Agenda and minutes

Venue: Education Centre, Smallmead, Reading. View directions

Contact: Katharine Simspon  01344 352308

Items
No. Item

35.

Declarations of Interest

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

 

Any Member with a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest or an affected 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.

 

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

36.

Minutes of the Meeting of the Joint Waste Disposal Board pdf icon PDF 33 KB

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the Joint Waste Disposal Board held on 13 March 2014.

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Joint Waste Disposal Board meeting held on 13 March 2013 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

 

Matters Arising

 

  • Officers had met with the Green Machine to discuss operational issues and a full update would be given at the Board’s next meeting.

37.

Urgent Items of Business

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

Minutes:

There were no urgent items of business.

38.

Joint Waste Disposal Board Project Update pdf icon PDF 132 KB

To consider a report providing an update of progress in terms of management of the joint waste PFI contract since the Board’s last meeting on 13 March 2014.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Board received a report providing an update on the progress made since its last meeting on 13 March 2014.  The report included an update on work to improve access at Smallmead Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC), an update on the pressure at the Longshot Lane HWRC at peak times, the development of the Communications Strategy and an overview of financial matters.

 

The Board was informed that outstanding issues in relation to traffic flow at Longshot Lane HWRC had not been resolved.  A situation that placed the site in breach of its planning conditions.  Officers would be meeting with FCC and Bracknell Forest Council highways and planning teams to try and resolve the situation.  It was acknowledged that resolving the problems caused by on site traffic flow would not solve the off site problems caused by traffic queuing to access the site.  This allied to a number of other considerations including future housing growth in the re3 area meant that a more strategic approach to the problem would be required.  It was agreed that the most appropriate way forward would be to carry out an objective review of the pressures at Longshot Lane and the identification of potential solutions.  The Board was informed that a significant volume of information about the site and its use was readily available and this should help reduce the time period needed for this piece of work.

 

The Board considered the proposed job description and person specification for the proposed re3 Marketing and Communications Officer post and the following points were noted:

 

·         The qualifications required were considered too vague and needed to be more specific to attract high calibre candidates

·         Skills and abilities point 5 should read ‘An understanding of website management and social media’

·          Main duty 5 should read ‘To develop and co-ordination communications…’

·         The devising of effective communications and market methods was considered to be a key aspect of the role and should placed more prominently in the job description

·         The post holder would be required to provide regular reports to the Board

 

It was acknowledged that a crucial aspect of the post holder’s work would be to ensure that co-ordinated messages went out to all re3 council particularly in relation to recycling and efforts to increase the levels of waste sent for recycling and improve the quality of the recycling collected.  However this work would only be successful if all three re3 council were committed to supporting it and working co-operatively.

 

Funding for the post during the current financial year would come from unspent funds in the Waste Minimisation Budget.  However, from 2015/16 additional funding would be required from the re3 Councils.  DEFRA have recently announced that they would be making funding available for partnership based work through their Waste Innovation Fund.  It was agreed that this was a potential funding stream that should be explored.

 

The Board noted the financial update.  It was reported negotiations were underway with DEFRA over potential changes to the contract that would enable re3 council to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38.

39.

Dates of Future Meetings

Please bring your diaries with you to the meeting so that further meetings of the Joint Waste Disposal Board can be agreed.

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the next meeting of the Joint Waste Disposal Board Management Committee be held on Thursday 18 September 2014 at 10am at Longshot Lane HWRC.

40.

Exclusion of Public and Press

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 item 8 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.

Minutes:

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 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.

41.

Excess Profit Adjudication Update

To receive an update on the progress in terms of the Excess Profit Adjudication since its last meeting on 13 March 2014.

Minutes:

The Board received a report providing an update on the progress in terms of the Excess Profit Adjudication since its last meeting.

 

It was noted that the adjudication hearing had been scheduled for 23rd and 24th June 2014.  A third date, the 1st July 2014, had been reserved should the adjudication not be resolved during the initial hearing dates.  Notice of the Adjudicator’s decision would be received a week after the hearing’s conclusion. 

 

In response to the Board’s queries it was stressed that good working relationships between council officers and FCC officers existed on the ground at both sites on a day to day basis.

 

RESOLVED that the contents of the Project Director’s report be noted.

42.

Management Arrangements Update

Minutes:

The Board discussed the future management arrangements of the re3 project. It was noted that discussions over the future direction and structure of the re3 management arrangements were ongoing.

 

The Board agreed that a full discussion of the emerging options including: project management structure, role definition, budget implications, appointment process and possible transition arrangements would take place on 14 July at 2pm in Reading Borough Council’s Civic Centre.  A full options appraisal paper would then be brought to the Board’s September meeting for a decision.

 

Contact Information

Democratic services

Email: committee@bracknell-forest.gov.uk