Agenda and minutes
Venue: Committee Room 4, Town Hall, Upper Street, N1 2UD. View directions
Contact: Ola Adeoye 020 7527 3044
No. | Item |
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Apologies for Absence Minutes: Apologies were received from Councillor Doolan. |
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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 157 KB Minutes: Councillor Webbe informed the meeting that the minutes incorrectly described her portfolio as Economic Development rather than Executive Member for Environment.
Also Councillor Webbe advised the meeting that she presented the Q1 Performance Report and not the Corporate Director, Environment and Regeneration as noted in the Minutes.
RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 11 September 2017 be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings subject to the changes noted above and the Chair be authorised to sign them. |
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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 were no public questions. |
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Chair's Report Minutes: Councillor Champion advised that as it was late she would email her report to Members of the Committee. |
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ANNUAL REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE MEMBER FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PDF 279 KB Minutes: Councillor Shaikh gave a presentation on the
work of the Economic Development Directorate. A copy of the
presentation is interleaved with the agenda.
·
Councillor Shaikh informed Members that the Council recognises the
need for Islington residents to share in economic growth. It is
offering coaching and mentoring service to the long term employed
residents who have multiple and complex needs or are in receipt of
in work benefits. Councillor Shaikh informed Members that during
the period April 2016 to March 2017 1,142 residents had been
supported into work and that residents are now being directly
referred to the most suitable service provider in order to avoid
duplication.
·
The meeting was advised that the Council will continue to work to
improve the learning and skills of Islington residents so that they
are able to take full advantage of available employment
opportunities. The Council’s Adult & Community Learning
service engages in particular with those furthest from the labour
market. The focus has been on building up skills for employment to
get people into work and the Council has received £1.1
million external funding from Education & Skills funding Agency
to support this objective.
·
The Council. through its local plan. promotes economic growth by
protecting existing commercial uses across the borough,
particularly in the Central Activities Zone (CAZ) and promoting new
commercial uses by ensuring that it secures a proportion of new
space in certain areas as affordable workspace.
·
In response to a question on the possibility of the Council
protecting small micro shops behind a parade of shops, the Service
Director Planning & Development informed Members that despite
the efforts of the Council in the last few years, using tools such
as Article 4 directions to protect valuable space, the Council has
limits because of the government’s policy of permitted
development rights.
·
Members were advised that with over 90% of local firms being SMEs,
the Council, through its planning policies, has tried to secure
affordable workspace for micro and small businesses. Members were
informed that the Council had lobbied the DCLG regarding concerns
about the business rates system but to no avail, however the
Council would be carrying out a media campaign to increase
awareness about the unfairness of this issue. In addition Members
were informed that a petition regarding this issue has generated
over 15,000 signatures.
·
The Council continues to make a positive difference to the local
economy through its role as an economic agent in a number of ways.
Presently Islington is the highest direct recruiter of apprentices
to its own workforce among London Councils. In awarding substantial
contracts, the issue of recruiting is taken into
consideration. · A suggestion that the issue of corporate responsibility arising from the work undertaken by Islington Employment Commission be given more prominence in the six objectives stated in the draft Economic Development Strategy was noted. Councillor Shaikh advised that Islington iWork has built relationships with employers across a range of sectors based on a programme of support to encourage ... view the full minutes text for item 155. |
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Q1 PERFORMANCE REPORT - EMPLOYMENT & SKILLS PDF 184 KB Minutes: Councillor Shaikh, Executive Member, Economic
Development presented the Q1 Performance Report which set out the
corporate performance indicator suite for 2016-17, together with a
progress update for those indicators related to Employment and
Skills
·
Councillor Shaikh advised the meeting that although employment
figures were relatively similar to the same period last year,
target for first Quarter in 2018 would not be met due to the way
data is being captured. Members were advised that iWork, the
Council’s borough wide employment service only accounts for
one third of the data whilst the remaining two thirds was collated
by the monitoring of commissioned services, returns relating to
school leavers and reporting from council contractors and
suppliers.
·
The meeting was informed that work was currently underway to
improve data capture regarding parental status as previous
reporting did not include the raised participationage and the
support offered to families with children aged 16-18. The Director,
Employment, Skills and Culture advised that further initiatives
were being planned by Childrens’
Services to target parents of older children.
·
In response to a question on why the Council was not meeting its
target of ten apprentices, Members were advised the Service is
trying to align recruitment with the school year so as to meet our
target in the next quarter. Members
were informed that in comparison to our neighbouring authorities,
the Council was better in employing apprentices. Also importantly,
the Council through its procurement processes and tenders, promotes
the take-up of apprentices.
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In response to a question on whether there was any data regarding
European residents, Councillor Shaikh indicated that although there
was no data available the Council would be interested in
considering this issue later in the year.
·
Members were informed that Officers would be providing more
detailed information regarding employment for consideration at a
future meeting. |
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RECYCLING IN HACKNEY - PRESENTATION PDF 2 MB Minutes: Ander Zabala, the Recycling
Manager of Hackney Council gave a presentation on recycling in
Hackney borough. A copy of the presentation is interleaved with the
agenda.
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Hackney Council provides a comprehensive service
borough wide for both street level properties and estates. In 2013,
the Council introduced green sacks to low rise
properties. There was a recognition
that green boxes would not be suitable for over 14,000 properties
without frontages.
·
The Recycling Manager advised the participation rate
of green sacks across street level properties was an average of
84%, whereas participation rate for food waste was 34%.
He stated that it was noticeable that participation rates was
low in deprived estates, which produce high levels of waste but
recycle the least.
·
In response to a question about the vehicles
collecting waste or recycled materials, the Manager informed the
Committee that the decision to move from source separated
collection to a commingle collection (green sack) allowed
environmental waste operations to use older or used waste vehicles
for recycling. These waste vehicles have one compartment. This has
resulted in the extension on the life of the waste vehicles, as the
older ones can be for recycling which is lighter than waste. The
Recycling Manager acknowledged that the use of green sacks rather
than green boxes had resulted in faster collections by the crew and
a reduction in traffic congestion.
·
The Recycling Manager advised that Hackney Council
employed the services of an external consultant to assist in
developing five possible waste restriction collection, modelling
scenarios with the aim of increasing the recycling rate, the
operational resource impact and carbon impact.
·
Projects were undertaken to consider the
participation rate, waste composition and restriction modelling.
The analysis of data obtained from 300 households indicated that
food tonnage remains the largest component by weight in the waste
stream; the weight of recycling material had decreased since 2008
and that contamination was not an issue in dry and food
streams on street level.
·
In light of the low recycling rate in estates or
high rises which account for over 50 % of properties in the borough
a corporate programme was set up in 2014/15 to improve low
performance levels on estates. The Recycling Manager informed
Members that the Estates Recycling Programme involved a range of
interventions, from phase 1 to phase 3. Phase 2 being closing
chutes and building new bin stores.
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In response to a question on the sustainability of
recycling rates and participation on the Estates, the Recycling
Manager advised that the outcomes from the pilots on the three
estates involving 1000 residents would be reported in the spring of
2018. · Members were advised that on the three estates where the trials are ongoing and the chutes have been removed, a decision was taken that both waste and recycling bins would be sited next to one another in other to change the behaviour of the residents. The Manager acknowledged that since the trial commenced it was noticeable ... view the full minutes text for item 157. |
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NWLA/ISLINGTON RECYCLING - A PRESENTATION PDF 5 MB Minutes: Barbara Herridge, External Relations Manager and Dimitra Rappou
Waste Prevention Manager of the North London Waste Authority (NLWA)
both gave a presentation on the NLWA activities especially
regarding recycling targets and outreach programmes across the
North London boroughs.
· The North London Joint Waste Strategy agreed by the seven north
London boroughs provides a statutory framework for municipal waste
management in North London for the period 2004-2020. It contains targets for reducing, reusing and
recovering a proportion of the municipal waste generated in the
North London Waste Authority and setting targets for reducing the
waste sent for disposal to the landfill.
· The Strategy focusses on preventing and reducing waste, followed
by encouraging items to be re-used and then recycled. Members were
advised that following these above priorities, NLWA focusses on
waste recovery and its subsequent disposal by burning in
incinerators to generate heat. NLWA’s least desirable option
was to send waste to landfills due to its environmental
impact.
· The
Strategy sets a recycling target of 50% by 2020, however the
performance rate ranges between 25% to 37 % across the seven
boroughs with Islington’s rate stuck at 30.6%.
· Barbara
Herridge informed the meeting that NLWA monitors progress across
targets, shares best practices, undertakes research into
motivations and behaviours, is involved in communication campaigns,
tackles contamination and undertakes outreach work in the
community.
· NLWA has embarked on an awareness campaign directed at young
North Londoners who are a transient population, likely to live in
flats where participation rate is presently low. The campaign is
using simple messages such as ‘one material at a time’,
‘saving stuff for the future’, using social media, Sky
TV, digital and online services. The message has been positively
received by the younger population.
· NLWA
in conjunction with borough officers review useful advice
issued by WRAP about what can and cannot be recycled so that advice
is standardised across the boroughs. NLWA also
reviews borough literature and websites to ensure that
information provided is clear and not confusing.
· With
regard to the issue of contamination, the External Relations
Manager advised that the NLWA had just commenced work on this
issue and are researching what other authorities are
doing, what is the disposal cost of contamination and are working
on a communications on a pan-North London basis.
· Members were advised that the Waste Prevention Plan involves
outreach work in the community on waste prevention and
recycling. It is prepared biennially
and revised annually. The Plan identifies a number of priority
material waste streams such as food waste, furniture /bulk waste
and textiles and seeks to set out a series of specific actions in
relation to those. The focus has been on action-oriented
activities, providing information and helping to promote
initiatives which NLWA has recognises as effective. · With regards to food waste prevention, Dimitra Rappou, the Waste Prevention Manager highlighted a number of themed events such as ‘the Waste Less, Lunch Free’ ... view the full minutes text for item 158. |
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WORK PROGRAMME 2017/2018 PDF 68 KB Minutes: RESOLVED: |