Agenda, decisions and minutes

There were no declarations of interest made in accordance with the Code of Conduct.

To confirm as a correct record the Notes of the meeting of the Local Environmental Management Advisory Board held on Monday, 3 March 2014

RESOLVED:  That the notes of the meeting of the Local Environmental Management Advisory Board held on 3 March 2014 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Decision Notice D140061MEM

Further to Decision No D140024MEM, the joint report of the Director of Street Scene and Leisure and Cabinet Member for Environmental Services provided an update on the Council’s WEEE recycling pilot and recommended that the initiative be extended to the summer of 2015 to allow further evaluation of partnership arrangements with Kent County Council.

RECOMMENDED:  That

(1)      the changes to the funding arrangements of the WEEE pilot, as detailed in the report, be noted;

(2)      the appointment of Veolia as the provider of the WEEE recycling pilot to 30 June 2015 be endorsed; and

(3)      the Director of Street Scene and Leisure be requested to report back to the Advisory Board on the findings of his ongoing review of the WEEE recycling service and, in particular, details of any proposed partnership funding with Kent County Council.

Decision Notice D140062MEM

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Street Scene and Leisure regarding the extension of the existing contract with Aylesford Newsprint Limited for provision and emptying of paper banks, the current contract containing an option to extend for a further five years until May 2019.

RECOMMENDED:  That the extension of the contract with Aylesford Newsprint Ltd for the provision of banks and collection of paper from the ‘bring’ sites until 16 May 2019 be approved.

Decision Notice D140063MEM

Further to Decision No D140026MEM the report of the Director of Planning, Housing and Environmental Health provided an update on the issue of odour emissions in Tonbridge and specifically on the developments that had occurred since the previous meeting of the Advisory Board in March 2014.

It was confirmed that the Regenerative Thermal Oxidiser (RTO) was undergoing installation with a revised completion date of 9 June.  Reference was made to a recent change in the ownership of the company and the Managing Director’s expectation that this would enable many of the desired improvements to be made.  A copy of his letter explaining the delay in the timetable for installation of the RTO was available at the meeting.  Officers undertook to inform members of the Advisory Board when the installation was complete and indicated that monitoring would continue to assess the effectiveness of the equipment in addressing the odour problems.

RECOMMENDED:  That

(1)      the progress made to date with the installation of the Regenerative Thermal Oxidiser at Drytec be endorsed; and

(2)      the approach of officers be endorsed in endeavouring to ensure the installation is completed within the agreed timetable and in monitoring the subsequent performance of the RTO by way of ongoing odour monitoring.

Decision Notice D140064MEM

The report of the Director of Planning, Housing and Environmental Health described the operational day to day work of the Council in relation to its statutory function of environmental protection and pollution control for the year 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2014.  Reference was made to the impact of the odour from Drytec on requests for service.  A further area of growth related to response to consultations on temporary event notices.

RECOMMENDED:  That the  work carried out by the Environmental Protection Team in 2013/14 and the proposed service improvements for 2014/15 be endorsed.

Decision Notice D140065MEM

The report of the Director of Planning, Housing and Environmental Health described the operational activities of the Council in relation to its statutory function of food safety and health and safety for the year 2013/14.  Reference was made to positive feedback from promotional initiatives and plans to continue education and training for catering businesses in 2014/15.

RECOMMENDED:  That the performance relating to activities associated with the food and safety function in 2013/14 be noted and the service improvements for 2014/15, as detailed in paragraph 1.9 of the report, be endorsed.

The report gave details of street scene initiatives completed in 2013/14 in support of one of the Council’s key improvement priorities aimed at providing ‘a clean, smart, well maintained and sustainable Borough’.  It was noted that street scene was a cross cutting theme with actions impacting on a range of services and involving a number of external partners such as Kent Highway Services, the Police, Housing Associations and the Environment Agency.

The report considered performance over the range of Waste and Street Scene Services’ functions and contracts during 2013/14.  Members were pleased to note that the results across the high profile functions managed by the Service demonstrated that the performance of the team and contractors continued at its historically high level of quality.

Reference was also made to the results of a recent programmed Internal Audit review of the Waste and Street Scene team’s work areas and the management of administration of contracts in which only one minor recommendation relating to an IT improvement to an administrative procedure had been made.

The report provided an update on a number of Waste and Street Scene Service initiatives including plastic collections at bring sites, the outcome of the Scrutiny review of the Council’s concessionary charges and fees and the development of on-line services.

Members were updated on the key initiatives being undertaken by the Kent Resource Partnership (KRP).  Particular reference was made to support for increasing recycling and the Advisory Board was informed of the proposals prepared to secure new third party funding for a communications plan.  Details were also given of the KRP’s approach to reducing litter and the designation of June 2014 as a ‘Clean Kent Month’.

Details were given of the past successes and future initiatives involved in the ‘Love Where You Live’ campaign launched in September 2011 in partnership with Keep Britain Tidy.  Members commended the officers involved in the wide range of achievements in 2013/14 and continued initiatives in 2014/15.

Members were advised of the reply received from the Highways Agency to comments sent to them in May 2013 in response to their consultation on the identification of the M20 Junctions 4 to 5 as an ‘Important Area’ for the purposes of noise action planning.  It was noted that wider investigations were being undertaken for the two ‘important areas’ being considered as potential locations for a smart motorway.  A master plan was currently being compiled by the Highways Agency, further clarification of which would be provided once the details were confirmed.  Officers suggested that the appropriate Asset Manager of the Highways Agency be invited to meet Local Members to discuss future plans.

The report of the Director of Planning, Housing and Environmental Health provided a summary of the work on air quality being undertaken by the Environmental Protection Team and gave an update on the current situation regarding the local air quality management regime.  It was noted that DEFRA had confirmed acceptance of the conclusions of the Council’s Annual Progress Report 2013 and made a number of recommendations relating to future reports.  A progress update on the existing Air Quality Action Plan would be included within the Annual Progress Report for 2014.

Members noted the consultation documents responded to since the last meeting of the Advisory Board.

The report outlined the Statutory Notices served since the last meeting of the Advisory Board.

The report of the Director of Central Services gave details of prosecutions undertaken since the last meeting of the Advisory Board.

The Chairman to move that the press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting during consideration of any items the publication of which would disclose exempt information.

There were no items considered in private.