The Interim Director of Legal and Governance will report the names of alternate Members who are attending the meeting in place of appointed Members. 

Members Code of Conduct – Part 4A of the Constitution)

To receive disclosures of interests from members and co-opted members on matters to be considered at the meeting. The disclosure must include the nature of the interest.

An interest must also be disclosed in the meeting when it becomes apparent to the member during the meeting.

Notes:

(1)       Members must consider their interests, and act according to the following:

(2)       Disclosable pecuniary interests relate to the Member concerned or their spouse/partner.

(3)       Members in arrears of Council Tax by more than two months must not vote in decisions on, or which might affect, budget calculations, and must disclose at the meeting that this restriction applies to them.  A failure to comply with these requirements is a criminal offence under section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992. 

(4)       Officers must disclose interests in accordance with Council Standing Order 44.

No declarations of interest were received in matters under consideration.

Recommended –

That the minutes of the meeting held on 6 December 2022 be signed as a correct record (previously circulated).

(Su Booth – 07814 073884)

Resolved –

That the minutes of the meeting held on 6 December be held as a correct record.

Any referrals that have been made to this Committee up to and including the date of publication of this agenda will be reported at the meeting.

No referrals were received.

(Access to Information Procedure Rules – Part 3B of the Constitution)

Reports and background papers for agenda items may be inspected by contacting the person shown after each agenda item.  Certain reports and background papers may be restricted. 

Any request to remove the restriction on a report or background paper should be made to the relevant Strategic Director or Assistant Director whose name is shown on the front page of the report. 

If that request is refused, there is a right of appeal to this meeting. 

Please contact the officer shown below in advance of the meeting if you wish to appeal. 

(Su Booth – 07814 073884)

There were no appeals submitted to review decisions to restrict documents.

The report of the Interim Strategic Director, Place (Document “T”) will be submitted to the Committee to provide Members with an update on developments relating to the Environment Act 2021.

Recommended –

That Members note the progress made and support the general aims to protect and improve the Districts biodiversity

(Danny Jackson – 01274 431230)

The report of the Interim Strategic Director, Place (Document “T”) was submitted to the Committee to provide Members with a further updates relating to developments as part of the Environment Act 2021 since it came into law.  The new legislation placed further statutory duties on local authorities to achieve a minimum of 10% net bio-diversity gain on every planning approval which would be mandatory from November 2023.

Officers explained that biodiversity levels would be measured both pre and post construction and needed to show a 10% increase within the site or nearby.  As a last resort the biodiversity gain could be offset and put into a ‘habitat bank’ whereby other areas could be enhanced.  The habitat bank would be led by the local authority and would be managed to ensure equity across the area.

Another element required by the Environment Act was the Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) for which WYCA was appointed by the Government to act as the responsible authority to prepare and publish the strategy.  Bradford as well as the other West Yorkshire local authorities would feed into this.  The report included details of what would be included in the LNRS that had been set out in the Act.  The sphere of these would also include species action plans which would be taken into account to help conservation and recovery of species such as bees and other pollinators.

Officers also reminded Members that the Supplementary Planning Document had been adopted as of January 2022 to protect the South Pennine Moors within the Bradford District from the impacts of development.  They also confirmed that funding from central Government was not finalised indicating that there would be a resource implication to enact and maintain the new legislation and that secondary legislation was yet to be announced.

Members were then given the opportunity to comment and ask questions, the details of which and the responses given are as below.

·            A Member asked what the local benefit would be if net gain measure were taken off-site and how could it be managed to ensure it was maintained.  Officers advised that offsetting was the last resort option and they would aim to keep net gain measures within sites wherever possible.  They would work with developers to this end.

·            Would a S106 be used as the mechanism to secure biodiversity net gain?  Officers advised that it was being looked into in co-operation with other local authorities

·            A member asked if there was a time limit and who would be responsible for maintaining the biodiversity measures.  Officers advised that they were pushing for in perpetuity but 30 years was the likely time period.  There was no clear picture as to what would happen and it may be clarified in the secondary legislation which was due.  Officers stated that Members would be updated

·            A Member asked what the Council was doing about equitable diversity in areas of limited or no new developments as Members would like input to identify areas for improvement.  Officers advised that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 54.

The report of the Interim Strategic Director, Place (Document “U”) will be submitted to the Committee to provide Members with a description of the service provision and all Waste related activities during 2022 and those planned for 2023, to improve the management of waste to more sustainable levels in line with the Waste Strategy (Municipal Waste Minimisation and Management Strategy 2015).

Recommended –

1.         That Regeneration and Environment Overview & Scrutiny Committee consider the information presented in this report and request a further progress report in twelve months’ time.

2.         That a site meeting/plant tour be arranged for the Regeneration and Environment Overview & Scrutiny Committee to visit AWM’s waste processing plant at Leeds and also the Ferrybridge FM2 waste to energy plant.

(Richard Galthen – 01274 431217)

The report of the Strategic Director, Place (Document “U”) was submitted to the Committee to update Members on the service provision and Waste related activities during 2022 and those planned for 2023.  Officers summarised the activities for 2022 along with statistics from the report and gave an overview of the following year’s plans which included more sustainable waste management levels, to minimise residual waste and to increase recycling.  These measures would be in accordance with the Waste Strategy (Municipal Waste Minimisation and Management Strategy 2015 and the imminent waste strategy implementations from Central Government.

Officers advised that, in order to comply with waste regulations, whose requirements increased significantly in January 2022, they were waiting for an announcement from DEFRA relating to mandated changes to segregated DMR collections.  The service faced an ongoing challenge within the District from contaminants in recycling caddies.  There had been a decrease in contamination and a subsequent decrease in enforcement measures.

Officers also informed Members that an all-electric RCV had been purchased for the vehicle fleet and there was a view to increase this provided it proved to be fit for purpose.

A WRAP service review was completed to benchmark the various service provisions that would contribute to the changes needed in light of imminent DEFRA announcement and would predict the best options for service delivery. 

Performance statistics indicated that there was a reduction in the amount of waste per household and the missed bin collections were at their lowest level since 2015/16.  Other statistics shared from the report included the tonnage amounts taken to the District’s HWRC’s and performance figures in respect of residual household waste per household and waste recycled/composted.

A representative from the waste contractor, AWM was also present at the meeting and provided some additional details relating to the challenges of processing recyclates whilst the traditional markets for these remained, resale markets were not as profitable.  He also confirmed that the contract with Ferrybridge was going well with minimum outages.

The Chair also reminded Officers that a visit to the site was still outstanding.

Members were then given the opportunity to comment and ask questions, the details of which and the responses given are as below.

·            A Member raised an ongoing issue relating to odours in the Bradford East area and was advised that they were aware of the issue and had completed an analysis of the site in question.   The West Yorkshire treatment and composting operation was compliant with its permit

·            A Member raised the issue of storage and the impact on residents and queried if there could be a breach of the permit issues.  Officers advised that they were unable to pinpoint the source due to the 12 week cycle on-site.  The contract was going out to tender and Officers stated that they would be liaising with Yorkshire Water

·            A Member asked if Officers had been out and spoken to residents directly and was advised that although not directly they had information via the Environment Agency, neighbourhood forums and residents’  ...  view the full minutes text for item 55.

A verbal report will be given by the Lead Scrutiny Officer to update Members on work planning and a discussion will take place on the Committee’s work programme for the remainder of the 2022/23 municipal year.

(Caroline Coombes - 07970 413828)

Members were given a verbal update on the Committee’s Work Programme.

No resolution was made on this item.