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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 1, Town Hall, Upper Street, N1 2UD. View directions

Contact: Ola Adeoye  020 7527 3044

Items
No. Item

183.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Councillors Andrews, Doolan and Gallagher.

184.

Declarations of Substitute Members

Minutes:

There were no declarations of substitute members.

185.

Declarations of Interest

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.

 

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

186.

Minutes of Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 76 KB

Minutes:

 

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 25 January 2018 be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

187.

Public Questions

For members of the public to ask questions relating to any subject on the meeting agenda under Procedure Rule 70.5. Alternatively, the Chair may opt to accept questions from the public during the discussion on each agenda item.

Minutes:

The Chair informed the meeting that public questions will be taken during consideration of each item on the agenda.

188.

Chair's Report

Minutes:

The Chair informed Members that she would circulate her report to Members by email.

189.

Resident Engagement - Household Recycling

Minutes:

The Chair informed the meeting that as part of the review into household recycling , representatives of the Tenant and Residents Associations (TRAs)had been invited to share their experiences and challenges and suggest ways to improve resident participation and importantly increase recycling rate.

In the discussion the following points were made-

·         Members were informed that although Tenant Resident Associations and Tenant Management Organisations play a vital role in engaging residents and raising issues such as residual waste and recycling collection within housing blocks, there was still more work to be done to increase resident participation.

·         In response to questions about the challenges experienced by TRAs, a representative of the St Luke’s Estate TRA informed Members that despite the good efforts of his TRA, a minority of residents still refused to participate in any form of recycling and it was noticeable on the estate there was still some low levels of fly tipping.

·         TRA’s would welcome Council support in areas such as residents being able to access recycling bags and properly labelled bins in suitable locations on the estate to prevent contamination issues.

·         Residents were concerned that the labelling was not clear enough and suggested the provision of larger recycling bins to address overflowing concerns. Other concerns raised included the untidiness of communal bins and the communal areas. A suggestion that replacing car parking bays with lumber storage facilities to prevent fly tipping and dumping was noted.

·         Members were informed that although St Luke’s Resident and Tenant Resident Associations could be described as active in areas of facilitating recycling and levels of participation, only very few residents were directly involved, which was not sustainable in the long run. Members were advised that residents who actively participate in recycling regularly complain about the indifference of residents who, for example, leave items of clothing by the concierge or on the ground floors raising safety concerns.

·         In response to a suggestion on whether converting the use of chutes from residual waste to recycling waste would improve recycling, Members were advised that although it had worked on some estates, concerns about blocked chutes and contamination could not be disregarded.

·         A representative of the Westbourne TRA informed the meeting that the Council needed to address the root causes rather than the symptoms of recycling and advised that the Council’s contractual arrangements may need to be reviewed as one of the reasons for high contamination levels was residents are not interested in separating the various items for recycling.

·         In response to a question on whether the Council would be able to offer assistance to estates that performed well with kitchen waste recycling, the Street Scene Strategy Manager informed the meeting that bags of compost could be provided especially where there were gardening groups.

·         Members were informed that accumulation of rubbish in any housing estate if not addressed could easily descend into the realm of anti-social behaviour and possibly illegal and criminal activity.

·         In response to a suggestion on whether charging residents waste collection like countries as Belgium  ...  view the full minutes text for item 189.

190.

Quarter 3 Performance Report 2017/18- Employment and Skills pdf icon PDF 261 KB

Minutes:

Councillor Shaikh, Executive Member for Economic Development presented the Q3 Performance Report which set out the corporate performance indicators for Employment & Skills.

In the discussion the following points were made:

·         Members were advised that the Council was on course to meet its employment target and that the I Work Team continues to focus on the long term unemployed, those with multiple barriers and young people, whilst the Job Centres focuses on short term unemployed. Also the meeting was informed that Adult Community Services continues to provide a safe place for employment support as it helps build confidence for the long term unemployed and those residents with child care issues. 
 

·         Members were informed that Islington Council continues to benefit from a number of employment initiatives funded by ESF and large charities and that the Council is negotiating with the charities to create a “Team Islington” approach to coordinate the services.

·         Members were informed that during Q3, the number of parents supported into employment was on target, an increase when compared to the same period last year and this was partly due to improved processes for capturing data on outcomes for parents from partners in the borough such as The Parent House, Islington Somali Community and the Pillion Trust.

·         The Executive Member for Economic Development informed Members that data captured shows that residents supported into paid work through iWork still remained in employment and welcomed efforts of both the Council services and partners in reducing the number of claimants on Employment Support Allowance or Incapacity Benefit.

·         In response to concerns about external apprentices placed with large construction firms not being able to complete their programmes, the Business Engagement and Employment Support Manager informed Members that Islington being part of a central London programme apprentices would still be able to complete their programmes. Apprentices and their line managers are regularly monitored and supported.

·         Members were advised that on completion of their programmes apprentices have good job prospects especially with employers such as the Council and partners in both the public and private sector.

·         With regards to the number of apprentices that had dropped out of the programme, the Executive Member for Economic Development advised that the information would be provided for Members.

·         In response to a request for the informal minutes of the steering group for social value, the Officer advised that these would be made available and circulated to Members of the Committee.

·         With regards to library visits, Members were advised that Officers are considering ways of capturing and representing the data

 

RESOLVED:

1)    That the report be noted.

 

191.

Quarter 3 Performance Report 2017/18 - Environment pdf icon PDF 216 KB

Minutes:

Councillor Webbe, Executive Member for Environment & Transport presented the Q3 Performance Report which set out the corporate performance indicators related to Environment and Transport.

In the discussion the following points were made:

·         Members were advised that the recent ‘Contender’ IT software problems had now been resolved, however missed waste collections data for the first three quarters of 2017/18 is now indicating a steadily improved trend.

·         Quarters 1 to 3 annualised estimated energy cost savings remains strong and ahead of target, mainly due to performance on Warm Home Discount and increased EDF contract funding.

·         The Executive Member for Environment and Transport reported that performance on major applications remain strong in Quarter 3 achieving 100%.

·         Members were advised that there had been a fall in the number of reported fly-tips across all land types and waste types from 4,174 in 2015/16 to 3,011 in 2016/17, however due to the recent contender software problems data from Quarter 1 to 3 was not available for consideration. 

·         With regards to the possibility of achieving the 50% target for recycling and composting set by North London Waste Authority (NLWA), Members were advised that Islington's contribution to the overall target was 35.6% for the year and at present the Council’s rate of recycling was between 29-31%.  Members were informed that other outer boroughs such as Barnet which had dwellings with gardens would be expected to help attain the 50% target due to their high levels of food and garden waste collections.

·         Members were advised that in comparison with other neighbouring boroughs of Camden and Hackney, Islington had similar levels of recycling rates, however was well above other inner London boroughs.

·         Members agreed that the Council would need to consider doing things differently in order to raise the recycling rates especially as the rate of recycling over the last few years had remained the same.

·         The meeting was informed that contamination remains a continuous challenge for local authorities and there is a recognition that more needs to be done regarding public awareness. Members were informed that due to shortfall in funds from central government over the years, local authorities have not be able to undertake awareness campaign.

·         Members were informed of NLWA’s awareness campaign programme to address contamination issues especially as a recent public survey indicated that residents were not aware that nappies were not recyclable.

·         With regards to the amount of missed collections, the Director of Public Realm informed the meeting that the figure represents less than 1% of the 500,000 collections over a year and advised that systems were now in place to address this issue.

·         In response to a suggestion that more information about recycling such as disposal costs vis-a -vis cost of not meeting NLWA's target to residents could raise awareness and increase participation, the Executive Member Environment and Transport advised Members that the cost and savings was not east to ascertain as there were a number of factors to consider such as the levy paid to the broker, the quality and prices of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 191.

192.

Work Programme 2017/18 pdf icon PDF 66 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.