Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that Councillor Stanton be elected Chairman of the Board for the next

municipal year.

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

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

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve the minutes of the meeting of the Joint Waste Disposal Board held on 25 June 2008.

The minutes of the meeting of the Joint Waste Disposal Board held on 25 June 2008 were accepted by the Board and signed by the Chairman.

Andrew Woolcock, General Manager, Re3 Ltd, attended the meeting to give a presentation to the Board on Waste Minimisation and Education.  In particular he highlighted:

(i)                  The communication aims  were to encourage people to reduce, reuse and recycle more, to promote new facilities and to promote re3 as the council waste partnership.

(ii)                At the Smallmead Centre all of the signage was compatible with the national campaign to help public recognition.  Longshot Lane waste transfer station was nearing completion and communication around both of these developments included leaflets to the public, radio adverts, and developments such as live webcams, advice and games on the Re3 website.

(iii)               The home composting campaign was underway to promote the sale of home composter bins with.  Around 1000 had been sold already but the campaign needed sustaining and refreshing to continue the success.

(iv)              Next on the agenda was a 6 month food waste campaign, with a view to extending it into 2009.  The campaign would directly target residents in areas producing the most food waste, alongside a national campaign, as on average 30% of household food ended up as waste.  There would also be further communications and campaigns around Bring Banks.

(v)                Finally, there were a number of initiatives planned in terms of education including:

·         a website specifically aimed at teachers and children and young people including activities, games and competitions.

·         education centres at Smallmead and Longshot Lane where an education programme developed by Waste Watch would be taught and was linked to the national curriculum and was aimed at Key Stage 2 children.  It was hoped that schools would visit the centre a several times in a year.

·         the visitors centre would also be included in the education programme offering sessions on recycling and composting and would be available to community groups and secondary schools.

Members noted the importance of education in achieving the aims of waste reduction and that the education centres at Smallmead and Longshot Lane would be the first in the country.  It was agreed that there would be some joint thinking on further opportunities for encouraging residents to use the options for recycling, reusing and reducing.

As Andrew Woolcock was leaving Re3 Ltd, on behalf of the Board the Chairman thanked him for all of his help and wished him well for the future.

(Project Director)

The Board considered a report which provided an update on project activities since

the last meeting on 25 June 2008. The Project Director highlighted the following:

(i)                  The PFI was currently projecting a combined under spend of £365,000 against the budget for this financial year.

(ii)                Following submission of an expression of interest to DEFRA, the Re3 councils would have until March 2009 to debate the implications of a Joint Waste Authority and if appropriate to prepare and submit an application.

Work on the 2009/10 budget was underway and would be sent to Members for information.

Following some discussion around risks associated with the PFI contract it was noted that:

(iii)               Officers would be involved in the recruitment of a General Manager from WRG.

(iv)              Relations with the WRG Board had improved.

(v)                The issue of contamination of council Mixed Dry Recyclables would be monitored closely following the commissioning of the Materials Recovery Facility.

The Risk Register would be updated with actions already taken to reduce and mange the areas of risk identified.

RESOLVED that progress made since the last meeting on 18 June 2008 be noted.

(Project Director)

The Board considered the report of the Project Director which proposed changes to the Joint Working Agreement.

Following some discussion Members agreed that the Chairman would write to the Chief Executives of Bracknell Forest, Reading and Wokingham Borough Councils highlighting the Board’s concerns around the costs relating to West Berkshire patronage of Smallmead Household Waste Recycling Centre.

RESOLVED that

(i)                  the minor amendments proposed to the Joint Working Agreement be noted and approved.

(ii)                subject to review by Bracknell Forest Council legal advisors, the first significant change as set out in Appendix 1 to the report of the Project Director be approved.

(iii)               subject to review by Bracknell Forest Council legal advisors, the second significant change as set out in Appendix 1 to the report of the Project Director be approved.

(iv)              subject to review by Bracknell Forest Council legal advisors and with the amendment of more flexibility around the Independent Survey dates at A3, the third significant change as set out in Appendix 1 to the report of the Project Director be approved.

(v)                subject to review by Bracknell Forest Council legal advisors, the fourth significant change as set out in Appendix 1 to the report of the Project Director be approved.

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 items 10 and 11 which involve the likely disclosure of exempt information under the following category of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972:

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

RESOLVED 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 10 which involved the likely disclosure of exempt information under the following category of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972:

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

(Project Director)

The Board noted the report containing exempt information which detailed the progress in the construction of the Lakeside Energy from Waste facility in Colnbrook, Berkshire.

At its meeting on 19 March 2008 the Board agreed the following dates for future meetings:

·         Wednesday 17 December 2008 at 6.00pm

·         Wednesday 18 March 2009 at 6.00pm

• Wednesday 17 December 2008 at 6.00pm (Committee Room 2, Reading Borough Council)
• Wednesday 18 March 2009 at 6.00pm