Agenda and minutes

Venue: Virtual Meeting

Contact: Stephen Wood  020 8313 4316

Items
No. Item

66.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND NOTIFICATION OF SUBSTITUTE MEMBERS

Minutes:

There were no apologies for absence.

67.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

68.

QUESTIONS FROM COUNCILLORS AND MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC TO THE CHAIRMAN OR COMMITTEE

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, questions that are not specific to reports on the agenda must have been received in writing 10 working days before the date of the meeting. The deadline for this was 5pm on Tuesday, 3rd November. 

 

Questions specifically relating to reports on the agenda should be received within two working days of the normal publication date of the agenda.  Please ensure that questions specifically on reports on the agenda are received by the Democratic Services Team by 5pm on Wednesday, 11th November.

 

Minutes:

No questions were received for the Chairman or the Committee.

69.

MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 9TH SEPTEMBER 2020 (EXCLUDING EXEMPT INFORMATION) pdf icon PDF 792 KB

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 9th September 2020 were agreed as a correct record.  

70.

QUESTIONS TO THE PORTFOLIO HOLDER FROM MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC AND COUNCILLORS

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, questions that are not specific to reports on the agenda must have been received in writing 10 working days before the date of the meeting. These questions should have been received by Democratic Services by 5pm on Tuesday 3rd November. 

 

Questions specifically relating to reports on the agenda should be received within two working days of the normal publication date of the agenda. Please ensure that questions specifically on reports on the agenda are received by the Democratic Services Team by 5pm on Wednesday 11th November.

 

Minutes:

There were eighteen questions received from the public for written response.

 

There were two oral questions received from Councillor Ian Dunn.

 

The questions and answers are attached as appendices to the published minutes. 

71.

UPDATE FROM THE PORTFOLIO HOLDER

Portfolio Holder decisions for pre-decision scrutiny.

Minutes:

The Portfolio Holder provided a verbal update at the request of the Chairman.

 

The Portfolio Holder informed the Committee that subsequent to the summer break, it appeared that the Council’s contractors were delivering services well. Covid-19 had naturally had an impact, but service delivery was nevertheless being maintained. Contingency plans had been agreed with contractors.

 

·  The Highways resurfacing programme was scheduled to be completed in January 2021.

 

·  Bromley's partnership working with utility companies was running normally and to usual levels.

 

·  The Street Lighting and LED conversion programme on the traffic routes was underway and progressing well.

 

·  With respect to Christmas decorations, the Council was working well with local traders.

 

·  Adequate salt stock levels were in place to deal with any adverse weather conditions, so winter services were ready to be delivered. There had only been one night so far where salt had been laid down due to the possibility of bad weather.

 

·  The Council was working to progress its green agenda and was sending zero waste to landfill.

 

·  As a result of changes brought about by Covid 19 and working from home, waste collection levels had increased and waste tonnages were high.

 

·  There had been an increased take up in the recycling of waste. The Council's recycling centres at Waldo Rd and Churchfields were currently open and operating normally.

 

·  The rescheduling of green garden waste collection had just started and was going well and with no complaints.

 

·  Also recently commenced was the programme to collect leaves, and a high number of leaves were being collected.

 

·  The Parks and Green Space preparation for the winter was progressing.

 

·  Grass cutting would be resumed in the Spring.

 

·  Covid 19 signage was being displayed in parks and green spaces to remind people about social distancing.

 

 

·  Cemetery services continued to be provided in line with government guidelines.

 

·  Matters relating to fly tipping were still being progressed—barriers had been erected in various places to limit fly tipping.

 

·  Tree maintenance was being continued; there was some backlog in this area that had been identified.

 

·  A pedestrian refuge had been installed in Southend Road and a temporary zebra crossing would be installed at Holmesdale Road.

 

·  At Albemarle Road and Bromley Road, cycle lanes had been introduced.

 

·  An update was provided with respect to school streets.

 

·  Social distancing had been implemented in the main town centre and shopping areas.

 

·  With respect to parking, occupancy levels had decreased because of the pandemic but had started to increase and head back to normal levels, but now seemed to be subdued once more.

 

·  LIP funding had been received for the remaining five months of the year. 

 

RESOLVED that the update from the Portfolio Holder be noted.

 

72.

BUDGET MONITORING 2020/21 pdf icon PDF 318 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

 

 

The Head of Finance (ECS & Corporate Services) attended the meeting to brief the Committee.

 

He explained that the report looked at the regular budget for ‘business as usual’ spending. The impact of Covid 19 was being dealt with separately by the Executive. This included the impact on costs, and loss of income across the board including general grant income. This meant that although the budget report was showing an underspend of £482k, (because the financial implications of Covid 19 had not been factored in), the overall financial position was not as good as it first seemed.

 

The Vice Chairman referred to the reasons for variations in waste services costs that were outlined in Appendix 1B--he asked what the £255k costs related to, and why they were being carried forward. As this was a matter that related to an invoicing dispute, it was agreed that the details concerning this would be emailed to the Vice Chairman and Committee members post meeting.

 

The Vice Chairman was glad to see that savings had been accrued during the period of the pandemic with respect to credit cards. He was surprised to note the amount of money that was usually spent via credit cards, and hoped that savings could be continued going forward, with the savings directed to other services. He wondered where the costs were originating from and why the costs were so high. He asked if it would be possible to use credit cards that took less commission. The Head of Finance agreed to look into the matter further and to provide more detail to the Vice Chairman post meeting. It was noted that when members of the public paid for parking costs using a credit card, the Council had to pay a fee for the credit card transaction. Resultantly, as less people were coming out and parking, these costs had diminished.

 

Members noted that the costs with respect to waste collection had increased, as at the moment more waste was being collected and disposed of. Increased costs were not related to increased collections directly, but were related to increased disposal costs. 

 

A Member enquired about the budget for Arboricultural Services, and the increased costs that had been accrued in recovering from a backlog of work. He wondered when the backlog would be resolved and the Director of Environment and Public Protection stated that this was being looked at, and that it was hoped to resolve any issues with the service in the current financial year. 

 

A Member enquired why the length of time needed to retain the services of the ‘Fix My Street’ officer had been extended at the cost of £35k and asked why this was necessary. The Director of Environment and Public Protection responded that ‘Fix My Street’ was one of the main reporting tools for the Council in respect of reporting faults and logging complaints. It had been continually developed and was ongoingly still being developed to extend the number of categories that could  ...  view the full minutes text for item 72.

73.

EXPENDITURE ON CONSULTANTS 2019/20 AND 2020/21 pdf icon PDF 98 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman stated that there was nothing in this report that was of relevance to the Environment and Community Services Portfolio.  

 

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

74.

NET ZERO CARBON ACTION PLAN pdf icon PDF 600 KB

Minutes:

LBB’s Carbon Programme Manager attended the meeting to present the report and answer questions.

 

Members heard that the Executive had established a Carbon Management Programme (CMP) in 2008, to take action to reduce energy consumption, revenue costs and carbon emissions. It was the aim of the Council to be net carbon zero by 2029, and the report outlined the proposed way forward in achieving the target.

 

A Member referred to section 3.13 of the report which referred to ‘LBB’s forthcoming annual CMP3 report’. He asked when this report would be published. The Carbon Programme Manager responded that the report was due in about 2/3 months’ time.

 

The Vice Chairman stated that the net zero carbon action plan report was a very interesting and good report that was very clear and logical. He was encouraged by the progress that had been made and by the fact that external funding was available to assist the Council with the implementation of whatever measures were necessary to implement the net zero carbon action plan. He encouraged officers to seek external funding from whatever sources were possible. He commented that in his interaction with the public, it seemed to be the case that residents were unaware of the Council’s commitment to the net zero carbon action plan. He wondered how this could be rectified.

 

The Carbon Program Manager responded that the department was looking at ways to improve communications. This included improving communications via the Council's website, using digital display boards and social media.

 

A discussion took place about the decrease in emissions related to waste, paper, and the Council’s vehicle fleet. It was noted that fleet emissions had decreased because the Council had outsourced its fleet of vehicle gritters. The Chairman asked why it was taking so long to finish the plan with respect to changing the remaining street lights that had not yet been changed; not only would this improve the environment, but would also yield savings. He wanted to see this move rapidly forward to completion. The Carbon Programme Manager answered that so far (with respect to street lighting) the Council had chosen ‘big winners’ in terms of benefit to the environment and to cost savings. The remaining 10,000 street lights may not yield such big savings; this was something that would need to be costed out. 

 

A discussion took place concerning the matter of whether or not home workers were responsible for their own emissions. A Member suggested that when calculating the emissions of the Council, the emissions of home workers should be included.

 

A Member suggested that a more direct correlation be drawn between costs and the reduction in carbon emissions. She also felt that clear ‘goalposts’ had not been identified in the report and so it was difficult to ascertain exactly what progress was being made, and where exactly carbon emissions were being reduced. She asked for a more direct correlation in future reports to outline, progress, costs and timescales. She requested that in future reports, it would be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 74.

75.

ENVIRONMENT AND COMMUNITY SERVICES RISK REGISTER pdf icon PDF 207 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members noted the ECS Risk Register.

 

RESOLVED that the ECS Risk Register be noted.

76.

REVIEW OF PUBLIC SPACE PROTECTION ORDERS CONCERNING ALCOHOL CONTROL ZONES 2020 pdf icon PDF 202 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members noted the report regarding the review of Public Space Protection Orders concerning alcohol control zones.

 

Members were informed that this report had been scrutinised by the GP&L Committee and that it came to the ECS PDS Committee for noting.

 

RESOLVED that the report regarding the review of Public Space Protection Orders Concerning Alcohol Control Zones be noted.

77.

ECS PERFORMANCE OVERVIEW pdf icon PDF 456 KB

Minutes:

The Senior Performance Officer (Performance Management & Business Support) attended the meeting to present the ECS Performance Overview report. The performance overview update was for six months data, and any updates provided would be on an ‘exception’ basis; i.e. commentary would be limited to areas that had been rag rated red or amber. 

 

Members were updated regarding ECS1 which was ‘Public Satisfaction with Cleanliness’. The first areas (local streets and neighbourhoods) had improved and were above target. ‘Town Centres’ was slightly under target. This was because an on-street survey had been undertaken, and due to Covid 19 there was a lower response rate this year. There was no indication of poor performance.

 

The Senior Performance Officer explained that the target with respect to the number of attendees at the Beeche Educational Centre was not achievable due to the government restrictions that had been imposed because of the pandemic. This target would need to be changed if the current restrictions were not lifted.

 

The Senior Performance Officer provided an update regarding ECS21 and ECS 22 which were both amber rated. The former related to routine street lighting maintenance, and the latter related to highway maintenance tasks. The contractor had been asked to provide an improvement plan for the future delivery of these services.

 

Members were briefed regarding ECS 24: ‘Children travelling to school by foot, cycle or scooting’. Data for this had not been collected at schools this year as schools had been closed in the summer term when the count was usually made.

 

Members were updated regarding  ECS 32: ‘Customers using online self-serve transactions to challenge PCNs’. This was projected to be marginally below target—work was ongoing to encourage the public to use the online portal.

 

A Member drew attention to ECS 29, which was related to injuries or deaths caused because of road traffic accidents. He remarked that this was something that had appeared to be ongoing for the last three years. He inquired what the Council could do to reduce the number of KSIs (killed and seriously injured) to zero in line with the aims of the ‘Vision Zero’ policy. The Assistant Director for Traffic and Parking responded that KSIs were assessed over a five-year period, and that LBB had been very successful (generally speaking) in reducing the number of people injured in road traffic accidents. He hoped that the current plateau was a ‘non-statistically significant variation’. The Council would be continuing with policies to reduce the number of casualties from road traffic accidents.

 

The Chairman enquired if the department had a clear view of where money and resources  should be directed, and what was the process followed to make the most impact in this area. The Assistant Director responded that LBB analysed data roughly every 12 to 18 months, to try and identify where KSI incidences were occurring. Data from the previous three years would be used as a start point for the analysis. Sometimes, key sites would be identified; in other cases, perhaps where there was a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 77.

78.

WORK PROGRAMME AND MATTERS OUTSTANDING pdf icon PDF 243 KB

Minutes:

Members noted the Work Programme report.

 

RESOLVED that:

 

1)  The CMP report be presented to the Committee in March and that the Work Programme be updated accordingly.

 

2)  The Work Programme be updated to show the Draft Budget report for the January 2021 meeting.

WRITTEN QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC pdf icon PDF 705 KB

WRITTEN QUESTIONS FROM COUNCILLORS pdf icon PDF 347 KB

ORAL QUESTIONS FROM COUNCILLORS pdf icon PDF 261 KB