Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that Councillor Mrs Hayes be elected Chairman of the Joint Waste Disposal Board Management Committee for the 2016/17 Municipal Year.

RESOLVED that Councillor Terry be appointed Vice-chairman of the Joint Waste Disposal Board Management Committee for the 2016/17 Municipal Year.

There were no apologies of absence.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the Joint Waste Disposal Board held on the 8 April 2016.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Joint Waste Disposal Board held on the 8 April 2016 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Arising on the minutes it was noted:

Minute 21 – There had been no progress with arranging a date to meet with DEFRA

Minute 38 – The Board will be visiting the Colnbrook Site nr Slough in September. It was requested that the visit coincided with the next Board meeting.

Minute 38 – Progress had been made in regards to agreeing a new haulage contract. A formal update would be brought to the next board meeting.

Minute 39 – The investigation of introducing a Smartcard system would be looked at after all the September changes had been implemented and an update on progress would be brought as an item to the next board meeting.

The Board commented that the introduction of the permits had gone really well so far and that the all staff had worked very hard to introduce the scheme as seamlessly as possible.

Oliver Burt reported to the Board that he had heard DEFRA intended to release a report over the summer regarding Rory Stewart’s initiative on waste collection systems. It was a possibility that the report would recommend that Councils adopt one of three proposed collection formats for their household waste collections.  Whilst this was a potential issue for the re3 councils in their capacity of collection authorities, the implications would also be of concern to the Board as it might have to alter the existing disposal arrangements in order to facilitate change.  Any developments would be reported to the next meeting.

There were no urgent items of business.

To consider a report on progress in the delivery of the re3 Joint Waste PFI Contract and the re3 Strategy.

The Board received a report, which briefed the members on the progress in the delivery of the re3 Joint Waste PFI Contract and the re3 Strategy.

The first change at the re3 recycling centres had come into force on 1^st July 2016. Over the first weekend (Friday 1^st to Sunday 3^rd July) 478 visitors across the two sites were denied access. It was reported that over the past two weeks, 2010 people had visited the two sites compared with 2863 visits over the same period of time last year.  Even though there had been some complaints, which had been expected, it was thought that the introduction of the permits had gone well.

Web-cams were now in place at both Smallmead and Longshot Lane. Any impact on non commercial fly-tipping would be monitored across the Boroughs.

The Board agreed the need for a detailed discussion at a future meeting in relation to charges of permits for non-residents. For the timebeing they would be excluded.

It was also agreed that the officers would report to the next meeting whether FCC’s increased exports of material could include other plastics.

The Chief Executive of FCC, Paul Taylor, would also to be invited to future meeting Board. Subject to availability it was suggested that this may coincide with the visit to the Colnbrook Site in September.

The re3 Strategy had been considered and approved by Wokingham Borough Council and Reading Borough Council. The Strategy would be going to Bracknell Forest’s Executive on the 18^th July for consideration.

RESOLVED that Members note the contents of the report.

To consider a report on an update to the existing re3 Waste Acceptance Policy so that it reflects the requirements for the re3 Councils under prevailing conditions.

The Board received a report which updated the existing re3 Waste Acceptance Policy so that it reflects the requirements for the re3 Councils under prevailing conditions.

The re3 strategy, which was under the process of being adopted by the individual councils, identified that a reduction in the net cost of waste services as a key strategic objective for the re3 councils. In 2009 the councils had agreed the Waste Acceptance Protocol. The update of that policy was intended to support the need for significant reduction to the net cost of the council waste services.

As proposed at the end of September 2016 the formal changes to access to the re3 facilities would be introduced, including new arrangements for registering access for commercial and commercial type vehicles and charges to certain types of non domestic waste materials.

The Board was advised that the introduction of the registering requirement for commercial vehicles would help identify vehicles that are being used unlawfully to transport and dispose of business waste. In Oxford they run a similar scheme and had issued 36,000 permits for 26,000 commercial vehicles. It would only be possible to register commercial vehicles online as having the capability to register onsite would be operationally difficult and impact the savings made. The Board asked for an assurance that a good and comprehensive communication package would be put in place in advance, with in particular very clear signage being provided at the sites at the earliest opportunity.

Members were informed that there would be no options for cash payments at either site as this would be a security issue.

It was agreed that the proposed charges need to be checked to ensure that they recovered all associated costs and the amounts were logically rounded. Officers were also to take account of how to recover the costs of the use of credit cards. 

RESOLVED that

i.              Members adopt the new Waste Acceptance Protocol for the re3 Recycling Centres.

ii.             Members agree that the new Waste Acceptance Protocol will come into force on 30^th September 2016.

iii.            That  Members agreed to the potential for review of the Waste Acceptance Protocol as described at 5.17 and 5.18.

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 10 and 11  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

(including the authority holding that information)

RESOLVED that pursuant to Regulation 4 of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Access to Information) Regulations 2012, members of the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the consideration of items 10 and 11 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.

To consider a report on the financial position of the joint waste PFI for the year 2016/17.

The Board received a report summarising the financial position of the joint waste PFI for the year 2016/17 to date and also to explore an alternative approach to the management of re3 Partnership finances in accordance with the re3 Strategy. The Board were also provided with reports on the operational performance in key areas of the re3 Partnership and other emerging issues.

5.7 to 5.19 of the report detailed how the Board worked parallel to the re3 Strategy and it was noted that assurance work is ongoing.

The Board noted that the recycling rates had fallen and requested that the Heads of Service meet with Oliver to investigate the reasons for this and whether it was a national trend.

Work was still progressing to agree a new Haulage contract; there were currently four bidders that had shown interest.

RESOLVED that

i.              Members note the financial and performance related information provided

within this report and the intention to report on progress towards the re3 Strategy targets at each future meeting.

ii.             Members support further work being undertaken on the

subject of an alternative approach to re3 Partnership finances and the re3 budget.

To consider proposals for a new and supplementary method of providing feedback from the re3 Partnership to our Contractor, FCC.

The Board received a report which proposed a new and supplementary method of providing feedback from the re3 Partnership to FCC. The report proposed a course of action to ensure that the re3 Joint Waste PFI Contract continues to be fit for purpose as the needs and capacities of the re3 Councils change.

RESOLVED that Members endorse the proposal described at 5.15 to 5.22 in the report for the purposes of further discussion with FCC.