Agenda, decisions and minutes

That Councillor David Evans be Chairman for this meeting. 

The Member Engagement Manager indicated that neither the Chairman nor Vice-Chairman were able to attend today’s meeting.  Therefore, he sought nominations for a Chairman for the meeting.  Councillor David Evans was nominated by Councillor Ron Hampson, which was duly seconded. 

RESOLVED:

That Councillor David Evans be Chairman for this meeting. 

No declarations of interest were made. 

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 16^th December 2013. 

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

The minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 16 December 2013 had been circulated to Members with the agenda.  

Matters Arising

            Councillor Nancy Matthews indicated that she had tried to sign on to Superfast Cymru but had been advised that it was not available in the area.  She said that she would try again and would provide an update in the future. 

RESOLVED:

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

(a)       That the proposed changes to the Council Waste Collection be endorsed; and

(b)       That the Cabinet Member and Officers be requested to have regard to the comments made by Members during the discussion.

The Head of Streetscene introduced a report to inform Members of the proposals to review and update the Council’s Waste Collection Policy. 

He detailed the background to the report and explained that recycling was still a significant challenge for the authority.  The municipal waste target for 2015/16 was 58% and this year the Council was currently achieving 57%.  The Head of Streetscene reminded Members that the cost of not achieving the targets was extremely high and that failing to meeting the target by 1% could result in infraction charges of £400,000 for that year alone.  The Sustainable Waste Management Grant was decreasing each year and the targets were increasing so it was good practice to review the processes and policies in place.  The following were reported as changes to the policy:-

• Household Recycling Centres (HRCs) had now been incorporated into the policy
• curtilage collections
• restricting garden waste bins to two per property
• continuation of side waste
• provision of a new HRC site in Sandycroft resulting in the closure of Saltney and Queensferry once it opened
• opening times amended to take account of footfall levels at the sites
• van owners with a Van Permit limited to Greenfield and Mold sites

            The Head of Streetscene explained that areas which had high amounts of side waste would be monitored and where issues were identified, an action day would be set up in the area to educate residents on what could or could not be recycled to encourage them to recycle.  Visits from officers may also be required and enforcement action would be undertaken as a last resort.  He explained that plans for the new site in Sandycroft, which now did not include steps, would be submitted to Planning in March 2014. 

            Councillor Nancy Matthews expressed concern about side waste and queried whether reports could be submitted to future Committees about the levels of side waste to allow the Committee to monitor whether it was reducing.  She welcomed the provision of the van permit scheme at two sites and queried whether the permits would be available at the Alltami depot in future.  The Head of Streetscene advised that he could provide a summary about side waste in his six monthly performance report to the Committee.  It was intended that the van permits would be available at Alltami and that renewals could then be undertaken through the Contact Centre. 

            Councillor Colin Legg raised concern about the number of complaints he had received from residents about collections of waste during the Christmas period.  He also asked if a smaller bin for residents who lived alone could be considered and queried why other authorities such as Liverpool asked that all waste be placed in one bin and not separated into recyclable/non-recyclable waste.  Councillor Legg also asked that thanks from residents be passed on to the refuse collectors. 

            In response, the Head of Streetscene said that the number of complaints during the Christmas period was very low, which was encouraging, and that a 99.3% collection was now being  ...  view the full minutes text for item 56.

(a)       That the Committee agree in principle to undertake a scrutiny review of Town Centres and High Streets, as identified in the report; and

(b)       That the Project plan be further developed for consideration at the next meeting.

The Member Engagement Manager introduced the report to consider how the Committee can undertake a review of Town Centre and High Street regeneration. 

Following a request from the Committee in July 2013 to give further consideration to exploring new ways to enhance town centres and high streets, a meeting had taken place where it had been agreed that a considerable amount of good work was already taking place across Flintshire.  The report identified the work that had been undertaken since May 2013 and the updates that the Committee had received as part of the Quarterly Performance Report for Regeneration.  The group that met on 12 December 2013 felt that a joined up approach was needed across the Council including planning, housing, social enterprise and working with the many stakeholders which were listed in the outline project plan which was attached as an appendix to the report. 

Councillor Alex Aldridge expressed his support for the proposals and said that it was important that all areas were given the same opportunity to put suggestions forward.  He asked if information including anecdotal evidence would be provided for all areas so that the Committee could have an overall view of the town centres and high streets across the County. 

The Cabinet Member for Economic Development indicated that he had attended the meeting in December 2013 and said that the Chairman and Vice-Chairman had suggested that the Committee needed to be made aware of what was taking place in town centres and then prepare a mini strategy to take forward as good practice for all areas.  Councillor Aldridge believed that a ‘bottom up’ approach was required.  The Head of Regeneration said that it was important to work with local communities and that each town would have different priorities and would require a different solution.  The project plan approach adopted by the County Council was about developing a strategy that was appropriate for the local communities. 

Councillor Chris Dolphin agreed with more involvement of Overview & Scrutiny in Town Centres but said that ideas that he had tried to put forward for Holywell Town Centre regeneration had not been welcomed.  The Chairman felt that there was a need to look at the County as a whole and not at individual wards. 

Councillor Nancy Matthews referred to two issues that affected small businesses which were rent and business rates.  Councillor Peter Curtis said that the Clerk of the Town and Community Council could be contacted if there were certain projects that other Town and Community Councils wanted to submit an opinion about.  He also referred to the Holywell Partnership Board.  The Head of Regeneration said that the partnerships referred to were not formally constituted bodies, they were open meetings and decisions on attendance were a matter for the bodies themselves.  On the issue of business rates and rents, he said that these were collected by the Council but were set by Welsh Government and he spoke of a review in Wales about rate relief for small traders.  He  ...  view the full minutes text for item 57.

(a)       That the Forward Work Programme be changed to reflect the discussion which took place at the meeting; and

(b)       That the Facilitator, in consultation with the Chair and Vice-Chair be given authority to alter the Forward Work Programme between meetings. 

The Member Engagement Manager introduced a report to consider the Forward Work Programme of the Committee. 

He explained that a report on the North Wales Residual Waste Partnership was due to be considered at the meeting of the Committee scheduled for 26 February 2014.  The Director of Environment said that a meeting of the North Wales Residual Waste Treatment Project Joint Committee was due to be held the following week and until this meeting had taken place, he could not confirm whether a report would be available to submit to the meeting of this Committee scheduled for 26 February 2014.  He suggested that if the report was to be submitted, then it should be the only item for consideration on the agenda for that meeting and that there would be a wide range of information that would be available for Members to view prior to attending the meeting.  The report on Streetscene – next steps would not be available due to the forthcoming organisational restructuring and the report on C Roads could be deferred to a future meeting.    

The Chairman suggested that an additional meeting be scheduled for April 2014 to ensure that items were not unduly delayed and that the Member Engagement Manager discuss this and the possibility of moving items from the 26 February 2014 meeting with the Chair and Vice Chair. 

Councillor Alex Aldridge spoke of the significant challenge ahead on the issue of waste and also commented on the suggestion in the Williams Report to merge Flintshire County Council and Wrexham County Borough Council (WCBC).  Councillor Nancy Matthews sought further information about the amount of debt WCBC had for the PFI (Private Finance Initiative) and what affect this had on the project.  She felt that this issue needed to be sorted before any decision was made on merging Councils and added that there was a need to be prepared that this very important project might not happen because of it.  On the issue of the Williams Review, the Director of Environment said that political discussions would take place at all levels and until these had been undertaken, the Authority could only deal with the information before it.  He commented on the Inter Authority Agreement (IAA2) which talked of the potential for a local government review and said that there would be the opportunity to look at the document as the process progressed. 

In response to a question from Councillor Matthews, the Member Engagement Manager said that an item on Deeside Enterprise Zone could be included in the Forward Work Programme.  He also advised that the following had been suggested by the Corporate Resources Overview & Scrutiny Committee as items for consideration by this Committee:-

• Issue of changing legislation on local authorities responding to flood relief
• Responsibilities of a third Dee crossing, and its maintenance

Councillor Veronica Gay suggested that Natural Resources Wales be asked to provide a presentation on their flood maintenance programme.  The Chairman indicated that this could form part of the item which was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 58.

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