Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room One, County Offices, Newland, Lincoln LN1 1YL

Contact: Rachel Wilson  Democratic Services Officer

Items
No. Item

22.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from:

 

·    Councillor D Cotton (West Lindsey District Council);

·    Andy Gutherson (Lincolnshire County Council);

·    Councillor Mrs S Harrison (East Lindsey District Council);

·    Adrian Selby (West Lindsey District Council) replaced by Rob Gilliot;

·    David Steels (North Kesteven District Council);

·    Councillor R Wright (North Kesteven District Council).

23.

Declaration of Interests

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest at this point in the proceedings.

24.

Minutes of the meeting held on 7 September 2017 pdf icon PDF 126 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED

         

          That the minutes of the meeting held on 7 September 2017 be agreed and signed by the Chairman as a correct record subject to a minor amendment.

24a

Action Notes from the meeting held on 7 September 2017 pdf icon PDF 46 KB

Minutes:

 

 

RESOLVED

 

          That the action notes from the meeting held on 7 September 2017 be noted.

25.

Partner Updates pdf icon PDF 46 KB

Minutes:

Members of the Partnership were provided with the opportunity to update the rest of the Partners on any developments within their districts which may be of interest.  The following areas were noted:-

 

Suggestions were made regarding the printing of the agenda and the possibility of circulating it by electronic means only.  This would give members of the Partnership the option to print the agenda themselves or not and save on waste paper.

 

It was reported that Boston Borough Council had seen four successful prosecutions following covert filming of fly-tipping in laybys.  As the prosecutions had been widely publicised around Boston, there was hope others had been deterred from offending.

 

The Partnership was referred to page 13 of the agenda pack which included a resolution from the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board held on 26 October 2017.  The resolution requested that the Partnership consider the campaign for clearer recycling symbols to make them easier to read.  This would be considered at the next meeting of the Partnership in March along with Trading Standards and the Environment Agency.

 

The partnership was updated on the progression of the depot at Metheringham, which was due to open on 30 April 2018. 

 

There was also an update on the collection of waste from schools, charges for which came into force on 1 September 2017.  All the schools who had been involved previously had signed up to the scheme despite the new charge which was a positive step.

 

Following discussions at previous meetings, it was proposed that the Partnership visit the food waste collection plant operated by Peterborough City Council on 13 December 2017. 

 

Work was continuing and going well on Boston House Recycling Centre and it was hoped it would be operational on 1 April 2018.  It was suggested that the Partnership could visit the site in the New Year.

 

RESOLVED

 

That the partner updates be noted.

26.

Proposed Schedule of Meeting Dates pdf icon PDF 116 KB

Minutes:

The Lincolnshire Waste Partnership received a report which sought agreement of meeting dates for the Partnership, Member/Officer Pre-Meeting and the Officer Working Group in 2018.  The following dates were agreed:-

 

Informal Member Workshop (10.00am – 1.00pm)

Monday 8January 2018

Tuesday 8 May 2018

Monday 10 September 2018

 

Officer Working Group

Wednesday 7 February 2018

Wednesday 4 April 2018

Wednesday 6 June 2018

Wednesday 24 October 2018

 

Lincolnshire Waste Partnership (10.30am start)

Thursday 8 March 2018

Thursday 12 July 2018

Thursday 22 November 2018

 

RESOLVED

 

That the meeting dates, as set out above, be agreed.

27.

Audit Report pdf icon PDF 121 KB

Minutes:

The Lincolnshire Waste Partnership received a report providing the outcome of an audit which had been undertaken on the Waste Partnership in 2016/17 by Lincolnshire County Council.  The audit identified a range of issues which were then detailed within an Action Plan.  There were 12 identified risk descriptions under the headings of:-

·       Lack of a fit for purpose Strategy;

·       No approach planned for producing a new Strategy; and

·       Actions and requirements of the Partnership had not been completed.

 

Lincolnshire County Council intended to undertake a follow-up review in March 2018 to assess the progress made since this audit was done.

 

There was discussion regarding the review of the Action Plan and it was noted that the Plan would be scrutinised in order to help with the issues raised by the audit.  A review following the audit would be carried out over the next three months and a report brought back to the Partnership at its meeting in March.

 

RESOLVED

 

That a review of the 2016/17 audit for the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership's be undertaken and reported back at the Partnership's meeting in March 2018.

28.

Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy pdf icon PDF 136 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Lincolnshire Waste Partnership considered a report which presented the first draft version of the new Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy (JMWMS) and sought feedback from the Partners on the content and format of the document.  The Partnership noted that the current format was based on the existing JMWMS which was published in 2008.

 

It was reported that the document reflected input received to date from each member authority via the following methods:-

·       Strategy workshops held in July 2017;

·       Lincolnshire Waste Partnership meetings; and

·       Meetings of the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership's Officer Working Group.

 

The draft Strategy had been shared with the Partnership to invite feedback from Partners.  It was requested that this be via email, over the coming weeks, in time for the meeting of the Officer Working Group on 21 December 2017.

 

Issues were raised regarding the possibility of public engagement on the draft strategy. Following discussion among partners, it was decided the best way to communicate the strategy to the public was to provide them with the finished product and help them to understand it.  However, it was felt the opportunity for the public to comment on the document may not be beneficial due to the technical nature of waste management operations.

 

All district partners needed to consider when the draft Strategy would be taken through each of their scrutiny processes.  It was reported that the County Council already had it scheduled into the work programme for its Environmental Scrutiny Committee for January 2017, however it was felt that this was a little hasty as there was more work to do on the document and a coordinated scrutiny response from all partners was required.

 

Issues were raised regarding the detailed costings within the strategy (which appeared on page 60 of the agenda pack) and whether they were too divisive.  it was questioned whether this information could be presented in a different way.

 

Page 55 of the strategy gave details of potential landfill site closures in 2018 and it was felt this was contentious information to give the public.  The long term plan was for zero waste to go to landfill, which may not be immediately obvious to the public.

 

The Chairman concluded that the Partnership would wait until it had an indication of how successful the proposed food waste trial would be, before taking the strategy any further.  The partnership agreed that the document was well written.

 

 

 

RESOLVED

 

1.    That the LWP consider the first draft of the JMWMS and Individual authorities respond with any comments to the Officer by email;

 

2.    That the public be provided with the finalised document for information and there be no public engagement on the contents;

 

3.    That the JMWMS be passed through Partners' political processes in a coordinated fashion, once the LWP was happy with the final amendments.

 

         

29.

Food Waste Trial pdf icon PDF 123 KB

Minutes:

The Lincolnshire Waste Partnership received a report which sought the support of the Partners for the development of a Business Case for a Food Waste Trial which would be presented at the meeting of the Partnership in March 2018.  The report also sought the agreement of the Partners to launch a publicity campaign in support of the trial.

 

It was explained that the food waste trial would be undertaken in selective locations within South Kesteven District Council, covering urban, rural and semi-rural areas.  It was proposed that, should the trial prove successful, this would then be replicated as a countywide food waste service.

 

The trial was due to the start in April 2018, for one year.  Disposal points would initially be in the south of the county.  Alternatively, it could be brought to waste transfer stations and taken on from there to the appropriate site.

 

A development business case would be prepared for the March meeting of the Partnership for members' input.

 

The rollout would need to be linked to Communications teams, with Officers from both South Kesteven District Council and Lincolnshire County Council working together on this.

 

It was highlighted that there would be regular updates to keep the public informed, with a steer on helping the public feel positive about the scheme.  Including schools in the trial would help educate children, who in turn would hopefully pass the message on to their parents.  The free school meals incentive for infants at primary schools would no doubt produce a lot of food waste.

 

There was discussion between members about the work still to be done in order to improve existing dry recycling schemes through education and the quality of recycling being collected. It was confirmed that as a proportion of recycling was contaminated by food waste, the success of the trial would improve the quality of recycling across the county.  There was feeling from some Officers, however that the people who repeatedly contaminated dry recycling with food and other waste would not be inspired to work with a specific food waste scheme.

 

The advantages of putting food waste into a specific bin would benefit the public also as it would keep kitchens cleaner and less smelly.  Collection schedules were already in place to collect waste and recycling from every dwelling in the county, so including a new waste stream made minimal impact.  New pods for vehicles would be required, as well as bins for residents.  There had also been evidence that food waste collection altered people's buying habits, as it demonstrated just how much food is wasted.

 

A concern of Officers was to ensure there was a future to food waste collection beyond the trial.  A business case would be needed to take it forward to the next level.

 

RESOLVED

1.    That the development of a Business Case be supported and presented to the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership at its meeting in March 2018;

 

2.    That a publicity campaign to support the Food Waste Trial be discussed by South Kesteven  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29.

30.

Waste and Recycling Action Programme (WRAP) Consultancy Work regarding Greater Consistency in Household Recycling pdf icon PDF 120 KB

Minutes:

The Lincolnshire Waste Partnership received a report in relation to the Waste and Recycling Action Programme (WRAP) which announced funding that could assist authorities in understanding the potential to move to one of four collection methodologies.  Following approval by the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership, the Lincolnshire bid had been approved after a rigorous selection process.

 

The procurement process was undertaken to carry out this piece of work and Ricardo Energy and Environmental were appointed.  Following a number of workshops, a draft report was produced and the options and various sensitivities within the report were considered by the Officer Working Group on 26 October 2017. 

 

All options within the report included the collection of food waste and it was resolved at the last meeting of the Partnership that outcomes from this report be considered when the structure of any food waste trial in Lincolnshire was determined.

 

Further modelling work would be undertaken and a final report produced in late November 2017.

 

The Partnership had seen the draft report and the points below were made:

 

·         Overall, the Partnership was pleased with the document and felt it asked some good questions.  One or two errors had been spotted, but these could easily be rectified;

·         It was highlighted that the report needed to compare future costs would be rather than what costs are now;

·         Certain considerations had been omitted from the costings, for example a new fleet of vehicles and caddies for collection of food waste for each home;

·         The Officers were trying to arrange a meeting to discuss the report and these issues would be raised at that meeting.

 

RESOLVED

 

          That the report be noted.

31.

Waste Performance Report pdf icon PDF 118 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Lincolnshire Waste Partnership considered a report which detailed the following areas of the waste service performance:-

·       The percentage of Household Waste sent for Composting, Recycling or Reuse (NI192);

·       LWP Total Reuse, Recycling or Composting (NI192) by combined WCA/WDA performance; and

·       LWP Total Residual Waste Tonnage by Method of Final Disposal.

 

It was noted from the information that recycling levels were dropping and that the residual waste stream would grow.

 

It was the first time the Partnership had seen information in this format and thanks were expressed to Ian Taylor for preparing it.

 

RESOLVED

 

          That the Waste Performance Report be noted.

32.

One Public Estate Update pdf icon PDF 114 KB

Minutes:

The Lincolnshire Waste Partnership considered a report which provided an update on the One Public Estate initiative.  The initiative sought to encourage better use of public estates in order to improve efficiency savings, capital receipts, reduce running costs and create economic growth in industry and housing.  The Lincolnshire One Public Estate Board was Chief Executive led with Leader support.

 

Initial scoping workshops had given partners the opportunity to submit further data which had been developed into Feasibility Studies.  Along with projects from other strands, these studies were undergoing final assessment prior to the decision-making about the final application for OPE Stage 6 funding.  The results of the OPE6 funding applications were expected to be announced in early 2018.

 

Regular meetings between the planning and property departments needed to be made to ensure there would be no issues arise in the future.

 

RESOLVED

 

          That the report be noted by the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership.

33.

Fly - Tipping Information pdf icon PDF 106 KB

Minutes:

The Lincolnshire Waste Partnership received a report which provided information on Fly-Tipping as requested at the meeting of the Partnership on 7 September 2017. 

 

The information presented in Appendix A to the report had been compiled from statistics by DEFRA for each district in Lincolnshire.  This information was based on the returns made to the Fly-Tipping Module in the WasteDataFlow database by local authorities in England from April 2016 to March 2017.  Across Lincolnshire, a total of 7404 fly-tip incidents had been reported with the most common classified as 'other household waste'.

 

It was noted that 10% of the fly tipping figures given was commercial waste.

 

It cost just short of £0.5m to collect fly-tipped rubbish from across Lincolnshire. 

 

The Community Safety Partnership had been running a campaign raising awareness of fly tipping, as individual households had a duty of care.  The Partnership was asked if it should run a similar campaign alongside council communication sections.  It was reported that in spring 2018, new fines for fly-tipping would come into force, which might be a good opportunity to run a campaign.  It was felt there was no point targeting the professional fly-tippers, as they were unlikely to change their behaviour. 

 

Social media was a good medium for a campaign, as it would be seen by the target audience and communicating how much it cost the tax payer to remove fly-tipped rubbish would be persuasive.  A simple campaign would be more effective.

 

RESOLVED

 

          That the report be noted.

 

 
 
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