Agenda and draft minutes

To agree the minutes of the previous meeting on 12^th January.

The minutes of the Strategic Planning and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 12 January 2016 were confirmed by the members present and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillor S Hearn.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest.

There was no public participation.

None.

The Chairman, Councillor Anderson, asked for any questions from members.

Councillor C Wyatt-Lowe referred to Appendix E2 and asked if N Egerton could clarify what ‘Animal and Public Health covered and why is it classed as an expenditure.

N Egerton said it mainly covered the dog warden service which would deal with stray dogs and kennel costs. It also includes things like cess pools and clinical waste.

Councillor C Wyatt-Lowe asked if the department was moving towards an extended collection period.

N Egerton said that the clinical waste collections in some areas have been on a weekly basis but there has been a move towards moving the offensive waste stream into the normal waste collection which has been agreed with Herts County Council and the Environment Agency. Therefore the main bulk of that service would now involve things like sharps collections and they are picked up on a more ad hoc basis and some people bring them into the Civic Centre to dispose of them. The general collection where the yellow bags are collected has changed.

Councillor C Wyatt-Lowe asked what the saving attached to that was.

N Egerton said there would be a saving but could not quantify it at this current time. The department is no longer buying or distributing the yellow sharps bags and there will be a reduction in fuel costs due to the combined collections.

Councillor Ransley asked if there would be larger bins available for those who produce a lot of clinical waste.

N Egerton said they will be working through lower level service usage but having difficulties with a significant numbers of properties with larger waste needs. Ultimately, the disposal costs for offensive waste with yellow bags is higher than black bin collections so there is a saving there.

Councillor C Wyatt-Lowe said it was disappointing that there wasn’t a savings figure and some people disposing of clinical waste will need larger bins. Councillor C Wyatt-Lowe said she was concerned that the savings are not quantified and residents are also concerned about the rescheduled collections.

C Thorpe said that the collections were running in phases for diverting clinical waste collections through the normal waste stream. 80% of customers have been diverted through the general waste stream with no problems. A letter has been sent to residents explaining that if they need a larger bin, these can be provided. 25-30 larger 360L bins have been given out and at the moment, these will stay on dedicated waste stream. The main savings are for Herts County Council, the cost of incinerating the waste in yellow bags is £400 a tonne compared to the cost of incineration of black bags through the general waste stream is £94 a tonne.

Councillor C Wyatt-Lowe said that some countries have machines that can recycle clinical waste, is there anywhere in the UK that can do this? This may be a way of generating an income stream.

Councillor Marshall apologised for the lack of quantified savings figures. Unfortunately, the savings  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.

C Souto asked to change the title of the ‘Provisional Outturn Q3’ report to ‘Budget Monitoring’.

Councillor Anderson said that the agenda for the March meeting had nine items and this was too large. He suggested to members an addition of another meeting on Tuesday 12^th April to ensure all reports are covered before the end of the year. This additional meeting must be agreed at Full Council.