Agenda and minutes
Venue: Committee Room 4, Town Hall, Upper Street, N1 2UD. View directions
Contact: Ola Adeoye 020 7527 3044
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Apologies for Absence Minutes: Apologies were received from Councillors Doolan and Gallagher. |
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Declarations of Substitute Members Minutes: There were no declarations of substitute members. |
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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. |
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Minutes of Previous Meeting PDF 163 KB Minutes:
RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 17 October 2017 be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings and the Chair be authorised to sign them. |
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Order of Business Minutes: The order of business would be as per the agenda. |
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Public Questions Minutes: There were no public questions |
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Chair's Report Minutes: The Chair circulated a document that updated Members on activities that had taken place since the last meeting or planned events. (attached to the minutes) |
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PEABODY - RECYCLING IN ISLINGTON PDF 65 KB Minutes: Sunny Vadher, Caretaking Service Manager and Steve Mercer, Caretaking Team Manager of Peabody gave a presentation on recycling issues and challenges regarding their properties across Islington and neighbouring boroughs.
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Peabody was established in 1862, managing over
27,000 properties in London incorporating Peabody, Thamesmead, CBHA
and Crown Estates, however with the recent merger with Family
Mosaic, the portfolio size has increased to over 55,000 properties.
Members were advised that within Islington, Peabody manages 1689
properties in 6 Housing Estates.
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The Caretaking Service Manager highlighted
Peabody’s corporate approach to recycling in various London
borough estates. It is presently involved in the Loop re-use
project on the Pembury Estate in Hackney where bulky items such as
furniture are offered at discounted prices to new tenants. Members
were advised that Peabody currently works in conjunction with local
authorities on different aspects of recycling, Hackney (food waste)
and Tower Hamlets(mattress)and over the years provided advice to
Hammersmith & Fulham and Kensington and Chelsea with regards to
bin designs.
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In response to issues around participation levels,
the Caretaking Services Manager was advised the meeting that a
number of innovative things had been introduced to suit different
estates such as introducing different sizes of food bins and bags.
Members were invited to visit the Priory Green Estate to witness
recycling activities on one of Peabody Estates which experiences a
high level of participation.
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In response to questions about Hackney’s food collection
services, the Caretaking Service Manager advised
members that although it’s success could be attributed to
factors such as ongoing communication with both residents and
education programmes in schools, highlighting both the
environmental and costs implications to both Council and residents
and the introduction of incentives, the resolve and determination
of Hackney Council to persist has been the key.
·
With regards to the issues affecting residents
living in the old housing estates managed by Peabody which have no
lifts or waste chutes, the Caretaking Manager advised that
residents are provided with different sizes of bins and are
encouraged to dispose their wastes in communal bins. Residents
receive regular communication/updates to ensure that the recycling
agenda remains a high priority.
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Members were advised that caretakers on estates play
a vital role in relation to recycling issues in that they work
closely with local authorities in reporting missed collections,
help remove and report contamination in their estates, advise
residents in identifying recyclable materials, provide feedback
when consultation is being carried out by developers on new builds
and work with asset management team on communal
improvements. · On suggestions about how to increase recycling rates in Islington, Members were advised that the Caretaking Manager considered Council resources could be utilised more efficiently. The Council staff should be encouraged to undertake activities such as more door knocking and distribution of leaflets. However, to be really effective such initiatives must be sustained rather than one off or short term.
· Incentives such as providing vouchers for residents ... view the full minutes text for item 167. |
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COMMUNAL & ESTATES RECYCLING SERVICES PDF 315 KB Minutes: Bill Sinfield, Operations
Manager, Street Environment Services gave a presentation on the
operations and challenges with regards to recycling services in
Islington borough. A copy of the presentation is interleaved with
the agenda.
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In response to a question on whether the weight of
the waste collected per household could be measured, the operations
manager advised that although technology existed for other aspects
of the crews operation, the Service presently only collects data
relating to the total tonnage in the refuse collection vehicles
after each completed round of collections has been emptied, when a
crew returns back to the depot in Hornsey Street.
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Members were informed that the Council’s
recently acquired fleet of Refuse Collection Vehicles(RCV’s)
is more efficient and reliable. · With regards to the new fleet of RCV’s, the operational manager advised that these vehicles collect waste from street level properties, not estate recycling bulk bins, however the vehicles currently used by the estate recycling service are scheduled to be replaced next year as part of the vehicle procurement exercise. The new vehicles would be fitted with bin weighing technology that would make it possible to ascertain the exact tonnage that each estate is actually recycling and this data could then be used in identifying areas with low participation rates. At present crews report back on such areas as well as high contamination areas.
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With regard to participation and contamination on
estates, Members were advised that despite continuous messages and
leaflet distribution to residents, participation rates remain low
and contamination continues to be a problem. Suggestions such as
offering incentives, appointing recycling champions and inviting
residents to be stake holders at resident meetings could raise
awareness and raise participation.
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In response to questions about missed collections on
the estates, the operational manager advised that this could be due
to access issues for the vehicles or contamination which cannot be
collected as recycling, However this is reported immediately and
followed up by the refuse crew. · With regards to crews’ preference for bags as compared to plastic boxes/bins, the meeting was advised that each crew lifted up an average of 230 recycling boxes daily. There were advantages to bags, such as they are easier to lift, do not need to be returned to the property making the operation faster, they keep recycling contained and so leave less mess on the streets. Boxes are too small for some households leading to littering. There is an issue with the capacity of the bags to hold heavy recycling loads like large amounts of paper and bottles and they can be blown about in high winds. Members were reminded that plastic sacks relate only to street based collections, and recycling bulk bins are made available to estate recycling collections.
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HOUSEHOLD RECYCLING - PRESENTATION BY HOUSING SERVICES PDF 185 KB Minutes: Members were informed that although the Housing
Manager was not available to respond to questions or comments
arising from his presentation, questions could be directed to the
Executive Member for Housing and Development. A copy of the presentation is
interleaved with the agenda.
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In response to a question on the relationship
between Street Environment Services and Housing, the meeting was
advised that a Service Level Agreement exists to ensure a scheduled
collection service operates around the estates in the
borough.
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Members were advised that responsibility in
maintaining refuse storage units especially in communal area lies
with caretakers. More work is required
around issues of communication.
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Members suggested that with regards to promoting
recycling on estates, Islington’s 200 caretakers working
within Housing could be more effectively utilised to raise its
awareness and promotion on Estates.
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In response to questions about joined up working and
the relationship between the two service areas, the Head of Street
Environment Services informed Members that since the Council
adopted the village principle, Street Services and Housing are
regularly meeting to improve areas around neighbourhood. Also
meetings are regularly being held by management of both Service
area’s to address issues. RESOLVED:
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Q2 PERFORMANCE INDICATOR REPORT - ENVIRONMENT PDF 218 KB Minutes: Councillor Webbe, Executive Member, Environment
presented the Q2 Performance Report which set out the corporate
performance indicators related to Environment and Transport.
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The Executive Member for Environment & Transport informed
Members that although data regarding fly tipping was not available
for the meeting, Members were reassured that the Council continues
to work with various agencies in addressing fly tipping wherever it
occurs irrespective of whether it is on council or private owned
land and the issue is treated seriously.
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Members were informed that in light of new powers given to the
Enforcement Team, the Council had been able to successfully
prosecute serious cases of fly tipping.
In particular the Council has been able to use evidence obtained
from CCTV installed at trouble spot areas.
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The Executive Member for Environment & Transport informed the
meeting that in as much as the Council continues to encourage
recycling rates, it supports the waste hierarchy with regards to
waste collection, namely prevention, recycling, reuse and then
recycling. Hence it is encouraging
residents to change their behaviour, reducing waste
generated. An example is encouraging
the re-use of bulk items such as refrigerators and
furniture.
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On the lack of data for missed waste collections, the meeting was
informed that it would be available in due course as is was
presently being analysed. · In response to a question on whether the Council’s plan for all its public buildings including the town hall to meet its energy reduction target has been achieved, the meeting was advised that this would be reported in the Annual Report later in the year.
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WORK PROGRAMME 2017/2018 PDF 67 KB Minutes: RESOLVED:
1.
That the Neighbourhood Services Manager be invited to the next
meeting. 2. That the work programme be updated prior to the next meeting.
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