Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

Councillor Sandford declared the following personal interests:

• Item 6 – as a member of the Peterborough Environment City Trust (PECT)
• Item 8 – as a Board Member of the Greater Peterborough Partnership (GPP).

The minutes of the meeting held on 17 September 2009 were approved as an accurate record, subject to Councillor North being added to apologies for absence.

There were no requests for call-in to consider.

The Committee considered the responses made by the Executive to our recommendations from the last meeting.

The recommendations related to:

• Review of Subsidised Bus Services
• Review of the Biodiversity Strategy

Observations and questions were raised around the following areas:

• Councillor Sandford reminded the Committee that at the last meeting City Services advised that they did not envisage any changes to their normal working practices following the introduction of the new Biodiversity Strategy, however in some areas of the city shrubs are now being completely removed rather than just pruned.

ACTION AGREED

The Scrutiny Manager to write to City Services to clarify their policy in relation to shrub maintenance.

Councillor Matthew Lee will be in attendance for this item.

We welcomed Councillor Lee, Deputy Leader to the meeting.

The report focussed on the performance of the Environment Capital portfolio which formed part of the Deputy Leader’s responsibilities.  A lot of good work was in progress but it was acknowledged that there was still a long way to go in some areas.  He was hopeful that we would be able to achieve our goal of being the UK’s Environment Capital.

Key performance highlights included:-

·         Significant, dedicated resource being committed to delivering the Environment Capital priority. 

·         The work of the “TravelChoice” initiative had facilitated a significant modal shift towards more sustainable travel modes with a corresponding reduction in car usage.

·         The city continues to perform highly in waste recycling and Peterborough was designated as one of six Zero Waste Places in the UK by DEFRA in 2008. 

·         The city’s strong environment goods and services sector (the “Enviro-Cluster”) currently comprised 380 businesses of varying sizes. 

·         Targeted street cleansing activities, based on feedback from community consultation, were resulting in measurable improvements to cleansing standards. 

·         The majority of the city’s extensive network of wildlife sites were under positive management regimes ensuring both quality and biodiversity in an accessible local environment.

·         The Integrated Growth Study (IGS) published in 2008, provided a detailed benchmark describing the steps required for the city to grow substantially and sustainably alongside a wide range of parameters against which progress can be measured.  Outcomes from the IGS include current detailed studies of the energy and water requirements of Peterborough as it grows including recommendations as to how these requirements will be met sustainably. 

·         A number of high profile community based projects continue to be actively supported, including the Eco-Arts Project, Green Backyard and Green Glinton.

·         The emerging Peterborough University would have a Sustainable Construction faculty as one of its initial academic offers.

·         The Council has recently conducted a thermal imaging exercise of the urban areas of Peterborough to act as a basis for further work on energy efficiency in existing homes.  The “Your Footprint Counts” campaign is raising awareness of individual responsibilities and behaviour change associated with climate change. 

·         Peterborough’s Green Festival 2009 was the biggest and best yet with a range of accessible environmentally friendly events and activities taking place during the fortnight.  This successful event is now in its 10^th year. 

·         The Green Festival 2009 incorporated a stage of the Tour Series Cycle Race on 4 June.  Peterborough was chosen as one of ten city centre venues for this national event and it attracted an estimated 8,000 visitors to the city and was watched by an estimated 3m television viewers on ITV4.  It is intended that the city will host a stage of this series in 2010.

·         The city council has made significant efforts to reduce its own carbon footprint including the replacement of hundreds of individual printers, photocopiers and fax machines with a significantly smaller number of multi-function devices.

·         The Council is also taking part in the shadow Carbon Trading  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The Executive Director of Strategic Resources apologised for Councillor Seaton who had had to leave for another appointment.  If any members had any questions directly for Councillor Seaton, he would respond in writing outside of the meeting.

The Cabinet had considered the Medium Term Financial Plan 2010/11 to 2014/15 at their meeting on 12 October 2009.  As part of the Annual Budget Framework the Cabinet was required to consult with the Committee and other local stakeholders on the medium term financial plan.

The last Comprehensive Spending Review in 2007 provided a three year financial settlement for Councils which provided some certainty for the Revenue Support Grant and Dedicated Schools Grant.  The final year of this settlement was 2010/11.  The next three year settlement was highly likely to be less favourable nationally with the national budget in March effectively outlining a requirement to reduce overall spending in public services in future. This bleak financial picture will face whoever forms the Government after the General Election.

The 2009-10 budget had been set in the context of the continuing effects of the recession and in particular the reduced income streams expected, the impact of the Icelandic bank investments and the potential for increased pressure in demand led budgets. The Council had faced additional budget pressures during the year, including increased demand for children’ social care, the ongoing impacts of the recession and the need to reprofile the Cross Keys Homes VAT shelter income over the next few years, rather than receiving it all in the current financial year. If left unmanaged, these pressures would total £8m.

The Council remained committed to its strategy in delivering service efficiencies and improvements using a proactive approach to managing council finances.  A range of actions and measures had been implemented to manage these additional pressures, including:

• Use of balances to smooth impact;
• Delivery of departmental savings plans;
• Review of departmental reserves; and
• Target of external funding

Several budget scenarios on the impact of future funding levels had been modelled to assist with decision making in setting the budget for 2010/11 and provisional budgets for the following four years. The scenarios assumed the funding of no further cost pressures, and these would need to be absorbed within budget plans.  The following impacts would arise from the scenarios indicated:

The Council would need to tackle these possible deficits, whilst maintaining its commitment to meeting priorities and ensuring community needs were met longer term.  To do so it would be necessary to undertake the following work streams to help deliver this:

• Review of service levels, fees and charges;
• Business Transformation expanded and accelerated;
• Review capital programme to release capacity;
• Asset disposal plans accelerated where practical;
• Review and ongoing challenge of projects;
• Review of the collection fund.

The Medium Term Financial Strategy approved by Council in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Committee received an update on the performance as at September 2009 of the Environment Capital outcomes contained within the Local Area Agreement (LAA).

Peterborough’s LAA contained four priorities: Creating Strong and Supportive Communities; Creating the UK’s Environment Capital; Creating Opportunities, Tackling Inequalities; Substantial and Truly Sustainable Growth.  Each of those priorities had four specific outcomes, beneath which sat a diverse range of actions and interventions to deliver lasting positive change for Peterborough.

The Environment Capital priority was measured by four specific outcomes: Overall Consumption of Natural Resources, Increasing the Use of Sustainable Transport, Growing our Environment Business Sector and Making Peterborough Cleaner and Greener.  A Red/Amber/Green flagging system was used to indicate overall performance against each of the outcomes – red indicated that the outcome was significantly behind target, amber indicated that the outcome was experiencing difficulties, and green indicated that the outcome was on target or had achieved its objectives.

Overall the Environment Capital priority was reported at Amber for this period.  The “Use of Natural Resources” outcome had stayed at Red during the last quarter although there were signs of improvement including a reduction in the overall level of contamination in the recycled waste collected.  The “Cleaner and Greener” outcome had stayed at Amber as fly tipping reports and enforcement activity was still behind target.

Observations and questions were raised around the following areas:

• Were there any examples of really good school travel plans which could be used as best practice with other schools?  Most schools are engaged and tried to use best practice to encourage those schools not yet involved.
• The Voyager School were commended as good practice and they should be used as best practice.  They have done a lot of work on sustainable methods of transport and the students monitor the plan themselves.
• Did we look for best practice in all of the target areas?  We could do more and are always learning.  Systems are not as good as they should be and we do not always shout out about our successes.
• Was there any way there could be some competition between schools, for example best sustainable travel rates?
• How were garden waste bins collected as there was a rumour that items in the brown bins were put in to the black bins as anything that did not compost down within three months was sent to landfill?  Officers would raise this with the Commercial Services Director and seek clarification.

ACTION AGREED

That officers would clarify with the Commercial Services Director what happened to the waste contained within the brown bins.

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.

Observations and questions were raised around the following areas:

• A decision on approving the shortlist of bidders for the Energy from Waste Facility was due to be taken this month.  In light of the decision of the Secretary of State to grant permission for the PREL facility, should the Council look again as to whether it should have its own facility?  It was agreed to discuss this issue at the next Group Representative’s meeting.

ACTION AGREED

To note the latest version of the Forward Plan.

We considered the Work Programme for 2009/10.

ACTION AGREED

To add an item on the Christmas Park and Ride service to the Work Programme for March 2010.

Thursday 14 January 2010

Thursday 14 January 2010 at 7pm.