To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillor CM Bartrum.

The Chairman announced that Councillor JHR Goodwin had stepped down from the Committee and had been replaced by Councillor NL Vaughan.  The Committee recorded its thanks to Councillor Goodwin for his service to the Committee.

To receive details any details of Members nominated to attend the meeting in place of a Member of the Committee.

Councillor AT Oliver substituted for Councillor CM Bartrum.

To receive any declarations of interest by Members in respect of items on the Agenda.

GUIDANCE ON DECLARING PERSONAL AND PREJUDICIAL INTERESTS AT MEETINGS

The Council’s Members’ Code of Conduct requires Councillors to declare against an Agenda item(s) the nature of an interest and whether the interest is personal or prejudicial.  Councillors have to decide first whether or not they have a personal interest in the matter under discussion.  They will then have to decide whether that personal interest is also prejudicial.

A personal interest is an interest that affects the Councillor more than most other people in the area.  People in the area include those who live, work or have property in the area of the Council.  Councillors will also have a personal interest if their partner, relative or a close friend, or an organisation that they or the member works for, is affected more than other people in the area.  If they do have a personal interest, they must declare it but can stay and take part and vote in the meeting. 

Whether an interest is prejudicial is a matter of judgement for each Councillor.  What Councillors have to do is ask themselves whether a member of the public – if he or she knew all the facts – would think that the Councillor’s interest was so important that their decision would be affected by it.  If a Councillor has a prejudicial interest then they must declare what that interest is and leave the meeting room.

Councillor P J Edwards declared a personal interest as a former Cabinet Member.

To approve and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 9 June 2008.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held 9 June 2008 be approved and signed by the Chairman.

To consider suggestions from members of the public on issues the Committee could scrutinise in the future.

No suggestions were received from members of the public.

To update Members on the progress towards achievement of targets for 2008-09 relevant to the Environment Scrutiny Committee and contained within the Environment & Culture Directorate and the Regeneration Directorate.

The Committee considered the progress towards the achievement of targets for 2008-09 relevant to the Environment Scrutiny Committee and contained within the Environment and Culture Directorate and the Regeneration Directorate.

The Improvement Manager reported that a significant number of the performance indicators were new (from the National Indicator set) and therefore a different format had been chosen, for this report only, to enable a more detailed description of each indicator to be provided. 

Overall performance by the Environment and Culture Directorate was considered to be on track for all Local Area Agreement, Community Strategy and Corporate Plan indicators on which the Environment and Culture Directorate took the lead or towards which it is making a significant contribution. There was a similar picture for other indicators, including those from the National Indicator set.  In general there were fewer indicators in the Council’s Corporate Plan with a number of those being reported annually or by external agencies.

On scrutinising the performance indicators the following principal points were noted:

• In relation to customer satisfaction (paragraph 9 bullet points 4 and 5) the Committee congratulated the staff, and acknowledged the good management, in achieving the good levels of customer satisfaction.
• Continuing the above point the Committee expressed an interest in comparing the satisfaction levels with similar authorities also affected by flooding and requested details from comparable authorities.
• Questioned on the collection of data for principal roads the Committee noted that data was collected by a specialist contractor on behalf of a number of authorities in the region. However, efficiencies may be made in that this survey work could be included in the revised Service Delivery Contract with Amey.  The Cabinet Member, Highways and Transportation (H&T) commented that he had to balance highway maintenance expenditure between the various categories of road.  A number of initiatives were underway e.g. the Watchman Scheme with the Parish Councils.  Following the recent floods in various parts of the County, unplanned works, and therefore unbudgeted, had been necessary.  While a claim would be made under the Belwin Scheme the Council would still need to fund the initial expenditure up to the Belwin threshold.
• Questioning the ‘Amber’ rating for the indicator ‘people slightly injured in road traffic accidents’ (agenda page 38) the Committee were informed that, while current performance had not met last year’s profile, it was expected that the target would be met.
• It was requested that the appropriate date be included in the report where data was collected annually.
• Responding to comments on the indicator for litter/detritus/flyposting/ graffiti the Director of Environment and Culture (E&C) acknowledged that there was always room for improvement.  However, he highlighted that due to the increase in fuel costs the street cleaning contract was likely to cost an additional £90,000 for the same level of service, a cost that would have to be supported from other budgets.
• Questioned on the level of flytipping the Cabinet Member Environment and Strategic Housing (E&SH) acknowledged that more needed to be done.  However, whenever possible,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.

To review the Council’s performance against the corporate Environmental Strategy targets and to update the committee on the Council’s targets in relation to climate change and carbon management, with particular reference to the Council’s own carbon emissions.

The Committee reviewed the Council’s performance against the corporate Environmental Strategy targets and received an update on the Council’s targets in relation to climate change and carbon management, with particular reference to the Council’s own carbon emissions.

The Sustainability Manager reported that the Environmental Strategy report for 2007/08, (Appendix 1 to the agenda report), showed strong performance overall on the targets, particularly in the areas of waste management, air pollution control, biodiversity, supporting environmental management within the Council and local businesses, provision of planning services, and EcoSchools. Areas where objectives were not met included the number of reported cycle trips and use of buses by the public and dealing with abandoned vehicles.  She further reported that the Council’s ISO 14001 triennial renewal visit in July went well and the Council had retained corporate certification for all unitary council functions to the international management standard. Options for rolling ISO 14001 out to the PCT were being explored. However the Council’s external certifiers had raised one non-conformity.  For the second visit in a row this related to the Council’s approach to reducing its own carbon emissions. 

The agenda report set out the background to the Council’s carbon management including commentary on recent increases in utility prices, initiatives to increase carbon awareness and to reduce carbon emissions.

On scrutinising the report the following principal points were noted:

• The Council’s current carbon emissions inventory for its own operations (Appendix 2 to the report) showed a small reduction in emissions (1.25%) from March 2005 to March 2008.  However this was below the target set in 2005 and included in the Corporate Plan 2007-10.  There were considerable fluctuations from year to year in the extensive data set which underpinned this calculation and further work was being undertaken to clarify the position.
• While Herefordshire’s Local Area Agreement had set 3 year targets for reducing carbon emissions, the Committee were concerned to hear that resources had yet to be allocated to achieve the targets.  The Director of Environment and Culture responded that by the time of the next Committee meeting a report would have been made to the Joint Management Team setting out the current position and a way forward. 
• A key element in the Council’s carbon reduction target related to the Council’s property and the Committee requested a report setting out where the Council currently was with its Accommodation Strategy.  It was also questioned whether the Council should have photovoltaic units on its properties to generate power.  The Chairman of Strategic Monitoring Committee reported that his committee was due to receive a report on the Strategy in October.
• While works had been undertaken at Stretton Sugwas landfill site to reduce methane emissions further investigations would be undertaken into the greenhouse gas reduction this was achieving and possible use of the flare for electricity generation.
• In relation to the County’s energy usage, questions were asked whether more could be done to promote energy efficient housing development through the planning system.  Energy efficiency in social housing was also  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

To seek an extension of time to report on the findings of the Scrutiny Review.

The Committee considered a request from the Chairman of the Planning Services Scrutiny Review Group for an extension of time to report their findings from the Review.

RESOLVED: That the findings of the Review be reported to the meeting scheduled for 23 March 2009.

To consider the Committee work programme.

The Committee considered the work programme.

The Committee noted that Local Transport Plan issues would normally be highlighted via the capital budget monitoring report.

A Member questioned the control of injurious weeds, namely ragwort, which is toxic to animals. The Director of Environment and Culture reported that responsibility for injurious weeds was under the control of the Secretary of State through DEFRA.  If it was found in highway verges it was dealt with either by the Highways Agency or by the Council under the verge cutting programme.

The following information, previously identified during the meeting, be provided to the Committee in the form of a briefing note:

• Minute 20 b) - customer satisfaction levels compared to other authorities;
• Minute 20 d) - confirmation that national guidance is being followed concerning cleaning dirty streets;
• Minute 21 d) - list of premises energy officers.

The following issues identified during the meeting to be added to the Committee work programme:

• Minute 20 e) - report setting out the options concerning the possible reduction of energy/environmental impact from street lighting;
• Minute 20 f) - report  on the Council’s vehicle fleet including an inventory;
• Minute 20 g) - a report on extreme weather events and resultant actions identified for inclusion in Directorate Action Plans within the remit of this Committee.
• Minute 21 b) - report on the allocation of resources to meet the LAA carbon reduction targets be reported.
• Minutes 21 c) - the Current position with the Council’s Accommodation Strategy be reported
• Minute 21 e) - the resultant carbon reduction action plan by the Council-wide Carbon Action Group be reported
• Minute 22 – The findings of the Scrutiny Review of the Planning Service be reported to the 23 March 2009 meeting.

RESOLVED: that subject to the inclusion of the previously identified issues the work programme be noted.