Agenda and minutes

Members are required to declare any personal or prejudicial interests and the nature of that interest, in respect of any matter to be considered at this meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive the minutes of the Joint Waste Disposal Board held on 30 September 2008.

The minutes of the meeting of the Joint Waste Disposal Board held on 30 September 2008 were accepted by the Board and signed by the Chairman.

Joint Working Agreement

The Board was advised that with regards to West Berkshire patronage of Smallmead Household Waste Recycling Centre the Chief Executives of the Re3 Authorities had met with the Chief Executive of West Berkshire Council to discuss the concerns raised by Board.  Further to this, the Project Manager would be meeting with officers from West Berkshire Council on 12 January 2009 to come to an agreement on the terms on which residents in West Berkshire could use the Smallmead facility.  The need to ensure that there was an agreement in place by April 2009 that reflected the actual position in relation to the recharge of costs in relation to both sites was accepted.  Members of the Board would be updated following the meeting in January.

Business Resource Efficiency and Waste Programme (BREW)

The Board was advised that the BREW strategy would be going out for public consultation in January 2009 following the detailed research project into the waste and support needs of nearly 10,400 businesses across the Re3 area.  The Strategy would have 9 objectives under 5 headings and it was hoped that it would help in bringing a reduction in business waste to landfill.

Comments on the Strategy were welcomed before its consideration by the Board at its next meeting in March 2009.

(Project Director)

The Board considered a report which provided an update on project activities since the last meeting on 30 September 2008.  The Project Manager highlighted the following:

(i)                  The fall in demand for recycled materials has resulted in a fall in the price payable for recycled materials, however, many of the support and enforcement agencies involved in waste management were supporting the recycling industry.

(ii)                The PFI contract was currently predicting a projected out turn against the budget of £387,000 under spend due to reductions in tonnage to be disposed of.  This is now projected to be around 208,000 tonnes.  The Waste Recycling Group had incurred £28,000 of performance deductions due to problems with one of their bring bank contractors, although this issue was being resolved.  There was a projected overspend potential of £30,000 in the management budget that was identified as a contingency in the event of there needing to be additional legal advice, but this now seemed unlikely to be needed.

(iii)               It was noted that the overall rating for Smallmead was excellent, with 99% of respondents rating it as good or very good, and Longshot Lane received 82% of respondents rating it as good or very good.

(iv)              In November Smallmead had closed for around a day and a half due to a higher than allowable level of landfill gas.  Monitoring of the level of gas would continue and Re3 was satisfied that the measures put in place would control the risk.  As the regulatory authority, Reading Borough Council would also be ensuring that the risk was being managed.

Members of the Board requested that future budget papers gave a more detailed explanation of the background to both sets of budget figures.

It was agreed that the Chairman would write to the Leader of Bracknell Forest Council to contact Grundon’s in order to update the position on the Lakeside Energy-From-Waste facility regarding the late running contract agreement.

RESOLVED that progress made since the last meeting on 30 September be noted.

the last meeting on 30 September be noted.

(Project Director)

The Board received a report that informed them of the progress made in the areas of

the Engineering Procurement Contract and Planning since their last meeting on 30 September 2008.

The Board noted that the issue of the connection from the site to the main sewer at Smallmead had now been resolved and this work should be complete by 19 December.

It was also noted that there had been an achievement in that the total man hours worked at Longshot Lane and Smallmead had reached 10,533 hours without a Lost Time Accident.

RESOLVED that the progress made in the areas of the Engineering Procurement Construction Contract and Planning since the last meeting on 30 September 2008 be noted.

(Project Director)

The Board received an update on the progress towards a Joint Waste Authority.  Final guidance on the application and process would be issued in January and officers had been advised by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs that the deadline for making an application was extendable beyond 31 March 2009.

The Project Director advised the Board that there may be the opportunity for some funding via the South East Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnership to help with the Joint Waste Authorities application.

The Steering Group would be responsible for developing an outline plan to move the process forward.

The Board agreed that it would be investigated as to whether funding could be secured to undertake a study on the implications of collecting food waste so as to inform any retendering exercise in relation to refuse collection.

RESOLVED that

(i)                  The decision on how consultation with residents on the issue of a Joint Waste Authority as described in paragraphs 3.9 and 3.10 of the report of the Project Director be delegated to the Steering Group.

(ii)                It be agreed to establish a Steering Group made up of the Chairman, Vice-Chairman and a Reading Borough Council member representative from the Board, and three officers being one from each Authority, to meet monthly to manage the process leading to the submission of an application for Joint Waste Authority (Disposal) status.

(iii)               It be agreed to receive an issues and options report on, and the findings of the consultation, at the next Joint Waste Disposal Board meeting in March 2009 with a view to making an appropriate recommendation to all three Councils.

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 9 which involves 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 9 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 exempt information detailed in the risk register.