Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that Councillor Stanton be elected Chairman of the Board for the remainder of the year.

RESOLVED that Councillor Mrs Ballin be appointed Vice-Chairman of the Board.

Members are invited to declare any personal or prejudicial interests and to state the nature of any such interest on any items on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive the minutes of the final meeting of the former Joint Waste Disposal Board held on 20 September 2006.

The Board received and noted the minutes of the meeting of the former Joint Waste Disposal Board held on 20 September 2006.

To consider the report of the Director of Corporate Services, Bracknell Forest Borough Council.

The Board received and noted a report advising it of its constitution and terms of reference as agreed by the three councils in the Constitution Agreement signed on 31 October 2006.

The Board noted that it now had the status of a joint committee of the three councils and, with this status, formal decision making powers.  

It was noted that the constitution referred to the Board both as a “board” and a “committee”.  For the sake of clarity, it was agreed that all references should be amended to “Board”.

To consider the report of the Director of Corporate Services, Bracknell Forest Borough Council.

The Board considered a report inviting it to agree a schedule of meetings for the coming year.

RESOLVED that meetings of the Joint Waste Disposal Board be held at 6pm on the following dates:

Wednesday 28 March 2007 (in Reading)

Wednesday 20 June 2007

Wednesday 12 September 2007 (Annual Meeting)

Wednesday 12 December 2007

Wednesday 12 March 2008

To consider the report of the Assistant Director of Environment & Leisure, Bracknell Forest Borough Council.

The Board considered a report detailing the actions taken by the Project Director since the contract was signed on 31 October 2006 and providing an update on project activities since then.

The Project Director briefed the Board on a number of issues.  In particular, he referred to ongoing opposition to the green waste recycling facility at Planners Farm.  Whilst the Environment Agency continued to regard the facility as well-managed and a model for others, there remained complaints from some local residents about smell.  The Project Director confirmed that there was to be no increase in material processed at Planners Farm and that all green waste was composted except where the material was already decomposing.  The latter was taken elsewhere to avoid issues of smell at Planners Farm.

RESOLVED

1          That the actions taken by the Project Director under delegated powers be affirmed; and,

2          That the progress of the contract to date be noted.

To consider the report of the Borough Solicitor, Bracknell Forest Borough Council.

The Board considered a report advising it of changes to Appendix 1 of Schedule 4 to the Joint Working Agreement and seeking approval to the proposed delegations.

RESOLVED

1.                  That the delegations detailed in Appendix A to Schedule 4 of the Joint Working Agreement be varied so that they be replaced by those delegations detailed in Annexe 1 of the Borough Solicitor’s report.

2.                  That the delegations in Annexe 1 to the report be approved.

To consider the report of the Head of  Environment and Consumer Services, Reading Borough Council.

The Board considered a report advising it of current and proposed future arrangements for project managing the Waste Private Finance Initiative.

The Board noted the report also related to the matter to be discussed in Part II of the meeting.

RESOLVED that the progress of the project management arrangements to date be noted.

To consider the following motion:

That pursuant to Regulation 21 of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Access to Information) Regulations 2000 and having regard to the public interest, members of the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the consideration of item 13 which involves the likely disclosure of exempt information under the following category of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972:

(1)       Information relating to any individual.

That pursuant to Regulation 21 of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Access to Information) Regulations 2000 and having regard to the public interest, members of the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the consideration of item 13 which involved the likely disclosure of exempt information under the following category of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972:

(1)        Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person.

To consider the report of the Assistant Director of Environment, Bracknell Forest Borough Council.

The Board considered a report inviting it to consider the appointment of a Project Director in accordance with the Principal Contract Management Arrangements as set out in the Joint Working Agreement.

The Board noted that pending the appointment of a Project Director, the role would continue to be undertaken by Jon Freer, however, this had implications for his other work for Bracknell Forest Borough Council.  Similarly, Oliver Burt was undertaking the Project Manager’s role alongside his duties for Reading Borough Council.  The Project Manager’s job had already been advertised as it was deemed to be the most pressing of the two posts to fill, being responsible for the day-to-day management of the contract.

The Board discussed the project director’s role and agreed that the current report did not provide sufficient detail on which to base a decision.  Nor was any information on the resource implications supplied.  It was therefore agreed that there was a need for the role of the project director to be properly evaluated and an assessment to be made about how the work might be assimilated into the work of the three councils

RESOLVED

1          That the three chief executives be asked to consult one another on the nature and scope of the post of project director having regard to capacity within their existing teams with a view to reporting back to a special meeting of the Board in the week commencing 19 February 2007 with recommendations supported by details of the role and costings for the post of project director.

2          That the recruitment to the post of project manager proceed as planned.