| 61 | RECORD OF THE MEETING |
| | | The record of the meeting held on 18 March 2008 was signed by the Chairman as correct. |
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| 62 | APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE |
| | | Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Bright, Godwin and Mrs Haydock. |
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| 63 | URGENT MATTERS |
| | | The Chairman welcomed Councillor Stamp to the meeting as he had recently been appointed as a Member of the committee.
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| He also advised the committee that he had accepted an urgent report on the Chatham Road Scheme and would take it as new agenda item 5(D). He confirmed with the committee that that they had all received a copy of the urgent report and appendices. |
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| | > URGENT report - Appendix 1 Chatham Road Scheme Phase 2 (pdf file 102.1kb) |
| | > URGENT report - Appendix 2 Chatham Road Scheme Phase 2 (pdf file 3.7Mb) |
| | > URGENT report - Chatham Road Scheme Phase 2 (pdf file 28.0kb) |
| 64 | DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST |
| | | Councillor Griffiths declared a personal interest in any matter referring to the Medway Primary Care Trust as he is a non-executive Director of the Trust. |
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| 65 | VEOLIA ANNUAL ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT 2007 UPDATE |
| | Discussion: |
| | | Representatives from Veolia gave a verbal update on the progress made in various areas of the cleaning and collection waste contracts with Medway Council and circulated paperwork containing the details of their presentation which included:
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| | • | Health and safety - the top priority for Veolia, for its staff and the public
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| | • | Quality management - ISO 18001 accreditation had been achieved and all refuse and recycling staff had completed NVQ Level 2 qualifications.
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| | • | Resources - management of the workshop on Medway City Estate had come under the supervision of the local management team and six new vehicles had been purchased to help with the green waste service
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| | • | Street cleansing - Best Value Performance Indicator score (BVPI) has improved from 21% in 2006 to 10% in 2007. Since September 2007 there had been an enhanced service provided within current costs on high speed roads over 50 mph which were cleaned on a 13 week frequency but now carried out at 4 weekly intervals
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| | • | Refuse collection - the number of reported bins missed for clearance had decreased. Out of 5,720,000 collections per year, only 1500 had been missed
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| | • | Schools recycling - the levels of recycling at Medway schools continued to improve and only one school was not participating in the scheme but being actively encouraged to join
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| | • | Recycling facilities for flats - this service had been rolled out extensively throughout Medway. Many flats that did not have the blue bins previously now have the same facilities as houses
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| | • | Civic Amenity Sites - CCTV would be installed in the near future, providing additional security for the public and staff. Veolia was also investigating the installation of speed restrictions together with methods to prevent vehicles reversing too close to pedestrian loading areas.
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| Members asked a number of questions about specific roads and areas in Medway and officers and Veolia representatives undertook to investigate the various matters raised during the meeting.
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| | > Additional report for item 5A (pdf file 2.1Mb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | Veolia were thanked for the annual update report. |
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| 66 | LOCAL TRANSPORT PLAN - DELIVERY REPORT |
| | Discussion: |
| | | The Senior Transport Planner introduced the report advising that the delivery report had to be submitted to central government giving details of the progress made in the second Local Transport Plan since its adoption over the past two years. The 25 targets in the plan also required slight change, either because of revised instructions from government or to link with the new Local Area Agreement targets (LAA). Tables 1 and 2 of the report set out the amendments and the reason for them.
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| Members asked whether the changes would affect the amount of monies previously secured from Local Transport Plan bids and officers confirmed that this would not be the case. It was anticipated that this interim delivery report would be combined with a full term report at the end of Local Transport Plan 2 to influence the future settlement for Local Transport Plan 3 and the funds secured at that time. The slight amendments to targets made in the delivery report would not have a significant effect to previously agreed outcomes.
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| | > Local Transport Plan 2 (pdf file 57.3kb) |
| | > Additional map for item 5B (pdf file 599.2kb) |
| | Decision: |
| | The committee agreed to note the report.
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| 67 | BLACK SACK TO BLUE BAG CHANGE OVER |
| | Discussion: |
| | | The Head of Safer Communities introduced the report and advised that the decision to make the change was based around the commitment in the Waste Strategy to increase levels of recycling but that it was also now a legislative requirement to increase kerbside recycling of at least two materials to 100% of households by 2010 which the council had been unable to achieve using the blue bins.
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| The committee was also advised that since the change over to blue bags had taken place an additional 1120 flats had started to receive the service and officers were negotiating for a further 923 flats to join the scheme. There had been a marginal cost increase in the price of the sacks but otherwise the change would cost approximately £11,500 to the end of the contract in September 2009.
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| Members asked about alternative methods of information on the different collection services, for example leaflets in other languages for ethnic minority communities. Members also requested that rental agents were contacted to ensure guidance was passed on to new tenants. Officers undertook to follow up the specific matters raised by Members.
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| | > Black sack to blue bag change over (pdf file 21.8kb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | The committee:
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| | (a) | noted the report; and
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| | (b) | requested a briefing note detailing:
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| | • | the time taken for black sacks and blue bags to decompose
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| | • | where the funding for the "Think Blue" campaign was sourced
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| | • | the cost of black sacks per 1,000 (to compare with cost of blue bags per 1,000 at £1.16).
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| 68 | URGENT REPORT - CHATHAM ROAD SCHEME |
| | Discussion: |
| | | Members considered the report but advised that they had insufficient information to be able to make an informed recommendation to the Cabinet. |
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| | > URGENT report - Appendix 1 Chatham Road Scheme Phase 2 (pdf file 102.1kb) |
| | > URGENT report - Appendix 2 Chatham Road Scheme Phase 2 (pdf file 3.7Mb) |
| | > URGENT report - Chatham Road Scheme Phase 2 (pdf file 28.0kb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | The Committee:
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| | (a) | agreed to defer consideration of this report until the next available meeting (or a special meeting, if necessary);
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| | (b) | requested that officers give a powerpoint presentation at that meeting and also that up-to-date plans and paper work for all proposals requiring recommendation were included with the report, including full plans and schematics for the final layout of the proposed bus facility;
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| | (c) | requested that the new report included identification of the land requiring a possible Compulsory Purchase Order and indicative costs for such an order.
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| 69 | PETITIONS |
| | Discussion: |
| | | The Chairman advised that the petitions in the report had all been responded to by officers. Lead petitioners and ward councillors were satisfied with the response and none had been referred to this committee for consideration.
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| Therefore, in accordance with the Constitution, the committee was only required to note the response and appropriate officer action.
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| | > Petitions (pdf file 18.0kb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | The Committee noted the report. |
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| 70 | WORK PROGRAMME |
| | Discussion: |
| | | Members considered the various types of items for the forthcoming year, as set out in paragraph 4 of the report.
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| The Chairman advised Members that a question from Councillor Julie Shaw at Council in April 2008 had been referred to the committee for consideration with regard to setting up a task group to look at permanently commemorating Dickens life and works.
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| Members were also advised that the Community Safety Plan, a policy framework document, was required to be considered at the next meeting of the committee.
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| | > Work programme schedule (pdf file 12.4kb) |
| | > Work programme report (pdf file 16.5kb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | The Committee agreed:
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| | (a) | to add two reports to the work programme from the Cabinet's Forward Plan as pre-decision scrutiny - Waste Collection and Street Cleaning Services (Gateway 1) and Rochester Riverside: Establishment of Management Company;
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| | (b) | to include a report on the Community Safety Plan at a future meeting;
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| | (c) | to schedule the five relevant Portfolio Holders to attend a meeting between August 2008 and April 2009 to be held to account;
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| | (d) | that in view of the centenary of Charles Dickens birth in 2012, the principle of setting up a task group was agreed, to work with interested parties, to look at permanently commemorating his life and works;
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| | (e) | to amend a request for the annual reports on the Building Control Partnership Business Plan (January each year) and climate change (September/October each year) to be submitted as briefing notes in the future;
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| | (f) | the work programme attached to the report, including the addition of the critical success factor reports in August and December 2008 and February 2009. |
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