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 approve as a correct record the minutes of the Joint Waste Disposal Board held on 18 March 2009.

The minutes of the meeting of the Joint Waste Disposal Board held on 18 March 2009 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Matters Arising

Minute 22: Joint Working Agreement

The Board noted that due to some additional minor changes required to the Joint Working Agreement, the relevant Executive authority for each of the three authorities would be agreeing the changes at the meeting on 18 March 2009, and the additional changes currently being considered, following the next Board meeting in September 2009.

To notify the Board of any items authorised by the Chairman on the grounds of urgency.

The Chairman gave notice that he had agreed to the addition of two urgent items of business to the agenda for the meeting.  The items required consideration by the Board in order for business to proceed urgently following the meeting.

Following receipt of a letter from West Berkshire Council regarding their use of the Smallmead Household Waste Recycling Centre the Board agreed that firm proposals were needed from West Berkshire before negotiations would continue.  An update on this issue would be brought to Board at its meeting in September 2009.

The Board was advised that a proposal had been brought to the Board from the Waste Recycling Group regarding the demand for use of the facilities at Smallmead House Waste Recycling Centre. The Board agreed that further investigation into the technical, financial and legal implications of this proposal was required before any decision could be made.

The Board had some concerns at the way this proposal had been made and that in asking for advice on the legal and financial issues of this proposal, the Board stated that it would any such proposals in the future to made in better time frames and provide the full details to the Board at the first contact to help in the decision making.

To update the Board on progress with the project since the last meeting on 18 March 2009.

The Board received a report which provided an update on project activities since the last meeting on 18 March 2009.  The Project Manager highlighted the following:

(i)                  Construction work at Longshot Lane was complete and the site had reopened to residents on 13 July 2009 and lots of positive feedback had already been received regarding the site.

(ii)                The potential use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition systems at Longshot Lane and Smallmead was being investigated to capture management information such as the numbers of visitors and the time spent on the sites.  It was important that if these systems were to be used residents using the sites were made aware of this and the reasons for it.

(iii)               In terms of the 2009/10 Waste PFI Outturn Projection the figures presented indicated a sizeable underspend, although the figures would be recalculated to take account of any actual tonnages.  The Board noted that the project had cost the councils within 0.01% of what was estimated.

(iv)              An outstanding item which would be presented to the Board at its meeting in September would be the proposal for the reporting of performance information to reflect the equitable split of all three councils’ tonnage to the Lakeside Energy From Waste site.

RESOLVED that progress made since the last meeting on 18 March 2009 be noted.

To inform the Board of progress in the development of a Communications Plan to cover the remainder of 2009 and particularly the opening ceremonies at Smallmead and Longshot Lane.

The Board considered a report outlining the proposed re3 Communications Plan for 2009 which aimed to maximise understanding and recognition of the re3 partnership, raise its profile, promote waste minimisation and the current recycling messages and provide tools to officers and Members of the Council to promote re3.

To date there had been an opening ceremony for the Smallmead facility, good media coverage of re3 events and plans for an opening ceremony at Longshot Lane later in the summer, and opportunities would be identified for entering local government and environmental awards.

The Board was keen that the Plan focussed on the benefits that residents received because of the Partnership, and noted that members in all Councils could play a part in the promotion of re3.

To consider the Board’s response to DEFRA on whether or not to progress with an application to create a Joint Waste Authority for the re3 councils.

The Board received an update on the proposal to establish a Joint Waste Authority.  The creation of a Joint Waste Authority aimed to bring facilities and freedom to help the re3 councils to work effectively and achieve service improvements and to share common burdens. 

Following an initial expression of interest by the Board, further advice was received from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) on the consultation process required to form a Joint Waste Authority.  The suggested process was a longer consultation involving residents’ views at every stage and although consistent with re3’s desires, it was considered that the additional time and resource was not currently available to take the consultation forward at this time.  However, the idea of a Joint Waste Authority and other options for advanced partnership working would continue to be explored and considered by the Board.

RESOLVED that

(i)                  a letter be sent to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs confirming the decision not to progress with an application to create a Joint Waste Authority for re3 councils.

(ii)                it be noted that in the event that the situation changed, a further report would be brought back to allow this issue to be reconsidered.

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 14 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 press and public 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.

To note the current re3 Project Risk Register.

The Board noted the exempt information detailed in the risk register.