase information around fleet management and to ensure unit costs could be provided. · Ubico did have long term sickness staff issues which meant that there were agency staff in place and this caused a loss of knowledge at times. To solve the issue, teams were made up of a mixture of experienced and temporary staff. There were not many vacancies; however, Ubico were looking to build a pool of staff to cover holiday and sickness and have spare drivers. It was confirmed that staff sickness issues were not around work-related injuries or work related; issues were often related to mental health and stress. · In terms of emergency plans, areas not provided with service due to inclement weather conditions were being constantly surveyed to see when access could be provided and services reinstated. Work would be done with Publica colleagues to ensure any areas that consistently encountered issues could be proactively dealt with. · Glass recycling and heavy bin (due to uncollected bins) communication was mixed and Councillors requested clarity. Ubico would look into this matter. Members welcomed this as there was general confusion around glass recycling and it was confirmed that residents should separate glass from other recycling accordingly in the appropriate collection bin. · Technology around bar codes was expensive and the INCAB system could provide similar information but it would take longer as it was a manual process. Ubico would take this way and consider possible options. · Ubico was updated on changing central government regulation and meeting with Officers on a regular basis to discuss what needed to be done. RESOLVED that the Committee noted the report and agreed to submit the following recommendations to the Executive on 11 December 2024: 1. That the Council asks that ... view the full minutes text for item 72. |
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Waste Fleet Purchase Delegation Purpose: To consider the proposal outlined in the report to procure new waste fleet vehicles and the associated infrastructure for any electric vehicles.
Recommendations: That the Committee resolves to: 1. Note the decision by the Executive on 9 October 2024 to: Delegate authority to the Assistant Director for Commercial Development, in consultation with the Executive Members for Environment and Finance, and the Director of Finance, to purchase or lease up to 2 x full size HGV’s and up to 4 food waste vehicles and necessary charging infrastructure up to an estimated cost of £2.8M, (including a procurement contingency and estimated cost of borrowing). 2. Agree any recommendations it wishes to submit to the Executive on 11 December 2024.
Invited: Councillor Lidia Arciszewska – Executive Member for Environment Bill Oddy – Assistant Director, Commercial Development Simon Anthony – Business Manager, Environmental Services
Additional documents: Minutes: Simon Anthony, Business Manager for Environmental Services, presented the report that was to consider the proposal outlined in the report to procure new waste fleet vehicles and the associated infrastructure for any electric vehicles. The waste service had thirty-five frontline collection vehicles with most of these approaching the end of their life. The paper asked the Executive to consider the purchase of four vehicles and to delegate the purchase or lease of a further six vehicles. This would make the procurement of the vehicles smoother and would allow for better management of the Council’s Capital Programme. Without reliable replacements, the vehicles, and therefore the service, would become unstable and could result in service disruption and additional costs relating to repairs and maintenance. Waste was the only Council provided service that most residents use each week so having an unreliable vehicle fleet would have a significant impact on residents and could lead to reputational damage. A Member/Officer Steering Group met on 17 July and determined that the following vehicles were due for renewal: · 4 x Food Waste Vehicles 7.5te and retain one of the existing fleet as a spare; · 1 x 7.5te vehicle with bin lift for ultra narrow access collections; · 2 x 26te vehicles used across both refuse and garden waste collections; · 3 x supervisor vans. The depots would also require substantial upgrades to accommodate the capacity for the EVs and the costs of those were outlined to Members. The following points and suggestions were noted by the Committee: · As the report had already gone through to Executive, the report was presented to enable full transparency of the delegation of the decision. · The depot had a fully green tariff and solar panels or renewable energies would be an ideal situation; however, there was limited and restrictive grant funding. The Council would need to decide how far it could go with EV usage in future. · The procurement would begin in the new year and depending on the vehicle, it would be a six-nine month lead time to receiving the vehicle. All vehicles would be owned by the Council and leased to Ubico, which was standard practice. Hydrogen was not currently being considered as an alternative; however, it could be considered in future if available. · Supervisors checked missed bins, processed container returns and managed the crews which made them an essential part of the service. · Members welcomed the phased purchases proposed in the report and commented that it made sense for these decisions to be delegated. · It was felt that availability of the narrow vehicle was critical and most of the missed bins currently were due to lack of these; Officers confirmed that this was the key focus of the current dashboard. · Savings were forecast from the tariff information and best available information suggested they were currently marginal. · New regulations from central government were still be worked out and the vehicles in the report would be needed in all scenarios and a report would come back to Members on Waste Strategy at ... view the full minutes text for item 73. |
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Local Plan Annual Monitoring Report Purpose: To consider the Council’s Local Plan Annual Monitoring Report for the period 2024-2024.
Recommendations: That the Committee resolves to: 1. Agree any recommendations it wishes to submit to the Executive on 11 December 2024.
Invited: Councillor Hugo Ashton – Executive Member for Planning Andrew Thomson – Lead Planning Policy and Implementation Officer
Additional documents: Minutes: The Lead Planning and Implementation Officer presented the report that considered the Council’s Local Plan Annual Monitoring Report for the period 2024-2025. Under current planning legislation, the Council was required to produce an Annual Monitoring Report (AMR). The main purpose of the AMR was to monitor the implementation of adopted Local Plan policies but it must also include information on the following:
The AMR must be made available on the Council’s website, at its main offices and at any other appropriate locations. The Council’s most recently published AMR covered the two-year period 1 April 2023 – 31 March 2024. The new draft AMR for 2023 – 2024 was attached at Annex A and the key points of interest were summarised in Section 2 of the report and included: Local Plan Progress, Salt Garden Village Area Acton Plan, Supplementary Planning Documents, Neighbouring Planning, Community Infrastructure Levy, Duty to Co-Operate, Implementation of Local Plan Policies, Overall Strategy, Providing New Homes, Sustainable Economic Growth, Transport and Movement and Environmental and Heritage Assets. The following points and suggestions were noted by the Committee:
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Service Performance Report 2024-25 Quarter Two Purpose: To provide details of the Council’s operational performance at the end of 2024-25 Quarter Two (Q2).
Recommendations: That the Committee resolves to: 1. Agree any recommendations it wishes to submit to the Executive on 11 December 2024.
Invited Councillor Andy Graham – Leader of the Council Alison Borrett – Senior Performance Analyst Additional documents:
Minutes: The Senior Performance Analyst presented the report that provided details of the Council’s operational performance at the end of 2024-25 Quarter Two (Q2). Progress on actions in the Corporate Plan for Q2 were contained in the report. The Council Priority highlight report was attached at Annex A with an overview of progress against all actions in the Corporate Plan is attached at Annex B. Overall, the Council's performance for the quarter had been largely positive, with notable progress in Percentage of FOI requests answered within 20 days and the percentage of Planning Appeals allowed. Planning Determination Times, Gym Memberships, and Land Charges Response Times remained high. Additionally, Customer Satisfaction continued to be strong, with the Council topping the Gov Metric league table in July and August. However, the Number of Affordable Homes delivered and Income Achieved in Planning are showing negative trends. A full report was attached at Annex C and should be looked at in conjunction with the report. As previously agreed, where possible, broader benchmarking had been included in the full performance report to gain a more robust and insightful evaluation of performance. Where benchmarking data was not currently available or outdated, this was noted, and further investigations would be undertaken to look at options. It was suggested that next time the report was presented in quarter three, Members could submit questions prior to the meeting. The following points and suggestions were noted by the Committee:
The Committee thanked Officers for the report.
RESOLVED that the Committee noted the report and it was agreed that there were no recommendations to the Executive on 11 December 2024.
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Report back on recommendations For the Committee to note the Executive’s response to any recommendations arising from the previous Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting. Minutes: The report back on the recommendations from the Executive, from the previous meeting, was noted.
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Committee Work Programme Purpose: To provide the Committee with an updated Work Programme for 2024/25.
Recommendation: That the Committee resolves to: 1. Note the work programme and agree any amendments.
Minutes: The Executive Work Programme was noted. It was requested that items such as the Ubico report should be Member Briefings in future rather than Overview and Scrutiny presentations.
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Executive Work Programme Purpose: To give the Committee the opportunity to comment on the Executive Work Programme.
Recommendation: That the Committee resolves to: 1. Agree which items on the Executive Work Programme should be subject to pre-decision scrutiny and the priority order of those items.
Minutes: It was noted that the Knight’s Court report had been recently delayed and would now come to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at pace with Executive; the work plan would now reflect the change.
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