Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Andrews and Russell.

There were no substitute members.

If you have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest* in an item of business:

§  if it is not yet on the council’s register, you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent;

§  you may choose to declare a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest that is already in the register in the interests of openness and transparency. 

In both the above cases, you must leave the room without participating in discussion of the item.

If you have a personal interest in an item of business and you intend to speak or vote on the item you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent but you may participate in the discussion and vote on the item.

*(a)     Employment, etc - Any employment, office, trade, profession or vocation carried on for profit or gain.

(b) Sponsorship - Any payment or other financial benefit in respect of your expenses in carrying out duties as a member, or of your election; including from a trade union.

(c) Contracts - Any current contract for goods, services or works, between you or your partner (or a body in which one of you has a beneficial interest) and the council.

(d) Land - Any beneficial interest in land which is within the council’s area.

(e) Licences- Any licence to occupy land in the council’s area for a month or longer.

(f) Corporate tenancies - Any tenancy between the council and a body in which you or your partner have a beneficial interest.

 (g) Securities - Any beneficial interest in securities of a body which has a place of business or land in the council’s area, if the total nominal value of the securities exceeds £25,000 or one hundredth of the total issued share capital of that body or of any one class of its issued share capital. 

This applies to all members present at the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on20 September 2016 be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

Public questions would be taken during the relevant agenda item.

There was no chair’s report.

Kevin O’ Leary, Corporate Director, Environment and Regeneration presented the Quarter 1 Performance Report which set out the corporate performance indicator suite for 2016-17, together with a progress update for those indicators related to Environment and Transport over the first quarter of 2016-17.

In the presentation and discussion the following points were made:

·         The percentage of household waste recycled and composted had dropped in 2015/16 along with that of all the North London Waste Authority boroughs. This was mainly due to tighter industry-wide regulatory controls of contamination levels. The rate had now recovered by 2 percentage points and it was hoped this could be maintained.

·         Officers were satisfied with the figures for dealing promptly with planning applications, promoting and increasing the use of libraries and leisure centres and tackling fuel poverty.

·         Ideally the recycling team would collect recycling first and if there was contaminated waste, they should leave this and mark up the bin to advise the residual waste collectors who would follow on behind and collect. Due to the reliability of the ageing fleet, this did not always happen.

·         The number of missed collections was just on target in Quarter 1. However it had worsened in Quarter 2. The Village Principle had taken longer than expected and it was anticipated implementation would take place in February 2017.

·         Missed collections were due to ongoing vehicle availability and reliability issues of an ageing fleet.

·         The growth in dealing with trade waste would deliver a saving but not as fast as anticipated.

·         Under the advertising concession contract, the council had applied for 90 sites and only received permission for 19 sites. This would therefore not result in the anticipated income.

·         Ways to increase income from parks was being looked into. Planning and licensing could present challenges.

·         A new fleet of waste collection vehicles would enable waste collection services to be regularised.

·         Residents were encouraged to recycle. They should be reminded when changes were made to the collection service.

·         Islington’s garden waste collection rate was one of the best in London.

·         The cost of waste disposal would increase in the future so it was important to improve recycling rates.

·         Paladin bins would be replaced with chamberlain bins. Palladin bins were no longer being made and there were difficulties moving some of the bins as they had wheel problems. The Environment and Regeneration directorate was working with Housing officers to roll out the bin changes. The new ones would be located in the same place as the existing ones and the bin stores had been measured to ensure they would fit so there should be no impact on residents. Different vehicles were required to pick up the chamberlain bins.

·         Members raised concern at targets not being met and were concerned that optimistic budget forecasts were being set. Officers stated that savings had been made and there were risks and income pressures in the department which were different to that of other departments. A note would be provided to the committee which would provide more  ...  view the full minutes text for item 75.

Martin Holland, Head of Highways and Energy Services gave a presentation on Flood Preparedness.

In the presentation and discussion the following points were made:

·         In drainage terms, Islington was part of the Thames Basin. The origins of the basin went back to the ice age and the consequences had shaped today’s drainage arrangements. As the ice sheets receded, meltwater flowed away carrying silts and gravels. What was now the Thames had its origins across the Midlands and had continued to move south to its present position. As the meltwater moved south it created terraces of gravels that allowed springs and wells to develop, such as the Sadlers Wells at Spa Green.

·         These springs became the source of streams.

·         Such watercourses provided the main discharge for surface water – eventually flowing into the Thames.

·         As rural Islington developed, the water course was canalised and fed by ditches and dykes.

·         As urban Islington spread, the watercourse had its banks built up until they were piped and now form Thames Water’s main storm drains.

·         As Storm Culverts replaced the rivers they become combined sewers, taking sewage and surface water.

·         All main drainage is the responsibility of Thames Water.

·         Other than domestic estate drainage, Islington was only responsible for surface water from the gullies in its streets down to the sewer.

·         Any surcharging of the combined sewers would result in flooding by contaminated sewage.

·         The Flood and Water Management Act (FWMA) and the Flood Risk Regulations 2009 (FRR) placed a duty upon the London Boroughs to act as the Lead Local Flood Authorities (LLFA). Having carried out initial assessments Islington must now produce a Local Flood Risk Management Strategy (LFRMS).

·         Local Strategies for Flood Risk Management had to be consistent with the Environment Agency’s National Strategy. A local strategy must cover local flood risk, which was likely to include the 1) surface water flooding; 2) groundwater flooding and 3) flooding from smaller rivers.

·         LLFAs were responsible for developing and applying their local strategy and other risk management authorities must act consistently with the local strategy.

·         The other partners in delivering the local strategy would include: 1) the Environment Agency; 2) neighbouring authorities; 3) Thames Water and 4) Transport for London (as a Highways Authority).

·         The Local Strategy must contain: 1) the risk management authorities in the authority’s area; 2) the flood and coastal erosion risk management functions that may be exercised by those authorities in relation to the area; 3) the objectives for managing local flood risk; 4) the measures proposed to achieve those objectives; 5) how and when the measures were expected to be implemented; 6) the costs and benefits of those measures and how they were to be paid for; 7) the assessment of local flood risk for the purpose of the strategy; 8) how and when the strategy was to be reviewed and 9) how the strategy contributed to the achievement of wider environmental objectives.

·         The strategy would be produced in conjunction with inputs from council officers (through workshops at the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 76.

RESOLVED:

That the work programme be updated prior to the next meeting.