Agenda and minutes

There were no Declarations of Interest made at the meeting.

A member of the public raised concerns regarding household waste and flytipping that was taking place in certain areas of the Borough, particularly Ferham, which was having an impact on other householders and their ability to put their own dustbins out for collection.  He felt that community skips would help alleviate these problems.

Councillor Hoddinott, Cabinet Member for Waste, Roads and Community Safety, reported that the member of the public had raised similar issues at the recent Cabinet meeting.  Councillor Allen, Cabinet Member for Cleaner, Greener Communities, had offered to visit Ferham to look at the specific issues.

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meetings held on 14^th February and 7^th March, 2019.

14^th February, 2019

Arising from Minute No. Minute No. 42 (Agreement between Dignity Funerals Ltd. and Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council), it was queried whether the issue of lighting on the East Herringthorpe driveway had been resolved. 

Councillor Hoddinott, Cabinet Member for Waste, Roads and Community Safety, reported that the feedback was that it had never worked despite it being in place for some time.  Currently the issue was with the Community Safety and Street Scene Service to look at the requirements and costs to get it working.  A report back would be submitted to Dignity.

With regard to the proposed periodic meetings, a meeting of the Funeral Directors Forum had been scheduled for 25^th March.  However, the funeral directors had stated that they would prefer 1:1 meetings.  A series of meeting would commence next month.

The Memorial Masons Registration Scheme had been discussed at a recent Project Liaison meeting.  Due to the current Scheme being very out of date, work was taking place on an updated Scheme which would be submitted to the next Project Liaison meeting for discussion.  It would include the cleaning of stones on site and environmental aspects with regard to the chemicals used during the cleaning process.

The outcome of the negotiations with regard to the national issue relating to Terms and Conditions of the Coroner’s Office was not known.  Councillor Hoddinott would endeavour to get a response.

7^th March, 2019

Arising from Minute No. 48 (Update on the Rotherham Community Infastructure Levy, the following clerical correction:-

“Catcliffe Parish Council’s precept would be impacted on with the new Waverley Parish Council.  Could the funds due to them from CIL support their revenue to help mitigate the consequences of their loss in the short term” instead of “maximise their loss” as stated.

It was also queried where/who the fine would go if developers did not notify the Council within the specified time frame.  An answer would be sought and fed back to the Select Commission.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the minutes of the meeting of the Improving Places Select Commission held on Thursday, 14^th February, 2019, be approved as a correct record.

(2)  That the minutes of the previous meeting of the Improving Places Select Commission held on Thursday, 7^th March, 2019, be approved subject to the clerical correction set out above.

Verbal update by the Chair

The Chair reported that a briefing had been received on the recently opened Caravan Park which included that the Camp Management Booking System which was now in operation.  The system had been “road tested” and found to be customer friendly and easy to navigate.

A full report would be submitted in September/October on bookings and the effects of traffic on the nearby properties

Discussion ensued with the following issues raised:-

-          The report should contain customer reviews/experience of the site

-          Disappointment that there were only 3 pitches for motor homes when it was becoming more popular

-          The update should also include how many potential customers had had to be turned away due there not being the appropriate pitch for their needs

-          How could a system be classed as “successfully implemented” when the second part of the system i.e. the actual bookings turning up until the season had been completed?

Resolved:-  (1)  That the introduction of the Camp Management  Booking System be noted.

(2)  That a further report be submitted in September, 2019.

Verbal update by Tom Smith, Assistant Director, Community Safety & Streetscene

Tom Smith, Assistant Director, Community Safety and Street Scene, reported that the Council had made a decision whereby the Authority could immobilise vehicles of persistent evaders and those who had not paid parking tickets.  Where they were subject to 6 or more unpaid PCNs the Authority could now clamp the vehicle and call for assistance in terms of vehicle removal and impound the vehicle.  It was much safer for staff and also meant that there was a much stronger enforcement process.

There had been a number of successes since it had been in place and enabled the Service to be much more robust for repeat evaders.  There had been a number of people who had been subject to 6 PCNs and paid the fine and not been in same situation again.

The Overview and Scrutiny Management Board had recommended that it be reduced from 6 PCNs  to 3.  An analysis had been carried out and very shortly there would be a delegated decision to reduce the number down to 4.  It was felt that reducing it to 3 PCNs would vastly increase the number of evaders and there would not be the confidence of resource availability to ensure robust enforcement of the policy.

Martin Beard, Parking Services Manager, was in attendance to assist with any questions.

Discussion ensued with the following issues raised/clarified:-

-          Monitoring was already taking place.  It was the intention that people got the message that they could not avoid paying with the ultimate message that hopefully people had parked properly.  It was known how many people fit the categories and would like to see the numbers fall in those categories.  It was also known how many people paid and something that was monitored very closely

-          The Traffic Management Act clearly set out that an Authority could not hold someone’s vehicle to ransom.  The Act stated that they had to pay the release fee of £105 plus the PCN that had been issued on the day.  The Authority did not let anyone do that until there was absolute certainty as to their identity and address.  If every piece of documentation requested could not be provided, the vehicle would not be released and they then incurred storage charges

-          A vehicle was stored in the compound for up to 35 days.  If a vehicle was not claimed within that time and, if there was a registered keeper, they would be written to giving them 7 days to collect or the vehicle would be disposed of

-          It was not known if a person would be allowed to buy the vehicle back if it went to auction and an answer would be sought.  The initial reaction was that it could not be prevented

-          2 of the first 8 vehicles that had been removed and impounded had belonged to the same person.  The process now gave the Authority a fair and better chance and had already seen a decrease in the number of cases of persistent evaders

-  ...  view the full minutes text for item 54.

Verbal update by Councillor Wyatt

Councillor Wyatt gave a verbal update on the Emergency Planning arrangements for the Authority.

The Improving Places Select Commission had undertaken a Scrutiny Review of the arrangements in 2016/17 concluding with 15 recommendations the response to which was reported to the Select Commission in November 2017. 

There had been a commitment in the work programme to keep an ongoing overview of the Major Incident Plan and arrangements and progress of the recommendations. 

A meeting had taken place with the key officers last month but there were still some gaps but the progress so far was as follows:-

Recommendations

1.     That the Major Incident Plan is reviewed bi-annually by a group of Members from the IPSC and this work forms part of the work programme for that year, however the document is to be reviewed by officers on a continual basis.

A date has been provisionally agreed at the end of September/beginning of October 2019 for the final draft of the refreshed Major Incident Plan.  The proposal was that a few Members from this Select Commission got together to carry out a desktop look at the final draft before it was submitted for approval.

2.     Mandatory training is to be provided to all Members about the Major Incident Plan to increase their awareness and involvement in any major incident.

There had been a couple of training sessions and also flagged up the fact that it was an all-out election in 2020 and that needed to be included for potential new Members.

3.     Training relating to the Major Incident Plan should be mandatory to ensure all staff who volunteered are confident in the role they play in the management of the incident.

There was regular training and reports to the Strategic Leadership Team around that performance.

4.     An “out of hours” training exercise to take place once all volunteers have been trained. Full training exercises then take place on a regular basis.

Exercise Thunderbird took place in 2019 involving a test scenario around a rail crash and included all elements of the Major Incident Plan.  There had also been a cold call exercise which involved testing the availability of people to be able to respond to a Major Incident to ascertain their availability.  In some respects that probably was of little value because it was done during working hours.  At the end of the month the contact lists would be updated as scheduled. 

5.     A targeted approach to recruitment from employees who can be “job matched” to appropriate roles in the operation of the Major Incident Plan.

There was confidence that there was a good team of Forward Liaison Officers (8 at the moment) and Borough Emergency Co-ordinators that were filled by Strategic Directors.  Only permanent contract employees were included.

6.     There are sufficient volunteers to staff the EP for at least two shift changes.

The recruitment was ongoing.

7.     A protocol to be developed to ensure that the partner organisations in the Major Incident Plan are notified as a matter of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 55.

Tom Smith, Assistant Director, Community Safety & Streetscene

Councillor Hoddinott, Cabinet Member for Waste, Roads and Community Safety, together with Tom Smith, Assistant Director Community Safety and Street Scene, and Martin Raper, Head of Street Scene Services, presented an update on the implementation of the new waste and recycling services across Rotherham.

A video was shown to the Commission - “Household Bin Collection in Rotherham” which was available at www.rotherham.gov.uk/bins.

Since October 2018, the residents of Rotherham had experienced big changes in terms of their bin collections.  It had been a huge undertaking to introduce the new garden waste collection and the new black (pink lid) service.

Councillor Hoddinott expressed her thanks to the staff who had worked long hours in making this happen and also to the residents for working through it as well.

Attention was drawn to:-

-          Rotherham was one of the lower quartile councils for recycling

-          Initial figures were very encouraging - how do we ensure the level of recycling was sustained

-          Approximate 27% increase in paper and cardboard collection

-          Garden Waste Collection – seeing a rise in subscriptions at the moment.  Approximately 35,000 households that had subscribed

-          Black bin (pink lid) – reduced the size of the main bin – general waste had reduced by 7%

-          Black bins – increased by 50%

-          Numerous requests for green and black bins for people to be able to recycle

-          Flytipping – there had not been a marked increase.  The Authority would continue to pursue and prosecute anyone flytipping

-          The next big challenge for the Service was flats.  Everyone should have the opportunity to recycle.  Although keen to keep to the same system as those in houses it was known that some variances would be required to accommodate some premises.  Work had taken place, together with Housing Services, to map all the sites and proposals for each.  There would be a Member drop-in on 24^th May to enable Members to see what the proposals were for premises in their area before it went out to residents 

-          It had not just been about the delivery or collection of bins; there had been a new treatment contract to procure, negotiate with existing general waste contractor, purchase of 16 new collection refuse vehicles and a huge amount of communication and engagement work

-          The call centre had been under resourced initially but that had been recognised and additional resources put in

-          How do we engage further?  How do we increase recycling?

Discussion ensued with the following issues raised/clarified:-

·           It was still early days in terms of any indicators of the level of contamination of waste:- 

Paper and cardboard – this has been running the longest.  The type of contamination seen has been the continuation of garden waste in the bottom with paper on the top.  Initially the contamination rate had been quite high but more recently 12% which was getting towards the acceptable level.  A lot of work had taken place with the company that took the paper  ...  view the full minutes text for item 56.

Thursday,      6^th June, 2019

                        25^th July

                        19^th September

                        31^st October

                        19^th December

                        30^th January, 2020

                        5^th March

all commencing at 1.30 p.m.

Resolved:-  That a further meeting be held on Thursday, 6^th June, 2019, commencing at 1.30 p.m.