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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 4, Town Hall, Upper Street, N1 2UD. View directions

Contact: Ola Adeoye  020 7527 3044

Items
No. Item

248.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Councillor Clarke-Perry.

249.

Declarations of Substitute Members

Minutes:

There were no declarations of substitute members.

250.

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.

251.

Minutes of Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 102 KB

Minutes:

With regard to an update on the Biodiversity Action Plan, the Parks and Open Spaces Manager informed Members that document is still being drafted and will be sent to the Executive Member for Environment and Transport for consideration in due course.

The Chair informed Members that updates regarding the ethnicity of children participating in the summer reading challenge; the breakdown of sickness data of Islington’s working age group and the number of apprentices supported into fulltime employment would be provided by the next meeting.

Members were informed that officers’ responses to Members’ questions, which have already been received and sent round, were being collated by the committee clerk.


RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 4 December 2018 be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

 

252.

Chair's Report

Minutes:

The Chair indicated that she would be circulating her report by email to members and reminded members of a forthcoming visit to the Reuse and Recycling site at Cottage Road on Friday 8 March 2019.  

 

253.

Order of Business

Minutes:

The order of business would be as per the agenda.

254.

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:

There was none.

255.

Scrutiny Review - Parks Event Application Process pdf icon PDF 667 KB

Minutes:

A representative of the Friends of Park Forum, Jenni Chan, who is the secretary, and Barry Edwards, the Chair of the Friends of Paradise Park, spoke about the involvement of volunteers and about the activities held in parks and open spaces in Islington including the various challenges experienced. They made the following points -

·         In 2010, with the assistance of the Greenspace Team, the Friends of the Park Forum (an umbrella organisation) was set up for Friends groups across the borough. It met twice a month to exchange ideas, information and expertise.

·         Friends of Paradise Park came into existence to address antisocial behaviour within the park and, following discussions with the Greenspace team and residents, a decision was taken to take control over the management of the park.

·         Since its inception, Friends of Paradise Park (FPP) has facilitated community events which has attracted new families with children into the park with the result that anti-social activities has been diverted away.

·         FPP promotes and facilitates events with the aim of encouraging local residents to use the parks especially in the summer weekends. FPP has a Service Level Agreement with the Council.  It relies on volunteers, some with gardening experience, to carry out routine maintenance tasks such as weeding, planting small plants, litter picking and tidying up.

·         The meeting was advised that FPP organises weekly activities and holds a monthly meeting in the community centre to discuss a range of issues and programmes, often with Greenspace officers in attendance. Members were informed that while some friends groups are an off shoot of their Tenant Resident Associations, Friends of Paradise Park consists of a small group of local residents.

·         In response to questions about information sharing among Forum members, Barry Edwards advised that issues about gardening and planting are discussed. Friends’ groups promote their events, share ideas and experiences, and if required the forum could be used as place to undertake consultation by the Greenspace team.

·         With regards to provision of compost to groups, there had previously been the option of a large delivery from NLWA which was very welcome.  However due to policy changes from NLWA, this may no longer be an option. Also storage can be a nuisance to adjacent residential properties.

 

·         In terms of resident engagement, promotion and publicity of events, the meeting was informed that events are crucial to encourage residents to go into the parks.  Groups advertise their events differently.  The simplest method is posters on park railings.  With larger community events held in the summer, publicity is often done via leafletting by volunteers, the use of social media and the administrative support from Park Services.

·         On the issue raised at a recent Friends Forum meeting of some friends group not being aware of initiatives such as the Mayor of London’s tree planting or free bulbs, the Chair noted that information sharing was an issue in this area.  It would be helpful if this could be improved as currently groups are missing out.

 

·         Barry Edwards acknowledged that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 255.

256.

Quarter 2 Performance Report - Environment and Transport pdf icon PDF 94 KB

Minutes:

Councillor Webbe, Executive Member for Environment & Transport presented the Q2 Performance Report which set out the corporate performance indicators related to Environment and Transport.

·         The meeting was informed that most of the measures were positive in terms of targets being met with the exception of household recycling rates and the fall in the number of leisure visits. With regards to the quarterly recycling rate slippage to 28.6% from the 29.5% reported in 2017/18, the Executive Member for Environment and Transport reiterated that industry tolerances had become tighter hence the increase in tonnage rejected as contaminated.

 

·         In response to concerns about the annual slippage on the recycling rates, the Executive Member informed the meeting that the Service will be producing a new Waste Minimisation and Recycling Plan and is working with both the London Waste Reduction Board and the NLWA.

 

·         On the issue of consultation on the Waste Action Plan, the Executive Member said that although the guidance does not stipulate community engagement, it is good practice for councillors to be given the opportunity to contribute before it is finally approved in the autumn months.

·         Members were reminded that although annually the Council’s Waste Action and Recycling plan is reported to Executive, this plan will be incorporated into the new Rescue Plan which the Mayor of London has requested, especially as it has a new set of criteria. The Executive Member agreed that committee will be kept informed and requested that the Waste Action plan be circulated to members.

 

·         In response to a question on how the Council measures the success of the Council’s fuel poverty initiative, SHINE, the Executive Member for Environment and Transport reiterated that the scheme is about interventions which has resulted in positive outcomes for residents. A suggestion that the SHINE team be invited to committee to give a presentation was noted.
 

·         With regards to raising the profile and promoting the success of Islington Bloom and its award ceremonies, and especially in recognition of the magnificent work of volunteers, the Park and Open Spaces Manager informed Members that the competition and the awards are publicised via social media, Islington Life magazine and Homes and Communities. There are plans for a strategy to be produced to increase coverage which will be shared with members in due course.
 

·         On the timeline with regards to the Council’s Transport strategy and public consultation, the meeting was advised that councillors and the public will have the opportunity to contribute to the strategy after March with the intention to have it signed off in September. In response to inaccurate information on the Council website relating to the Strategy, the meeting was advised that this would be looked into and corrected.

 

·         In response to a question on reasons for the fall in fly-tipping figures compared to the previous year, the Park and Open Spaces Manager reminded members that there was an issue with the waste data however the fault with the IT software has now been resolved.

·         With regard to the question of whether  ...  view the full minutes text for item 256.

257.

Work Programme 2018/19 pdf icon PDF 36 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED:

That the work programme be noted.