Agenda and minutes

No apologies for absence were received. 

At this point Members must declare whether they have an interest, whether personal or prejudicial, in any of the items on the agenda. Members must also declare if they are subject to their party group whip in relation to any items under consideration.

Declarations of interest were received from Councillor JR Fox and Councillor Sandford in relation to item 6 on the agenda - Environment Capital: Progress Update.  Councillor Fox declared that he was employed by the Peterborough Council of Voluntary Services as a co-ordinator of Shop Mobility.  Councillor Sandford declared that he was a Director on the Board of the Peterborough Environment City Trust and worked for the Woodland Trust as an employee.  He also declared that he had Solar Panels fitted on his own property and received a Feed-In Tariff.

The minutes of the meeting held on 9 June 2011 were approved as a correct record.

The decision notice for each decision will bear the date on which it is published and will specify that the decision may then be implemented on the expiry of 3 working days after the publication of the decision (not including the date of publication), unless a request for call-in of the decision is received from any two members of a Scrutiny Committee or Scrutiny Commissions. If a request for call-in of a decision is received, implementation of the decision remains suspended for consideration by the relevant Scrutiny Committee or Commission.

There were no requests for call-in to consider.

The report informed the Committee of the proposal to disband the Members Waste and Recycling Task and Finish Group which had been formed in January 2003 under the former Leader of the Council and was then repositioned as a sub working group of the Environment Capital Scrutiny Committee in April 2009.   After considering the proposal the Committee sought assurance from Officers that if the Task and Finish Group were to be disbanded that all important items relating to Waste 2020 would be brought before this Committee.  Officers gave assurance that this would happen. 

           RECOMMENDATION

The Committee recommends that the Members Waste and Recycling Task and Finish Group be disbanded immediately and that all future monitoring of Waste 2020 be dealt with directly through the Environment Capital Scrutiny Committee reporting process. 

The report provided information on progress in delivering the “Home of Environment Capital” initiative.  The Director of Environment Capital confirmed that the “Home of Environment Capital” Major Policy had been approved by Council in 2010 and was now being used across the authority.  Members were informed that a report would be brought to the next meeting of the Committee on the performance of the City in comparison to other cities. The assessment for this had been based on the Forum for the Future Sustainable Cities Index.  A full report on the progress of the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) would be presented to the Committee in March 2012. 

Questions and observations were raised around the following areas:

·         Members were concerned that the increase in rejection of wind farms would affect the renewable energy policy.  The objections were usually about visual quality and these would have to be taken into account but if the right sites were chosen then it would not have a major effect.

·         Is it possible to put Photo-voltaic panels on the Lido building?  In the process of setting up an Energy Services Company and as part of that process a full buildings assessment would be carried out.  The Lido had not been identified but it would be added to the list.

·         Waste to energy plant.  Would it be possible to have a pipe to carry steam to the Regional Pool and Lido for heating?   The facility would be combined heat and power enabled and a requirement would be to extract heat.  This would mean that heat could be moved to adjacent industrial or commercial buildings like the Regional Pool.  However it would take additional investment to lay the pipes and would therefore take a while to implement.

·         In the report it was mentioned that PCC had completed and submitted a bid totalling £4,999,990 to the Department for Transport which included sustainable transport improvements and aimed at increasingly integrating sustainable travel into mainstream travel planning.  It covered four key packages:

1.      Working with individuals, communities and neighbourhoods

2.      Workplace travel planning

3.      Healthier travel

4.      Young peoples travel

             How do you propose to publicise these initiatives.  The Sustainable Environment    Manager

informed the Committee that the bid had been successful for the full amount of £4,999,990.   The bid detailed the initiatives under each package and included projects with local businesses, schools, Primary Care Trust and large infrastructure projects such as looking at the cycle infrastructure around the station.  A full copy of the bid could be provided to Members.

Members congratulated officers on their hard work in successfully receiving the full amount of the bid.

·         The Cabinet Member for Environment informed Members that Peterborough City Council had just launched a cycle to work scheme where employees were offered the chance to buy a bike through work and claim the tax back.

·         Could some of the bid money be used for Bluetooth communications for people who are partially sighted?  The bid does include looking at technology solutions and the Sustainable Environment  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The report presented the Committee with an overview of the issues, opportunities, priorities and challenges in connection with the Environment Capital theme.  The Committee were asked to identify areas of work to be included in their work programme for the coming year.  The report listed the Environment Capital Key Deliverables which were Environmental Businesses, Sustainable Transport, Conserving Natural Resources and Cleaner and Greener.

Members discussed the report and agreed that they should look at the area of conserving natural resources as the main theme of work over the coming year.

ACTION AGREED

That the Committee looks at the theme of conserving natural resources for the work programme for 2011/2012.  This to include:

·         Consideration of a policy on renewable energy

·         Street Lighting Capital Project

·         Green Deal Initiative

The latest version of the Forward Plan, showing details of the key decisions that the Leader of the Council believed the Cabinet or individual Cabinet Members would be making over the next four months, was received.

ACTION AGREED

The Committee noted the Forward Plan and agreed that there were no items for further consideration.

Members considered the Committee’s Work Programme for 2010/11 and discussed possible items for inclusion.

ACTION AGREED

To confirm the work programme for 2010/11 and the Scrutiny Officer to include any additional items as requested during the meeting.

Thursday, 8 September 2011

8 September 2011