Agenda and minutes

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

Contact: Rachel Wilson  Democratic Services Officer

Items
No. Item

18.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Nicole Hilton (Lincolnshire County Council), Christian Allen (Boston Borough Council), Councillor R Gambba-Jones (South Holland District Council), Emily Spicer (South Holland District Council), Councillor Dr P Moseley (South Kesteven District Council) and Simon Mitchell (Environment Agency).

19.

Declaration of Interests

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest at this point of the meeting.

20.

Minutes of the meeting held on 12 July 2018 pdf icon PDF 142 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED

 

            That the minutes of the meeting held on 12 July 2018 be signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

21.

Minutes of the meeting held on 10 September 2018 pdf icon PDF 115 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED

 

            That the minutes of the meeting held on 10 September 2018 be signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

22.

Chairman's Announcements

Minutes:

There were no announcements by the Chairman of the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership.  However, the Chairman did welcome Mike Butler, Strategic Waste Consultant and Rachel Stamp, LWP Programme Delivery Manager to their first meeting of the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership.

23.

Terms of Reference pdf icon PDF 96 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report which asked the Partnership to discuss any necessary changes to the Terms of Reference.  At the meeting held on 2 March 2017, the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership approved a revised Terms of Reference.  Paragraph 16 stated that "The Lincolnshire Waste Partnership will biannually review its governance and the Terms of Reference in the spirit of robust self-assessment and identify where/if changes are appropriate in order to permit the Partnership to better meet its main roles."

 

During discussion the following was suggested:

·         That the make-up of the Partnership should reflect that the strategic leads for waste, both officer and elected member were attending the Partnership.

·         That the review period for the Terms of Reference should be amended from biannually to two yearly.

·         That paragraph 13 be amended to show that the Partnership would meet formally three times per year.

·         That the process for the election of Chairman be amended so that where there is no opposition the Chairman would remain in place. 

 

RESOLVED

 

            That the Terms of Reference be amended to reflect the above changes.

 

 

 

24.

Partner Updates

Minutes:

Each partner authority was provided with the opportunity to update the rest of the Partnership on any developments or updates which may be of interest to the Partnership.  The following was reported:

 

North Kesteven District Council – since the last meeting, the depot was now fully up and running, and the authority was starting to implement some of the planned changes.  A lot of these involved either back office or operational changes.  A new back office system had been introduced which was helping with efficiencies.  Officers were also starting to look at maintenance contracts and what that would mean for the authority in the future alongside the rest of the Partners.

 

South Holland District Council – officers had recently attended the PCC Fly Tipping Forum, which was very well received.  Officers were currently waiting to see what actions would come out of that.  There had been a presentation from a representative of the Hertfordshire Waste Group who were doing a lot of work around fly-tipping and litter and had developed a toolkit.  It was suggested it may be beneficial for someone to attend a future meeting of the LWP to give a presentation.  It was noted that the PCC forum was well-attended and one of the key actions was to start mapping hot spot areas for fly-tipping.

 

Boston Borough Council – it was reported that Boston had been very active in terms of enforcement.  The contract with 3GS had come to an end in February 2019 rather abruptly as they were not issuing sufficient fixed penalty notices to make it viable (leading to the assumption that Boston must be very clean).  Officers were looking at alternative options as there was not sufficient additional capacity for the authority to run the service themselves.  There had been a number of enquiries in terms of getting the service up and running.

It was also commented that the Fly-Tipping forum had been a very positive and worthwhile event and that a lot could be achieved by working together.

 

East Lindsey District Council – it was reported that the previous evening, the full council had agreed its capital programme for the new fleet of vehicles.

 

South Kesteven District Council – the authority had been carrying out on street enforcement and had employed its own enforcement officer.  So far it had been relatively successful bringing in £24k of income.  Payment rates had also been quite high.  Penalty notices were mainly being issued for dropping cigarette stubs and this was being promoted through social media.  The fine had been set at £100 slightly higher than the minimum of £75, but it was hoped that this would help people to behave better.  It was noted that officers would have conversations with the other partners as it was suggested it could be a good idea to have a 'hit squad' approach to enforcement.

It was also reported that a grounds maintenance company had been set up which would be delivering grounds maintenance services for South Kesteven District Council.

 

City  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.

25.

Communications

(To receive a report by David Steels, North Kesteven District Council)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Partnership received a report from David Steels, North Kestevevn District Council, which set out a methodology for the engagement and commitment for the work to deliver the Lincolnshire Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy (JMWMS), which would cut through all work streams.

 

It was reported that a workshop was held on 26 February 2019 and was attended by various waste and communications officers representing all partners.  During this workshop the following topics were discussed:

·         Review of JMWMS strategy actions that primarily dealt with communications, education and engagement.

·         Other actions needed not necessarily covered by the actions within the strategy (it was noted that separate discussion took place to generate ideas around the subjects of 'education' and 'communications')

·         Next steps – consideration of a draft terms of reference for future working.

 

Partners were advised that there was a lot of enthusiasm at the workshop for this work and participants were keen to meet again in the future.  A draft terms of reference had been produced and there was a clear steer in terms of the delivery of the actions within the action plan.  There was still work to do in establishing timetables for delivery of the actions.

 

There would be a communications group set up, which would report through to the Officer Working Group.  There would be a clear line of accountability to the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership.  It was commented that it was positive that there was to be a joined up communications approach.

 

RESOLVED

 

            That the progress to deliver a communications workplan to assist in delivering strategy actions within JMWMS, and allocation of appropriate resources be noted.

26.

Food Waste Collection Trial Update pdf icon PDF 503 KB

(To receive a report and presentation by Ian Yates, South Kesteven District Council)

Minutes:

The Lincolnshire Waste Partnership received a presentation from Ian Yates, South Kesteven District Council which provided an update on the Food Waste Collection Pilot (Month 8 of 12) which was being carried out in the district.

 

The presentation provided Partners with further information in relation to the following areas:

·         Rationale – nationally and locally

·         Objectives

·         Methodology – collection

·         Publicity and disposal

·         Interim results – Month 8 – Pre-trial and current waste streams by weight

·         Food waste contained 'set out' rate and Average weekly Food Weight

·         Dry Recyclable Contamination Rates

·         Interim conclusions

·         Next steps

 

During the presentation, the following was highlighted to Partners:

·         This was an update of month 8 of 12 and therefore there would be some limitations with the data. 

·         There had been significant variation in the volume of waste, but the amount collected could be influenced by many different factors.

·         The figures in the data did not include the green waste or other waste collected.

·         The data provided gave a good level of confidence of what the trial was trying to achieve.

·         The costs of the trial were not representative of how it would be modelled if it went forward on a countywide basis.  There had been additional costs identified due to it being a trial.

·         Data so far indicated that 12% of waste collected was food waste, which was quite a significant amount of the total.

·         In terms of the 'set out' rate, it was noted that a household could be participating, but they had forgotten to put the caddy out that week.  If a household had put the caddy out three times, it was recorded as participating.

·         It was thought that the communications work which had taken place had helped with the participation rate.

·         In terms of disposal, the container at the waste transfer station would be filled every two days and then it was transferred to the AD plant at Hemswell Cliff.

·         The by-product of the AD process was a product of sufficient quality that it could be sold as a soil improver or fertiliser.

·         It was the role of the crew to record those caddies which were not set out.

·         There had been very good participation, but there was a need to look at some tolerances in order to understand behaviours, and why people did not participate.  Evidence suggested that more people took part when others on the same street did.

·         More work was needed to understand the data showing the reduction in levels of contamination.

 

Partners were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the report and some of the points raised included the following:

·         WRAP were clear that success was linked to communications campaigns, and it was queried whether the communications work was continuing throughout the trial.  It was noted that a communications plan had been agreed at each stage.  There was agreement that the amount of communications work did have an impact on success.  A survey would be circulated near  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.

27.

Waste Strategy for Lincolnshire and National Resources & Waste Strategy pdf icon PDF 363 KB

(To receive a report by Matthew Michell, Senior Commissioning Officer (Waste))

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report which summarised the contents, with regard to municipal waste, of the new Resources and Waste Strategy for England.  The report focused on the synergies between that national Strategy and the recently-adopted Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy (JMWMS) for Lincolnshire.  It was reported that all eight LWP partners had now formally adopted the JMWMS. 

 

Partners were advised that the report also set out how the objectives of those strategies were beginning to be enacted through the emerging JMWMS action plan, as well as how the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership could be involved in the consultations promised in the national Strategy.

 

Officers thanked all those that had participated in the project.

 

Partners were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the report and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         The Chairman thanked Matthew Michell, Senior Commissioning Officer (Waste), for all his work on the Strategy as it had been very well received by all authorities.

·         It was noted that officers had been tying up some loose ends on the Strategy with the officer working group, which could be shared with members if they wished.

·         Some hard copies of the Strategy would be produced, as this was a requirement of the SEA in the event that members of the public wanted to inspect the document.

·         Four consultations had been launched, and it was queried whether there should be a combined response from the Partnership, or individual responses from districts.  It was highlighted that the preferable option would be for both.  It was proposed that the Strategic Officer Working Group produce a response to all consultations on behalf of the partnership.  It was acknowledged that partners would have different views they would want to make clear.

·         LCC was keen to submit an individual response and the Environment and Economy Scrutiny Committee had asked to input into the response.

·         It was highlighted that the closing dates for the consultations were either 12 or 13 May 2019 and the local elections would be taking place with on 2 May 2019.  It was queried whether this would cause an issue for getting a response agreed.

·         From the outset, the LWP had always tried to do what was best for the people of Lincolnshire.  However, this did not mean that every district had to do the same thing, Lincolnshire was a diverse county and there needed to be room for individuality.  One size did not fit all.  It was emphasised that there was no intention to force a common method of collection on everyone.

·         Officers attended the LWP and the Officer Working Group, and were there to be part of the conversation and part of the solution going forward.  South Holland District Council reported that they were willing to be part of the conversation.

RESOLVED

 

1.    That Lincolnshire Waste Partnership note the common themes of the respective Lincolnshire and national strategies and ensured that these were commissioned in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

28.

Health and Safety Update

Minutes:

It was requested that health and safety should be a standing item on the agenda as it was of critical importance.  The Lincolnshire Waste Partnership would be receiving regular reports.

 

It was noted that the Officer Working Group had become more strategic in order to focus on the JMWMS, but it had become clear that officers were missing out on the benefits of sharing operations knowledge, therefore an operational group had been formed separately, but the two groups would be connected.

 

It was queried whether a health and safety assessment had been carried out regarding the collection of the food waste trials, and it was confirmed that the weight of the caddies would not exceed 25kg, it was reported that the average weight of collection per household was 1.8kg.

 

RESOLVED

 

            That the update be noted.

 

 
 
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