Agenda and minutes

To agree the minutes of the previous meeting.

The Chairman noted that there are  outstanding actions; J Doe in regards to feedback on the local enforcement resources shortage and N Polden to email the Chairman regarding the whereabouts of the air quality equipment on London Road, Lawn Lane 1a and Lawn Lane 3a.  The minutes from the meeting held on 28 July were agreed as a correct record of the meeting and will be signed. 

To receive any apologies for absence.

There were no apologies for absence.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest

T Ritchie asked how much of the 2017 Local Plan Issues and Options consultation has been taken into account in the new document.  T Ritchie also asked for clarification when the document was published and distributed as it still seems to be a draft one year on.  Also T Ritchie mentioned that Members had contacted him and were finding it difficult to access the document, so queried how this had been circulated.  T Ritchie also wanted more details on the extensive discussion with infrastructure providers including Herts County and Herts Valley Care Commissioning Group.

J Doe said the report has been published on the website, it had, in error, a draft watermark on it but it had been removed as the report published is the final version.  A link has been circulated to Members of the Committee.  The document will be used to inform the Local Plan which is in draft and there will be the opportunity for everyone to comment in the public consultation from November to January subject to the approval by Cabinet in November.  There will be a topic paper which goes through the consultation.  The main issues that were highlighted in the 2017 consultation were the high housing numbers and the use of green belt land.  We need to meet the objectively assessed housing targets and even though we will make the best use of our urban land, we will still need to make some use of green belt land.  The concerns around provision of infrastructure will be addressed by the Infrastructure Delivery Plan, which is in progress of development at the moment.  When the infrastructure will be delivered will be linked in the detailed processing of each site.  Work on the infrastructure plan has been ongoing for a year and we have consulted extensively with the appropriate providers.  Members will have the chance to comment when we are in a position to report on that plan.

Cllr Anderson mentioned that the report had previously been to Committee and has already been considered.  The Chairman advised that not many of the Members of this current Committee were part of this committee at that time.

Cllr Taylor said that his question relates to the meeting last week and the response sent out on Monday.  The Chairman confirmed that the response hasn’t been sent out yet and advised that we will get to that later in the correct agenda item.

Cllr Timmis wanted comment about the proposed number of houses in the green belt. The idea that we’re not building homes or trying to avoid doing so, is not the relevant issue. What is relevant is that more than a third will be on green field growth areas, which is excessive.  Cllr Timmis also mentioned that in parliament today the algorithm used to assess the amount of numbers of housing that is being proposed was questioned by a Conservative MP and asked why we can’t challenge these numbers as a Council.

The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 124.

None

The Chairman confirmed that following the meeting last week a response was drafted and circulated for Members for comment or amendment.

Cllr Taylor asked how the Committee was able to scrutinise the Transport Plan for Tring and Berkhamsted and other parts of the Borough, if they were not able to see the plan.  The Chairman confirmed that this point is included in the draft response.

A Robinson confirmed that the draft Local Plan before Members is the proposed Regulation 18 version and consultation on the final Plan will be under Regulation 19 and the consultation report will be included.  The draft Infrastructure report will not be in final form until we submit the final plan, it is in a very advanced stage but still in draft form.  The Transport studies need some further input from County.

Cllr Taylor commented that he can’t scrutinise without seeing the evidence and that there are plans in place for 800 homes that don’t have the required transport infrastructure.

The Chairman confirmed the Plan is in draft format but it will come back to us and we will include this valid criticism in the response to Cabinet.

Cllr Taylor requested the inclusion of the word ‘interim’ in the response.  The Chairman agreed that it would be included.

J Doe mentioned a further point from Mr Ritchie which had been missed in his earlier response was that he had confirmed in a response to an MP that the draft was to go to consultation in the summer of 2019. This reflected the timetable at that time, which has now been changed.  The Chairman asked that this be confirmed in an email, including Mr Ritchie amongst the recipients.

Action: J Doe

Cllr McDowell queried point 3 on the response asking if it was a lack of resources holding up the need for a masterplan being provided at the same time as the Local Plan.  A Robinson replied that it isn’t lack of resources. There will need to be a lot of time and resources put into the masterplans, but Officers consider that they need to have the documents in place before we start on the masterplans.

Cllr McDowell asked if that was a commitment to having the masterplans in place prior to planning permission.  A Robinson advised that Officers would like to have very advanced documents in place on all the strategic sites.  This is important to show the Inspector that the site is deliverable.  We intend to commence those workstreams in the New Year, so that by the time of inspection we have advanced drafts that can be adopted quickly.

Cllr McDowell mentioned the large site at Tring and queried the number of homes.  A Robinson advised there would 1,400 at the site East of Tring and 400 at New Mill which is a total of 1,800, plus the proposal at Dunsley Farm.  A Robinson will send the details out.

Action: A Robinson

Cllr Stevens queried whether the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 126.

F Jump presented the budget monitoring report and asked Committee if they had any questions.

Cllr Silwal asked about p4.1 the £564k pressure against budget and initially there were 20 staff in self-isolation and queried if there were any staff in self-isolation now.  C Thorpe advised that we have had one go into self-isolation but everyone else at the Depot is back in work.  Also C Thorpe mentioned that E Walker confirmed there were 8 in total across the organisation.

The Chairman questioned if Commercial Waste was losing money and queried if it’s time we gave that up.  C Thorpe said we are making money but it’s not making as much as it was, since March we’ve had many companies go out of business or haven’t let us know, so we are not meeting targets and that will be reflected in next year’s targets. 

The Chairman asked for clarification on what the Housing Cleaning Service is, as it has cost us £50k and he was surprised it didn’t come under the HRA.  M Gaynor advised that the Housing Cleaning Service provides cleaning for the General Fund.

The Chairman queried appendix B Allotments Improvement Service £40k.  F Jump advised that this was included in the budget consultation and could provide further information if required.  The Chairman asked for the information to be emailed to him.

Action: F Jump

The report was noted.

C Thorpe presented the report for Environmental Services and asked for any questions.

The Chairman queried the acronym DVSA.  C Thorpe confirmed it was for Driving Vehicles Standards Agency, they control Health and Safety of fleet vehicles.

Cllr Timmis mentioned the parks and tree planting and asked which trees were being planted. She also asked whether  the destruction of the woodlands path by 4x4 drivers was done by workers or clubs and whether any wildflower planting was done this year.  Cllr Timmis also asked about the verge cutting which made for a better environment and flytipping.  C Thorpe confirmed that he could send a comprehensive list of the trees being planted.  The 4x4 damage was probably done by our contractors but he will confirm that.  C Thorpe also confirmed that wildflowers were planted and verge cutting was left, but with verge cutting we need to agree with County, as they are the customer and we get complaints when we leave it due to sightlines. However, the team continues to work with M Gaynor and M Parr on the Climate Change group.  C Thorpe also confirmed that he would provide some detailed figures on flytipping as he’d just completed a FOI request which contains comprehensive information.

Action: C Thorpe

Cllr Silwal mentioned the two indicators that were red, WR01 and WR03, where the collection is 214 and target is 120 but it’s still in the red.  C Thorpe advised the figures were for the quarter, so it’s actually target 750 and we went over that and the collection total for everything we do was 1,187.  We have about 614,000 collections every month so the missed number is fairly miniscule and is down to the number of temporary staff we’ve been using, plus the number of parked vehicles on the roads where, as a result, we’re unable to get into the street and the assisted collections that have been missed.

Cllr Ransley asked what makes a missed bin collection justified.  C Thorpe said that it was where the bin had been put out and we had genuinely missed it.

Cllr Beauchamp raised concerns over the reporting structure for missed collections and asked if the system is working effectively as a resident had mentioned that it hadn’t worked for them. C Thorpe advised he was not aware of any problems and the high number of reports suggests that genuine missed collections are being captured and there isn’t a great problem,.  The problem is the amount of staff we’ve had off and we’ve had to use our spare vehicles on rounds due to social distancing, so we haven’t had the vehicles to do the missed collections.  Missed collections will reduce over time.

The Chairman queried the collection and sorting of lightbulbs and asked if there was a separate method for disposing of light bulbs.  C Thorpe confirmed that fluorescent bulbs are hazardous waste and shouldn’t go in the general waste bin, they should be taken to the household waste site.

E Walker confirmed that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 128.

Report to follow.

J Doe presented the Quarter 1 Performance report for Planning, Development and Regeneration.  There were no questions raised.

The report was noted.

E Walker presented the report to Committee and asked for any questions.

Cllr Silwal queried the food and hygiene inspections from 23 March to 01 September and asked if we received any complaints.  E Walker confirmed that we did deal with complaints during that period and all of those complaints are followed up routinely within our three day response time.

Cllr Stevens asked for the actual numbers for the increase in verminous properties.  E Walker said that we normally get up to five cases per year and in the last six months we have dealt with approximately 10 cases.

The Chairman questioned point 4.7 where it states we have done work for someone else and asked whether we were paid for this.  E Walker advised this was an audit we undertook for the CCG to help them strengthen their health and safety arrangements, for which we were paid.

The report was noted.

M Gaynor presented the Climate Change Emergency update report to Committee and asked if there were any questions.

The Chairman queried the date on 3.2 and asked if it was a typo.  M Gaynor agreed that it was and he would change the date to 2021.

Cllr Timmis commended the fantastic amount of work that has been done in a very short time.  Cllr Timmis really liked how you can get involved. She said that the Parish Council in her ward has set up a little Climate Change Sector and it will be useful to pass on to them and residents how you can get involved in the newsletter. Cllr Timmis asked whether solar panels referred to the Council’s own housing or whether there was support for other tenures.  M Gaynor advised that we already have solar panels on sheltered schemes but it does get a bit more complicated on other housing in that you have to protect against the panels disappearing during right to buy sales. However we will be looking at the whole subject as it’s an integral part of energy provision and CO2 reduction.

Cllr Timmis asked if Dacorum would say to all residents that we would help out regarding the Green Homes Voucher Scheme.  M Gaynor advised it would be their decision as there would be some form of payment.  Our aim is to promote grants through the website making sure people are aware of what’s available. We would like the website to be a trusted means of communication without a vested interest in commerciality.  We had a meeting today with a company who we may use to access Salex funding, which is an interest free loan. 

The Chairman mentioned that he had been contacted recently by a company who have solar panels which feed into a local battery source, which then redistributes the power as and when required.  M Gaynor said this is one the options we can pursue with new developments in the future.  With respect to insulation and the green programmes put forward by Government, it is a fabric first approach.

M Parr added that as a result of the work we are doing with the Saving Energy Trust, we will have all the necessary information relating to each property in the Borough, regardless of tenure, so we will know what improvements are needed.  The modelling will show the carbon emission savings, financial saving and how much it will cost for the necessary improvements.

Cllr Beauchamp mentioned that the local plan will mean that we’ll have a number of tall buildings and asked how we can look at inclusion of solar panels.  J Doe advised that solar panels are not specifically mentioned but there are a number of policies which refer to energy generation and climate change and it would be something we would explore when considering plans in detail.

Cllr Stevens said that this was an impressive piece of work and should go down well with everyone who is concerned about climate  ...  view the full minutes text for item 131.

Report to follow

There were no amendments to the Work Programme and the Chair reminded Members that they can email him any requests for inclusion of topics for discussion in the future.