Agenda and minutes

Members are asked to declare any personal or disclosable pecuniary interest in respect of any matter to be considered at this meeting.

Any Member with a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in a matter should withdraw from the meeting when the matter is under consideration and should notify the Democratic Services Officer in attendance that they are withdrawing as they have such an interest. If the Disclosable Pecuniary Interest is not entered on the register of Members interests the Monitoring Officer must be notified of the interest within 28 days.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the Joint Waste Disposal Board held on 2 October 2012.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Joint Waste Disposal Board held on 2 October 2012 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

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

There were no urgent items of business.

To receive an update on progress since the last meeting of the Joint Waste Disposal Board.

The Green Machine’s Dawn Cannon, provided the Board with an update on the performance of Green Machine, the Community Repaint Scheme.  It was noted that the Green Machine had only received notification of its underperformance in October 2012 and that  since the notification had been received the number of collection visits made to the Household Waste Recycling Centres had been increased.  As a result more paint was now being collected and staff were working to build up relationships with the site staff.  Monthly performance figures were also being requested to ensure that performance was fully monitored and it was stressed that the Service had only been operational on a practical level for the past six months.  The Board noted that there had been issues with rubbish being left in the paint collection bins and officers were instructed to look into the matter.

The Green Machine now had a good stock of paint and were working to market its availability to organisations and the general public.  At the current time, the distribution outlet in Bracknell was the only distribution centre and Green Machine aspired to have outlets in both Reading and Wokingham. 

The Board stressed that they were supportive of Green Machine’s operation and were keen to see them contribute a saving to the Councils.  It was agreed that officers would help Green Machine develop a pr and marketing plan and that the Green Machine would be asked to the Board’s march meeting to discuss this in more detail.

The Board received a report providing an update on progress made since its last meeting on 2 October 2012.   The report included an update on Environment Agency guidance on street sweepings and gully emptying, the results of the 2012 Transfer Station User Satisfaction Survey of Council Crews ands the development of the re3 Waste Strategy.

It was reported that as part of the Environment Agency’s Street Sweepings Trial.  

leaf litter samples would be collected from each local authority area and sent for analysis to a ascertain the levels of contaminants in them and whether they were suitable for composting.

The Board expressed concern that the percentage of Council dustcart drivers who thought that the 20 minute turnaround policy was insufficient had risen to 14% in the User satisfaction Survey, compared to 3% in 2010, and that anecdotal evidence suggested that waits of 30 minutes or more were not uncommon.  The Board acknowledged that officers were trying to resolve this issue but stressed that the core of the Council service provided the core part of the contract and that council dustcarts should be given priority.  It was agreed that officers would draft a letter to FCC setting out the Board’s concerns and FCC would be invited to the Board’s March meeting to  discuss the matter in more detail.

RESOLVED that:

1. Green Machine be asked to the Board’s March meeting to discuss the operation of the Community Repaint Scheme
2. Officers to investigate issues with non-paint rubbish mixed into paint recycling collection point
3. Officers be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

To agree the date of the next meeting of the Joint waste Disposal Board

It was agreed that the next two meetings of the Joint Waste Disposal Board would take place on the following dates:

Thursday 14 March 2013 at 10am at Longshot Lane HWRC Bracknell

Thursday 6 June 2013 at 10am at Smallmead in Reading.

To consider the following motion:

That pursuant to Regulation 4 of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Access to Information) Regulations 2012 and having regard to the public interest, members of the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the consideration of items 8 and 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, members of the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the consideration of items 8 and 9 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 (including the authority)

To receive a report providing an update on the financial management of the re3 project.

The Board received a report providing an update of progress in terms of financial management since its last meeting on 2 October 2012.

The Board noted the projected out turn figures  for the year to date and the projected under spend.  It was noted that there had been a significant drop in the percentage of rubbish collected in the kerbside collections over the 4 years of the contract to date and it was stressed that it was important that officers capitalised on this drop and continued to encourage residents to keep waste to a minimum in future years.

The Board noted the update.

To receive an update on work undertaken to reach an agreement on the Recyclate Income.

The Board was provided with an update on the latest position with regard to the ongoing dispute between the re3 Councils and the PFI Contractor over the distribution of income from the sale of recyclable materials.

Since the Board’s last meeting, officers had met with the PFI Contractors, both with and without the mediator, on a number of occasions in an effort to resolve the situation.  On 12 December 2012, the Contractor had put forward an improved offer for consideration.  In addition to the revised offer, the Contractor had intimated that they did not have sufficient funds to compensate the re3 Councils for the lost income in one lump sum and had proposed that the repayment be made in the form of a smaller lump sum and yearly instalments over nine years.

The Board was informed that additional fees on top of those already paid would accrue following the agreement of a deal fees that would be incurred due to the need to have the agreement written into the PFI contract and then tested financially for value for money.  In addition the Treasury might need to be informed of the changes made to the payment mechanism.

The Board considered and discussed the proposed deal for the split of the recyclate income, the proposed repayment terms of the debt and the matter of potential legal fees arising from finalising the agreement. It was noted that officers had started work on a risk analysis of the PFI contract.

RESOLVED that:

1. The deal proposed by the PFI contractor on 12 December 2012 be accepted
2. The task of  obtaining the best possible deal on terms of the debt repayment be delegated to officers
3. Board Members request that each re3 Council put £20,000 aside to cover the potential costs of final legal fees

The Board thanked all the officers involved in the mediation process for the time and work that they had put into resolving the dispute.