Meeting documents

Apologies for absence were received from Bill Chapple, David Carroll, Bill Bendyshe-Brown and Phil Gomm.

To disclose any personal or disclosable pecuniary interests.

There were no declarations of interest.

Of the meeting held on the 6^th November 2013 to be agreed as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on the Wednesday 6 November 2013 were agreed as a correct record subject to the following amendment;

Page 2 – Environmental Response – Sustainable Travel Scheme

Nigel Simms to be amended to Jim Simms

Matters Arising

Environmental Response – Green Deal

Bucks County Council has purchased £35,000 in shares in the Community Interest Company and there is the officer time of 0.4 full time employment.

The Green Deal will be on the Work Programme for the ETL Committee for 2014.

A meeting to discuss the EU bids and funding with the relevant officers is being re-scheduled due to a clash with the TfB review.

Action: Warren Whyte

Details of the full bid made by BCC for EU funding is to be provided.

Action: John Lamb/Kama Wager

Minutes of the Strategic Management Board

The minutes of the last meeting of the Board have been circulated but are not particularly helpful.  This is to be pursued in terms of how much information the Committee needs to monitor.

Customer Focus Project

The project is ongoing and is on the Committee Work Programme for 2014.  One of the recommendations in the report is for the Committee to receive regular updates. The statistics report is to be circulated to Committee Members.

Action: Kama Wager

Grass Cutting update

The Deputy Cabinet Member for Planning and Transportation has provided details of the legislation and statutory requirements for hedge cutting and grass cutting on highways, the statutory requirements of the products that can be used for weed spraying and the weed spraying programme. This document is to be circulated to Committee Members.

Action: Sharon Griffin

Summary of the findings reports being compiled for Cabinet is to be sent to Committee Members.

Action: Ruth Vigor-Hedderly / Sean Rooney

Section 106

A meeting has taken place with the Lead Officer.  The Committee has agreed the next steps in the paper presented at the November meeting.  A summit is being arranged for late January to look at developing a robust process with the relevant stakeholders i.e. roles and responsibilities and the development of member involvement.  The next step is to schedule a working group which would include members of the Environment, Transport and Locality Services and Finance, Resource and Performance Select Committees, Service Area Officers and the Cabinet Member.

Travel Bucks Strategy

The completion date for the Community Transport review being carried out by Community Impact Bucks is still awaited.  The focus of the review is predominantly on access to Health Care Services for vulnerable people. The report findings can be fed into the Committee work programme.

How can I have my say?

There is a dedicated public platform item where members of the public can register to speak on any agenda item or suggest matters which they would like the Committee to look at.  Written notification must be received at least 7 working days in advance of the committee meeting that you would like your issue raised. 

For further information please see:

http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/assets/content/bcc/docs/overview_scrutiny/public_platform.pdf

There were no public questions.

For the Chairman of the Committee to provide an update to the Committee on recent scrutiny related activity, including the budget papers due to be published by the 2^nd December 2013.

The Chairman explained that the Environment, Transport and Locality Services Select Committee concluded its inquiry into the Transport for Buckinghamshire (Ringway Jacobs contract).

The draft report will be presented Cabinet on the 13 January 2014 subject to agreement from the Committee.

The Committee have been invited to attend a Key Performance Indicator workshop by the County Council client team and the Cabinet Member to review the KPIs for 2014/2015 and to submit the names of two members of the Committee to join the workshop. 

The Chairmen of the Select Committees have been invited to attend the Budget Scrutiny meeting at the beginning of January.  The areas for the ETL Select Committee will be dealt with on the 8 January 2014.  The Chairman is to be advised of any questions to be raised.

Action: All

For Members to amend and agree the draft inquiry report in preparation for presentation to Cabinet on the 13^th January 2014.

Members of the Committee were referred to the draft report which presents the findings of the inquiry into the Transport for Buckinghamshire (Ringway Jacobs) contract.

The inquiry started on the 24 July 2013 and has been a significant piece of work for various members of the Committee.

The Chairman thanked Kama Wager, Policy Officer, for her time and effort in producing a succinct and detailed report.

Twelve recommendations have been made.  Recommendation 1 captures a number of the various internal reviews (the external consultant review of TfB, the internal BCC Communications and Customer Focus review and the new role for the Local Area Technicians) which have happened within the County Council since the inquiry was undertaken by the ETL Select Committee.  Rather than duplicate recommendations that have come out of those reviews, the monitoring role of the Environment, Transport and Localities Committee has been encapsulated in this recommendation.

The remainder of the recommendations are focussed on more specific elements or the management of the contract.

During discussion, the following comments were made;

·         The report is a considerable piece of work which covers everything the Committee wanted it to in terms of the investigation and is distilled and focussed. The involvement and work from the Cabinet Member and Transport for Buckinghamshire with this Committee along with has been welcomed. How will the Cabinet Member take the report forward?

·         With regard to recommendations for member led systems, recommendation 5 in particular is very important as at the moment both of these points are currently hidden from strategic view.  If the County Council is spending a large amount of the budget on member led road maintenance issues, what happens to the rest of the budget and the priorities?

·         An understanding of KPIs and the contract extension is also very important. 

·         Recommendation 11 – the contractual obligations for 3% efficiency savings - how will this be managed through the contract?  The impact of this is awaited as this is linked to the Medium Term Plan (MTP), the budget process of the County Council.  It is about making sure that the two areas are mirrored and work together (the MTP and the contract period). 

·         The recommendations encapsulate the key themes and concerns raised during the process.

·         The recommendations are succinct and to the point.  The issue is the outcomes of the recommendations need to be seen as results on the ground as well as improvements and ensuring that value for money is being received from the contractor particularly as it is probably the largest contract the County Council has.

·         The review has shown that the contract is adequate and does what it needs to do but there are some key points of the contract need to be refined.  Contract management is fundamental from both the client and the contractor perspective.

Members of the Committee agreed that the draft report is to be presented to Cabinet subject to any minor amendments.

For Members to discuss future topics for the Work Programme for 2014.

Members discussed future topics for the Work Programme for 2014. 

The following areas for further work were proposed;

The Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP)

Examining and assessing the role of LEPs with the County Council.  There is the anomaly in Buckinghamshire of two LEPs covering part of the county.  There needs to be an understanding of the current and future funding, accountability, influence and how they inform the County Council’s strategic decision making process on infrastructure and development.

It is important that both Members of the Committee and members of public understand what LEPs are as there is a degree of democratic accountability as this is public money.  There needs to be assurance that the money is spent in the right way and the outcomes benefit Buckinghamshire residents.

Public Transport

Ensuring public transport is fit for purpose, future demands, the impact of funding cuts, rural isolation and integrated transport networks.

There may well be a reduction in funding for public transport from the County Council in the forthcoming financial year.  It is important that services provided that are subsidised by the County Council respond to the needs of those using the service i.e. in Chalfont St Giles there is no bus service to Chalfont & Latimer train station.  Some routes are historic but employment etc has changed over a period of time.

Crime and Disorder

The ETL is the designated crime and disorder Committee.  As part of the work programme an update will be received from the Community Safety Team on the community safety arrangements across Buckinghamshire.

S106 – improving local opportunities and local input from members.

Work needs to take place with other bodies to ensure improvements in the infrastructure and S106 to maximise value for money.  There needs to be procedures in place to ensure this happens.

Members of the Committee agreed that scoping proposals should be requested for LEPs, public transport and S106 with the option of including additional items as a one off review.

·         Hydraulic Fracturing (fracking) – information paper for the Committee to note

·         Options paper for next steps for Members to comment and resolve

·         Flooding Strategy update – information paper for the Committee to note

Members of the Committee were referred to papers included in the agenda pack for information;

Hydraulic Fracturing

The report on Hydraulic Fracturing is to be circulated to all Members.

Action: Kama Wager

Options Paper for Members to consider and comment on options for the next steps;

1.    The Committee resolves to do no further on fracking and to pass the information papers on to Cabinet for their consideration;

2.    The Committee do no further research and pass the information papers on to Cabinet with a covering letter of Committee recommendations (e.g. that the redrafted Minerals Plan references fracking, and that any further in depth research is led by the Cabinet Member at the appropriate time).

3.    The Committee receive further information from the service areas and decide whether to commission any further research on fracking and subsequently pass any views of recommendations on to the Cabinet Member.

Members of the Committee agreed to take forward option 2.

An update on the Minerals Plan and the time frame for the review will be requested for the February meeting of the Committee.

Action: Kama Wager

As the current Minerals Plan runs until 2016, a six month timeframe is to be added to the plan.

Action: Kama Wager

Flooding Strategy update

It is important to note that this Act is about local flooding as defined as flood risk from surface water, groundwater and ordinary watercourses not river flooding.

Clarification is needed on household insurance issues such as responsibility for the maintenance of the riparian, water courses, surface flooding etc and the County Council responsibility in terms of drainage and gulley’s which affects residents and is not mentioned in the information paper.

An issue to be addressed is what is the impact on the Environment Agencies flood maps and insurance.

Netta Glover, Deputy Cabinet Member

Stephen Boddy, Lead Officer, Waste Business Unit, Place Service

Members will receive a verbal update on the Household Waste and Recycling Centre (HWRC) Service and Waste Acceptance and Access Policy (WAAP) Review Project (presented to the Committee on 24 July 2013)

·         Waste and Recycling update paper to support the briefing

Stephen Boddy, Lead Officer Waste Business Unit was welcomed to the meeting.

Mr Boddy referred members to the Household Waste and Recycling Centre (HWRC) Service and Waste Acceptance and Access Policy Project (WAAP) update report and highlighted the following key points of the paper;

Place Portfolio attended the July meeting of the Committee and provided updates from a number of the different areas of the service.  This included the general background to the Household Recycling Centre Service that is currently provided by Buckinghamshire County Council. 

BCC has a statutory function as a waste disposal Authority to provide one or more HWRC’s where Buckinghamshire residents can recycle and dispose of their own household waste.

There are currently 10 Household Recycling Centres across the county. Five of these centres accept waste from traders as well as residents.  The WAAP defines who, how and what quantities of waste will be accepted at each of the sites.

The key objectives of the project are;

·         To control the deposit of illegal trade waste by limiting free access to HWRC’s, and encourage alternative routes for legal trade waste disposal

·         Ensure Buckinghamshire residents have appropriate access to the County’s Household Waste Recycling Centres to dispose of their own Household Waste free of charge;

·         The provision of an appropriate level of non-statutory services for example the provision of facilities for the disposal of DIY.

·         Achieve MTP Savings of £50k, £100k & £150k over the next 3yrs.

·         Ensure fly tipping does not increase once a proposed policy has been implemented

Historically there have been problems with companies bringing waste into recycling centres for free which is obviously at a cost to the Buckinghamshire tax payer.

The current policy is that there are restrictions on those using trailers or commercial vehicles bringing in six items DIY waste in any one month.

Current situation

Since July the baseline survey has been completed.  There is a range of data (customer, pricing and site usage data) that has been built up into a model. The report includes a high level summary of the six areas which have been looked at and the options to potentially change the way the service is delivered in the future. 

One option includes trying to incentivise the customers and give them an extra reason to use the services and to give them a financial reward to bring the waste into the site.  A broader reward system is currently being looked at and to try to link this in with other areas in Council Services.

There are currently restrictions on certain types of items that can be brought into the sites is which is being reviewed.  This needs to be approached in a flexible way to continue to provide a service to residents. If an individual has more material than is allowed for disposal, one approach could be the introduction of a level of pay as you go charging which allows customers to top up their allowance.

The pricing structure of the Trade Waste Acceptance Policy is being reviewed to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Please note there will be a meeting on Wednesday 18 December 2013 in the Council Chamber, Aylesbury Town Council, 5 Church Street, Aylesbury, HP20 2QP at 2.30pm to consider the decision in relation to the Daws Hill Area Travel Link.  There will be a pre-meeting for Committee Members at 2.00pm.

Meeting dates for 2014

Tuesday 4 February

Tuesday 4 March

Tuesday 8 April

Tuesday 13 May

Tuesday 17 June

Tuesday 2 September

Tuesday 14 October

Tuesday 18 November

The next meeting is due to take place on Tuesday 4 February 2014 in Mezzanine 2, County Offices, Aylesbury.  There will be a pre-meeting for Committee Members are 9.30am.

Proposed dates for 2014

Tuesday 4 March

Tuesday 8 April

Tuesday 13 May

Tuesday 17 June

Tuesday 2 September

Tuesday 14 October

Tuesday 18 November