Agenda, decisions and minutes

To receive any Declarations and advise Members accordingly.

None were received.

None were received.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meetings on 12 June and 12 July 2018.

That the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The minutes of the meetings held on 12 June and 12 July 2018 were submitted.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

That the presentation from Natural Resources Wales be noted.

The Chair introduced Mr Nick Thomas, Operations Manager North-East Wales, NRW, to the meeting and invited him to give a presentation on the current work being undertaken by NRW.  

                        Mr. Thomas thanked the Committee for the opportunity to give an outline of the work of NRW.  He advised that NRW was established in 2013 and was responsible for the work of the Environment Agency Wales, CCW, the   Forestry Commission and some Welsh Government (WG) duties.  NRW was the largest WG sponsored body with 1750 member of staff and had an annual budget of around £170m.  Its purpose was to deliver sustainable management of natural resources.  Mr. Thomas went on to give a presentation which covered the following main points: 

·         Wellbeing of Future Generations Act – how we will deliver

·         Environment Act principles

·         Flintshire Public Services Board (PSB)

·         Well-being Assessment for Flintshire

·         Waste regulation

·         Industry regulation

·         River Alyn water framework directive project

·         agriculture

·         Dee Estuary

·         access, recreation, health

·         climate change

·         incident response

·         flood risk management

·         conservation

The Chairman thanked Nick Thomas for his presentation and invited Members to raise questions.

Councillor Owen Thomas referred to the issue of fly-tipping and asked if there was security around quarry sites.  Mr Thomas explained that quarry owners held responsibility for managing security on their sites.  He commented on the significant costs involved in clearing land of waste stored without a permit or exemption and the legal consequences of non-compliance.  He urged Members to report any incidents or concerns regarding the management or illegal tipping/storage of waste to the NRW.

During discussion Members raised a number of concerns around the ability of the sewerage system to cope with increased demand due to new and future property development in Flintshire.  Mr. Thomas referred to the work undertaken to slow and divert the flow of surface water into the sewerage system.  The Chief Officer (Planning, Environment and Economy) explained that Welsh Water would make an assessment of its sewerage system to determine whether it could meet the additional demand of any new build in an area and, if necessary, further development would not take place until the sewerage system had been upgraded.  The Chief Officer advised that some developments in Flintshire had been ‘time locked’ as a result of this process.

The Chief Officer referred to a sustainable urban drainage system for all developments in excess of 18 dwellings, separation of foul water and surface water

Councillor Veronica Gay raised concerns around the maintenance of the Balderton Brook, Saltney.  Mr. Thomas agreed to look into the specific issues raised following the meeting.

During discussion Mr. Thomas  responded to the further questions and concerns raised by Members around the Wales coastal path, Dee Estuary, dredging, and incident responses. 

RESOLVED:

That the presentation from Natural Resources Wales be noted.

(a)       That the progress made to date and the legal challenges and subsequent changes in approach which had led to a delay in the process be noted; and

(b)       That the amended legal process in order to progress the delivery of a Single Consolidated Order be supported

The Chief Officer (Streetscene and Transportation) introduced a report to provide an update on progress of the County-wide Speed Limit Review.  

The Chief Officer provided background information and explained that the report sought to update the Committee on the progress made to date as well as providing details of a number of legal challenges against the proposed process which have since been overcome.  The report also sought to inform the Committee of the revised timelines associated with the progress of a Single Consolidated Order covering the entire highway network, whilst also clarifying proposals to expedite those member requests that were supported by the Department for Transport (DfT) criteria.

The Chief Officer referred to the key actions which had been undertaken and explained that in order to eliminate the over reliance on Legal Services, Streetscene and Transportation officers had developed a system of approved templates which had now enabled the completion of a ‘Single Order’ for which all speed limits (both existing and proposed) were to be advertised.  Utilisation of this revised approach had streamlined the previous over complicated procedure standardising the order writing process for any given eventuality. 

The Chief Officer invited the Highway Strategy Manager to report on the key considerations as detailed in the report concerning the progress on delivering the review of speed limits on all public highways.  The Highway Strategy Manager advised that following the proposal to advertise the ‘Single Order’ via the use of a modern map based schedule, officers had now completed a map based system covering the County’s highway network for which individual Map Books had been created.  Each Map Referencing Book contained a clear indexing system which enabled members of the public to easily locate individual areas of interest both within their immediate place of residence and across the County. 

The Chief Officer reported that whilst progress had been made with the Consolidated Order it had not been without its challenges as detailed in the report.  The Highways Strategy Manager reported on the challenges which were received regarding the advertisement of 30mph and 60mph speed limits and referred to the national legislation concerning speed limits and street lighting.   He went on to explain that for the purposes of speed limits street lighting could take many forms and consisted of County Council owned lighting columns, Community Lighting, and Footway Lighting.  Whilst the Authority’s internal systems accurately recorded the positioning of all County Council owned and maintained Street Lighting Columns, it would not include the different classifications of lighting described and it was necessary that the accurate positioning of every street lighting column was known (regardless of ownership) before determining whether or not a 30mph or 60mph speed limit would require the making of an order.  The Highway Strategy Manager advised that a detailed survey had been internally commissioned to accurately record the extent of all street lighting on both 60mph and 30mph speed limits (regardless of ownership) which is scheduled for completion in October 2018.  When completed officers will re-examine  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.

(a)       That the Forward Work Programme be amended; and

(b)       That the Facilitator, in consultation with the Chair of the Committee be authorised to vary the Forward Work Programme between meetings as the need arises.

The Environment Overview & Scrutiny Facilitator presented the Forward Work Programme for consideration. 

The Facilitator advised that an update on environmental enforcement would be provided to the meeting of the Committee to be held on 27 November. 

            Councillor Chris Dolphin requested that for the budget workshops cost comparisons should be provided for Greenfield Valley Heritage Park and Wepre Park.

The Chief Officer Planning, Environment and Economy confirmed that each of the portfolio savings would be subject to a budget workshop.  The facilitator confirmed that a date would be circulated shortly.

Councillor Paul Shotton suggested that a future meeting of the Committee be held at Wepre Park and this was agreed by the Committee.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the Forward Work Programme be amended; and

(b)       That the Facilitator, in consultation with the Chair of the Committee be authorised to vary the Forward Work Programme between meetings as the need arises.

There was one member of the press and no members of the public in attendance.