Agenda and minutes

To agree the minutes of the previous meeting.

The minutes of the last meeting were agreed

To receive any apologies for absence.

There were no apologies.

To receive any declarations of interest.

None.

There was no public participation.

None.

The Chairman advised that he would be rescheduling item 11 to the July meeting. Item 10 would be presented after Item 8 as they were from the same team and this would allow the officers attending only for these Reports to leave the meeting after their items.  The minutes have been presented in numerical order.

F Jump presented the report. FJ explained that this is provisional as there are some items to be finalised as we move towards the external audit. FJ added that in terms of what is presented before the committee on the revenue side overall there is a balanced position and in terms of the position for Strategic Planning and Environment, there was an overspend of 872k at the end of the financial year.

Questions were invited.

Cllr Silwal asked a question regarding the replacement of the waste fleet, has the rolling programme completed and are the vehicles now being utilised?

Cllr Birnie suggested that a written reply to this question would be acceptable and FJ said that she would send an email out to Cllr Silwal, who was happy with this outcome.** Action point FJ

Cllr Birnie asked a question regarding page 4 item 3.4 about a retention of £491,000 not finalised and he asked if it was finalised now?

FJ confirmed that the surplus had been achieved and that an additional surplus is anticipated, she said that the Government does not need to confirm it.`

The report was noted.

CT Presented this report and confirmed that he would send out details of vehicles purchased etc.**  Action Point CT

CT said that in terms of reacting to Covid 19, in March over 80 staff were asked to complete a survey regarding this and as a result 25 were sent home. He confirmed that some members of staff had contracted Covid.  New staff were recruited and measures put in place to keep staff safe.

Parking Wardens were utilised to deliver letters explaining that there was difficulty gaining access to some bins. He said that the general public had been generous with praise and support. Supported waste collections were prioritised. Shifts were staggered with starts at 6:30 am and 7 am to help with social distancing and staff parking was reconfigured. An additional 8 vehicles from other services have been brought into use.

In CSG the same survey process was used and 20 members of staff were found to be vulnerable. 

Trees and Woodlands have been largely unaffected, although there has been an increase in the number of overgrown trees reported.

Fleet Services have 50% of staff identified as vulnerable and therefore unable to come into work. This has made the maintenance of vehicles challenging but it has continued.

The Environmental Health Awareness Team have been assisting on the admin side. Duties have included hiring in temporary members of staff, making sure that access to roads for the vehicles is clear and disposing of PPE.

Cllr Birnie congratulated the department on its performance and in putting levels of protection in place.

Cllr Timmis commented on the maintenance of hedges and verges saying that in rural areas they are appreciative that more wild flowers have been left uncut and she asked if there was any chance of the council planting wild flowers. Cllr Timmis also wanted to know with whom the responsibility for hedges lay.

CT replied that we are responsible for cutting some hedges and said that he would send a list of areas to the committee. He added that wild flower planting is already in use on the roundabouts and confirmed that they would be looking to extend this to other areas as part of climate change policy and increased bio-diversity.

Cllr Beauchamp asked when public toilets would be open.

CT said that he would speak to Assets and pass the answer on. ** Action Point CT

Cllr Beauchamp observed that he has seen the really good one way system that has been introduced in Marlowes and in the Town which seems to be working effectively and he asked if this could mean it would be a good time to open the walled garden.

CT replied that HCC had set up the systems in the town and they did seem to work well, and open spaces were being re-opened.  He pointed out that the walled garden only has one exit/entrance, but this could be looked into and he would let Cllr Beauchamp know. ** Action Point CT  ...  view the full minutes text for item 97.

EW presented the report and highlighted that all indicators were green. She added that Paul Coates, an Environment Enforcement Officer has won an Excellence in Enforcement Award and the team are very proud he has been recognised for this work.

Cllr Timmis congratulated the team on having so many greens indicators. Cllr Timmis noted that Fly Tips  in the results up to March  were 699 and 637 were reported and visited within 3 days. She asked if that was an increase and if so how much is this costing the council in clearing up. 

EW said that Ben Stevens has more details which will be provided later. The figures show a slight decrease and the number visited has increased. EW told Cllr Timmis she will find out the cost and pass the information on to her. **Action Point EW

Cllr Birnie asked if the fly tip officers inspect bin stores in flats, and EW replied that would normally be dealt with by housing.

Cllr Riddick added his congratulations to Paul Coates.

Cllr Hobson asked that, with regard to Covid 19, groups have been seen close together so how many enforcements have the team had to do and how many PSPO’s have been served for anti-social behaviour and littering. 

EW explained that her team were responsible for business premises enforcement and helping these to be Covid secure. Individuals in parks etc falls to police working with anti -social housing officers.  She added that she did not have litter figures with her but would get them for her. ** Action Point EW

JB asked whether on Page 23 – 40 enforcements include those identified in item 3 or whether are they are just examples.

EW replied that 40 include letters, interviews fixed penalties etc., so they are where we have taken action.  Items under point 3 are enforcement, so they are separate teams.

 Report noted.

Sara Whelan presented the report.

SW explained that in terms of planning income we have underachieved by £100K but received two major applications in April, which will help. Land Charges are down by 38K and there has been a dramatic reduction in work due to the housing market being closed as a result of lockdown. BuildingControl was transferred to Hertfordshire Building Control in mid-December so the accounts are now effectively closed and balanced and Hertfordshire Building Control will be reported on separately in future. 

Development Management Performance indicators were predominantly red. This is mostly due to the backlog that was created when the system moved from the Accolade software to Uniform.

A lot of the backlog has been worked through now.

Cllr Timmis asked about Building Control transferred and no data coming through – is it working?

Cllr Birnie said that it had been agreed that there would be periodic reports on that after transfer. 

SW said that the consortium is up and running and will be the subject of a separate report.

Cllr Birnie gave his congratulations on appeals success but said he was bothered by the number of red KPI’s.  He asked why when applications are down is determination within 13 days only 45 percent achieved instead of the target, which is 60 percent.

SW said that it was major applications that he was referring to and most of these are usually extended through an agreement with the applicant. Figures are down as those extensions of time are not yet in place.

Cllr Birnie said that on enforcement there is a reference to categories 2 and 3 for enforcement visits but no percentages are given. He requested an email with those percentages.

SW agreed.**Action Point SW

Cllr Birnie said that in all of these target failures one of the mitigations put foward is the IT system. He asked how long this is to go on and would training of officers help 

SW said that they have worked through this and the backlog is now worked through, so we should not see this again. Trapeze uses lots of power on our server.

The report was noted with the caveat that the committee is disappointed with the number of red KPI’s.

Ben Stevens presented the report.  BS explained that there have been changes to the team structure - it was 3 officers and was part of a larger team including anti social behaviour officers. The restructure moved the team under Dawn Rhoden, and it now consists of 2 permanent environment enforcement officers, one temporary and one lead.

Cllr Birnie congratulated the department for exceeding the Herts average in fines and costs recovered.

Cllr Riddick observed that out of all the abandoned vehicles only 46 were removed and destroyed and asked if we do we try and trace registered owners so we can bill for removal? He also asked whether the money issued for fines comes back to us or goes elsewhere.

BS explained that we can issue fixed penalty notices or prosecute, but it is very difficult to trace the owner and hard to prove if they deny it as the DVL database is outdated. He added that Enforcement fines awarded to the council go into a general government pot for reducing crime but costs come back to the council.

Cllr Timmis said she had heard that there is a fund set up to help support farmers on fly tipping on their land and that she thought that was an excellent move as it is unfair that they have to pay for that.  Cllr Timmis asked if there were any anti fly tipping signs available and said that she had bought some and local parish council had put them up in lanes. Cllr Timmis added that she felt the use of cameras would be advantageous in some of the busier lanes.

Cllr Rogers – congratulated BS and his department on making Dacorum a much better place to live. 

Cllr Hobson said that her question was probably better answered in writing as she wanted to know if we could have an idea how much it is costing the Council to issue under 30 notices and how many fines are actually recovered, in addition to the cost to chase these matters up in court.

BS confirmed he would answer in writing, copying the committee. ** Action Point BS

Cllr Beauchamp said that the number Section 7 Public Space Protection orders enforcements are very low and he wanted to know what they were actually given for, as he is particularly concerned about the danger from cyclists to the public in pedestrianised areas.Cllr Beauchamp felt that the cost of enforcement was money well spent if it helps to  protect the public

BS said he would answer in email. **Action Point BS

Cllr Birnie asked BS to explain the burning nuisance that they deal with.

BS said that his team dealt with commercial waste being burnt in public places.

The report was noted

Mark Gaynor presented the report.

MG told the committee that an appointment had been made for the post of Emergency and Sustainability Officer and the person appointed was Melanie Carr who is known to some as she works in Environmental Services at present.

MG explained that the report, which went to Cabinet in May, is referred to this Committee to review and comment on the developing strategy and action plan.  He said that the plan is and will be evidence based and it’s got a credible baseline on emissions with the ability to monitor progress in reductions of CO2 over time. MG added that the officers had worked with the Association for Public Section Excellence, who have a specialist arm for energy and the climate.

MG said that the Strategy isn’t fixed but will be refined and adapted over time. Working with APSE, training and workshops for members and staff will be provided in the near future. He said that there has been a Corporate Officer Group in place for some time working on the subject.  The work that has been done shows that the Council can get to 0 carbon by 2030 for Scopes 1 and 2. These are the Scopes  that result directly from the Council’s actions and service delivery and the reality is council housing forms the vast majority of the Council’s overall emissions; namely, over 87 percent.  We don’t control how tenants use energy. For this reason the Report notes that achieving the goal will take longer than the 2030 deadline.  The reasons for this are contained in the report and the Strategy and Action plan also concerns itself with sustainability and bio-diversity as linked issues. The report refers to actions already delivered over a number of years. MG added that one thing we have not done so much work on but that will be a priority is how we engage with the community and interest groups and it is important that we have a clear communication strategy and this will be part of actions going forward. The Action Plan is in draft. It is not fixed in stone.

Cllr Ransley said that she was really pleased to see a report.  She said that some communities have already made a good start on communication with residents, so it would be good if some of the things already done were picked up on and that a Town and Parish conference for clerks and members would be very useful.

MG replied that there is a lot of further work to be done on communication with residents and communities.  Covid has slowed it down, it is key and we want to work with groups to assist where we can. A separate Town and Parish Conference would probably be warranted, rather than the annual conference.  We need to talk to a range of people to get different views.

Cllr Timmis said that she was pleased that climate change was being given this priority but did not see anything about electric  ...  view the full minutes text for item 102.