Agenda item

Members of the Partnership were provided with the opportunity to update the rest of the Partners on any developments within their individual districts which may be of interest, and the following was reported;

North Kesteven District Council – the authority had had another successful prosecution for fly tipping with £2,500 of penalties awarded.  It was noted that the Deputy Leader of the Council had witnessed the incident.  It was reported that the Council would be able to recover their costs.

It was also reported that planning permission had been obtained to build a new depot in Metheringham.

In terms of garden waste collections, the annual charge had been increased from £25 to £30 and there were still approximately the same number of people signed up, and so the increased charge had not had an impact on take up rates.

South Kesteven District Council – the authority had had a similar experience to NKDC with the green waste.  It had been found that people valued the service when it was charged for, and there had been an uplift in take up.   It was planned to introduce a direct debit scheme, as this would reduce the costs of rebilling.  Since the shift online, there had been a 60% take up of the direct debit.

South Holland District Council – the pilot green waste collection had been launched in April, and after two months, the authority was about to break even.  A lot of positive feedback had been received, and 85% of the residents that had signed up, had done so online.  Officers commented that they would be interested to find out more about the setting up of a direct debit scheme, and it was suggested whether it could be looked at further by the Officer Working Group.

In terms of fly tipping, a couple of cases were being pursued under the Duty of Care Act.

A councillor reported that in South Holland, there was a very active local volunteer group, which called itself 'Spotless Spalding', which was focused on clearing the riverside area and so far the volunteers were doing a very good job and the group was going from strength to strength.  He also commented that he was keeping the group at arm's length as it was doing things the council was unable to do such as removing graffiti from private residences.

East Lindsey District Council – the charge for the collection of bulky waste increased on 1 April 2016.  Other projects were still ongoing.

Boston Borough Council – a charge for green waste had now been introduced, and it was reported that 77% of the people that took up the service last year had renewed.  There were approximately 250 people per week signing up for the service.  It was also noted that an increase in residual waste had not been noticed.  45% of those signing up to the green waste service did so via the internet.  The authority also expressed an interest in finding out more information regarding a direct debit service.  It was noted that there were set up costs, but once established would be an ongoing saving.

Environment Agency – Fire Prevention Plan Guidance – there was a focus on reducing the risk of fires at waste storage facilities as there was new guidance which was due to be released which would require operators of sites to reduce the risks.  This guidance was being developed with the Fire Services as well as the waste industry.  Most of the industry welcomed this new guidance which would state maximum sizes of piles etc., but it would put more pressure on smaller operators as it would reduce the amount of storage they could have on site.  The officer present offered to provide further information on this at a future meeting, which the Partnership welcomed.

City of Lincoln Council – it was reported that Lincoln did not start its green waste year until 1 July, but there had been a large take up this year already, and a larger number than last year had signed up using the internet.

A small increase in fly tipping was also reported.  It was noted that there had not been any prosecutions in 2015/16 but there were currently four cases pending.

The Council had employed its own Street Enforcement Officer for littering, and so far the full cost of this post had been recovered.  395 tickets for littering had been issued.  The authority would be happy to supply full details of this if other members were interested.

Lincolnshire County Council – the position on Boston HWRC had been confirmed, and the authority would be pursuing the option of building its own facility, and it should be in place by the end of March 2017, subject to planning permission being awarded.  The authority would be going out to tender for the Kirkby on Bain site.

A major emergency planning exercise – Exercise Grey Seal – was planned to take place in November 2016.  This would deal with the effects of a major incident along the coastline and the Humber.  It was reported that there would be a lot of work taking place in advance of the day.