Agenda and draft minutes

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting.

No apologies had been received.

In relation to agenda item 5, Councillor Marshall declared that she was a member of the Carbon Reduction and Biodiversity Member Advisory Group.

Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Assistant Director for Legal and Governance in writing or by e-mail indicating both the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9.00am on the working day before the meeting (in this case 13 March 2024). Further details are available on the Council’s website.  Enquiries can also be made through the telephone number/e-mail address listed in this agenda and on the website.

There was one public participant, Councillor Jill Desayrah (Worcester City Council), who put forward concerns in relation to safety at the zebra crossing on Windermere Drive, Worcester.  She also presented a petition which called upon the County Council to replace the zebra crossing with a light-controlled pelican crossing.  The petition also called upon the Council to carry out a proper road safety assessment on the roundabout at the junction between Blackpole Road and Windermere Drive, and to take extra measures to improve pedestrian safety.  Edward Kimberley and Councillor Lynn Denham also spoke in support of Councillor Desayrah.

The Chairman thanked the speakers for the petition and their comments and confirmed that they would receive a written response.

Previously circulated.

At the Chairman’s suggestion, it was agreed that, for accuracy, page 6 of the Minutes of the previous meeting should be amended as follows:

·         Bullet point 6 to read: ‘In response to a suggestion that there may be interest in learning how to lower costs in HTST from external companies the Officers advised that this was a possibility, however the Council was a front runner in use of route optimisation software, which was very successful.'

·         The first sentence of bullet point 10 to read: ‘When asked whether a Council owned fleet of vehicles would save money, the AD for Highways and Transport Operations explained the Council was looking to develop the commercial market as well as maximising route optimisation.’

Subject to the above amendments, the Minutes of the meeting held on 25 January 2024 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

(Indicative timing: 10:05 - 10:45am)

The Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Environment, the Assistant Director for Economy, Major Projects and Waste, and the Waste Services Manager had been invited to the meeting to update the Panel on developments relating to the Environment Act 2021.

By way of introduction, the Cabinet Member reminded the Panel that the Environment Act was a massive piece of legislation which covered a very wide remit across biodiversity, air quality and waste management.  Work was now underway on some areas covered by the Act.  However, for others, further guidance from central government was awaited.

Members were informed that further details on progress relating to biodiversity and the Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) would be provided to the Panel in a further update in July 2024.  The Chairman noted that the LNRS had been discussed at Cabinet in November 2023 and asked for an update on what actions had been agreed.  The County Council was the designated lead authority and had a responsibility to work with partners, including district councils and Natural England.  It was confirmed that an issues and options consultation had been undertaken.  Although initially over 100 responses had been received, these were mainly from landowners and the Council was also keen to hear from schools and local communities at a smaller/micro level.  To this end students from Worcester University were working with local communities in Warndon (Worcester) and Westlands (Droitwich) to get their views on nature and how things could be improved.

The Panel was invited to ask questions and the following main points were raised:

Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG)

·         It was suggested that the requirement for all planning applications to deliver a minimum of 10% Biodiversity Net Gain from April 2024 was a huge task.  It was confirmed that this would be within the remit of the Council’s Ecology Team and further details would be provided to the Panel in July.

·         In response to a question about the Council’s approach to Biodiversity Net Gain (including the use of habitat banks and unit trading), Members were informed that further details would be included in the update in July.

·         The number of Council-owned farms would be confirmed following the meeting.

·         It was confirmed that developers’ proposals for Biodiversity Net Gain, including whether these related to land within the site, elsewhere in the county or out of county, needed to be demonstrated at the planning stage.  It may be that there was a role for County Council-owned land in this context.

·         Further details of the work being undertaken by students from Worcester University were requested.  It was confirmed that they were carrying out analysis with community and residents’ groups and local schools which would feed into the overall strategy.  Confirmation of whether district councillors had been approached to support this community engagement would be provided following the meeting.

·         In relation to the further update in July, the following information was requested:

o   What methodology was used for data collection?

o   Details of liaison with landowners (including households with large gardens).

o  ...  view the full minutes text for item 75.

(Indicative timing: 10:45 - 11:40am)

The Panel was updated on performance and financial information for services relating to the Environment.

Performance Information Q3 (October to December 2023)

The Chairman noted that this was the first time that the Panel had been able to access performance information via Power BI with a link to the relevant webpages having been included in the agenda papers.  The Lead Analyst confirmed that this would allow Members to choose how to view the information, eg more visually in chart form, by comparing data across time or focussing on one area.  It was noted that the Power BI version did not include the commentary that was presented in the agenda report.  For future meetings, the Lead Analyst agreed to include the commentary as a ‘tool tip’ in Power BI.

It was confirmed that the Power BI version contained exactly the same information as the agenda report and this was publicly available information.  It was not currently possible for Members to ‘drill down’ into more detailed information and it would be a large task involving numerous data sources to facilitate this.  Moving forwards, it would be important for a collective approach to be taken across all scrutiny bodies via the Overview and Scrutiny Performance Board (OSPB).  It was confirmed that, although the information shared for Panel meetings was publicly available, Members could also access other (non-public) information as necessary.

Members were invited to ask questions and the following main points were raised:

·         A question was asked about the maintenance and cleaning of highways signage.  The Panel was informed that this would be covered via the highway maintenance contract and concerns would be fed back to the contractor.  It was confirmed that the current highway maintenance contract would run until October 2026 (if all extension periods were earned).  Members were reminded that specific concerns should be reported via the member portal.

·         In terms of highway maintenance, it was confirmed that active travel routes were not specifically prioritised.

·         The Chairman reminded the Panel that he had previously requested data on how many potholes needed to be refilled within 90 days of an initial repair and this information had not yet been provided.  It was important to ensure that the Council was getting value for money from the contract.

·         It was confirmed that the development of the new highway maintenance contract was at an early stage and the Panel agreed that it would wish to be involved in this process in due course, via an informal Panel meeting to provide Member feedback.

·         It was suggested that monthly ‘review’ meetings between Members, Officers and representatives of the contractor should be set up to discuss ongoing highways maintenance issues identified by Members.

·         The Chairman expressed concern about the way the member portal was currently working, noting that some issues had been deleted or not taken forward.

·         With reference to data on the percentage of waste reused, recycled or composted, it was suggested that it would be helpful to include actual data (in kgs) as well as the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 76.

(Indicative timing: 11:40am - 12 noon)

Members were invited to consider suggestions for the Panel’s 2024/25 work programme prior to it being submitted to Council for approval.

Members were reminded that Panel Members were invited to attend meetings of Children and Families O&S Panel when Home to School Transport was discussed.

The Panel confirmed that it was content with the draft work programme for submission to OSPB for consideration on 25 April.