Agenda and draft minutes
Venue: Council Chamber, County Hall, Ruthin
Media
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No. | Item |
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POINT OF NOTICE In the absence of
the Chair, Councillor Huw Williams, the Vice-Chair Councillor Graham Timms took
the Chair for the meeting. Additional documents: |
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APOLOGIES Additional documents: Minutes: Councillors Brian Blakeley, Anton Sampson Cheryl Williams
and Huw Williams Councillor Hugh Evans, Leader and Lead Member for the
Economy and Corporate Governance had submitted apologies for agenda item 6 due
to a prior engagement. |
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DECLARATION OF INTERESTS PDF 116 KB Members to declare any personal or prejudicial interests in any business identified to be considered at this meeting. Additional documents: Minutes: Councillor Merfyn Parry declared a personal interest in
agenda item 5 – Proposed New Waste and Recycling Service Design because his
company contracted to Biogen who handled food waste from the Waen Plant. |
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URGENT MATTERS AS AGREED BY THE CHAIR Notice of items which, in the opinion of the Chair, should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency pursuant to Section 100B(4) of the Local Government Act 1972. Additional documents: Minutes: No urgent matters had been raised. |
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To receive the minutes of the Communities Scrutiny Committee held on 6 September 2018 (copy attached). Additional documents: Minutes: The minutes of the Committee’s meeting held on 6 September
2018 were submitted. Matters Arising –
Page 9, Item No. 5 Implementation of the Welsh Government’s Free Childcare
Offer in Denbighshire – Welsh Government Officials had responded to the query
relating to correspondence from them on this matter being in English only and
provided assurances that all future correspondence would be bilingual. RESOLVED that the minutes of
the meeting held on 6 September 2018 be received and approved as a correct
record. |
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PROPOSED NEW WASTE AND RECYCLING SERVICE DESIGN PDF 420 KB To consider a joint report by the Head of Highways & Environment and Waste and Recycling Manager (copy attached) on the proposed new Waste and Recycling Service together with feedback and engagement activity undertaken to inform the proposal. 10.10 a.m. – 11.00 a.m. Additional documents:
Minutes: Prior to presenting the report and appendices
on the proposed new Waste and Recycling Service (previously circulated) the
Lead Member for Highways, Planning and Sustainable Travel introduced Kelly
Thomas from WRAP Cymru. Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) Cymru was an organisation that worked with governments,
businesses and communities to deliver practical solutions in order to improve a
sustainable resource-efficient economy.
The Lead Member explained that Kelly Thomas had been working closely
with the Council in developing the proposed model presented to the Committee at
the meeting. During his introduction the Lead Member
informed members that a number of sessions/workshops had been held for elected
members during the proposed new model’s development to seek their views and
brief them on the need to change the current waste and recycling model. Whilst Denbighshire had consistently been the
best performing Council in relation to recycling household waste in Wales for a
number of years, national targets and expectations were changing. Under the Welsh Government’s (WG) ‘Towards
Zero Waste’ strategy and the statutory requirements of the Waste Measure
(Wales) 2010, by 2024/25 local authorities would be expected to increase the
amount of reused, recycled and composted waste to 70%. At present Denbighshire met the target of 64%
set for 2019/20, but its performance had plateaued in recent years. Therefore if it could not reach the 70%
target by 2024/25 it could be levied a fine of up to £200 per tonne on every
tonne it sent to landfill that was above its landfill allowance. In addition to the national targets changing,
the public’s attitude and perception of the human race’s responsibility towards
the planet and future generations were changing, therefore more effective waste
disposal and reuse/recycling methods were required. Having regard to all these elements the
Council was therefore proposing under the new model to – ·
change the
frequency of the dry recyclable waste collections to weekly from fortnightly ·
increase
the litreage capacity of the dry recyclable waste
collections through the provision of the kerbside sort ‘trolliboc’
system ·
extend the
textiles and shoes collection service to the entire county; introduce
additional kerbside collections for small Waste Electrical and Electronic
Equipment (WEEE) and a household batteries collection service ·
introduce
an opt-in Absorbent Hygiene Products (AHP) e.g. nappies and incontinence
products etc. collection service, and ·
change the
frequency of the current fortnightly residual waste collection service to a
four-weekly collection for the majority of households. The Lead Member emphasised that, whilst the
actual cost of introducing the new model could not yet be accurately calculated
due to the extent of the work required to re-model the Council’s depots to
handle the waste that would pass through them, due to the substantial capital
grant funding available from the WG to introduce the new kerbside sort service
the model had the potential to reduce the budget pressure which already existed
within the present collection service which was currently being funded from
within reserves. In addition the new
model was consistent with the WG’s future for recycling and managing waste
disposal. Responding to members’ questions the Lead
Member, Head of Highways and Environment, the Council’s Waste and Recycling
Manager and WRAP Cymru’s representative – ·
advised
that all stakeholders had a role to play to ensure the county achieved the 70%
recycling rate target. Residents in
particular would have a greater role to play through the kerbside sort scheme,
as this aspect had the potential to increase the overall amount of quality
recyclable waste processed · confirmed that in future years, due to changes in produce manufacturing, it would be difficult for the Council to retain its ... view the full minutes text for item 5. |
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TOURISM PROGRESS REPORT PDF 124 KB To consider a report by the Team Leader: Tourism, Marketing and Events (copy attached) detailing progress achieved to date with various tourism initiatives and their contribution towards delivering the Council’s overall ambition in relation to economic development and seeking members’ views thereon. 11.15 a.m. – 12 noon Additional documents:
Minutes: In the absence of the Leader the Tourism
Leader: Tourism, Marketing and Events introduced the report (previously
circulated) detailing the progress achieved in relation to various tourism
initiatives and their contribution towards delivering the Council’s overall
ambition in relation to economic development. During his introduction the Tourism Leader drew
attention to the success of the North East Wales and North Wales Tourism
Partnerships and the latter’s achievement in being awarded £140k Welsh
Government funding for the purpose of promoting the area’s winter tourism
offer, which would support the vision of marketing the area as an all-year
round tourist destination. The aim of
this was to increase the number of tourists visiting the area, but in doing so
realising sustainable all-year round economic benefit rather than mass seasonal
tourism which benefited the economy for a limited period of time. In response to members’ questions the Corporate
Director: Economy and Public Realm and the Tourism Leader advised that – ·
the Council’s
Tourism, Marketing and Events staff were willing to work closely with local
tourism and events groups when they arranged events in their local areas. With a view to simplifying the process and
achieving maximum promotional coverage for local events the Events Notification
process had been simplified. The Events
Notification form had now been reduced in size to two sides of A4. Upon receipt of a completed form it would be
shared with all services and officers who would need to be notified of the
event. In addition the proposed date for
the event would be checked against other known events being held that day and
if it was felt that the event would be impacted by other events in the local
area the organisers would be notified.
This did not necessarily mean that the date would have to change it was
just a mechanism in place to raise awareness and help support the success of
all local events ·
as part of
the work to deliver the ‘Connected Communities’ corporate priority a report was
scheduled to be presented to the ‘Communities and Environment Board’’ at its
October meeting on how infrastructure in the county could be improved to
support the holding of different types of community and tourist focused events ·
there would always
be a need for additional visitor overnight accommodation in Denbighshire. The central part of the county seemed to have
a limited number of overnight accommodation for tourists. South Denbighshire was well served by hotels
and guest houses, whilst the north of the county had a large number of touring
and static caravan sites. Nevertheless,
Denbighshire did have a considerable number of quality self-catering
accommodation, many of which were 5* rated ·
Visit Wales
had funding available for holiday accommodation businesses who aspired to be
awarded 4* or 5* ratings to help them achieve this goal ·
social media
coverage had definitely increased the number of potential visitors accessing
information on the local area in recent years, this was illustrated in the
various appendices attached to the report, including Appendix 13 which included
the Scarborough Tourism Economic Activity Monitor (STEAM) information. STEAM measured the impact of both day and
staying tourists on the local economy ·
social media was
used to raise the area’s profile and what was on offer in Denbighshire for
tourists, but it was only one of a number of profile raising platforms used for
this purpose. The number of social media
‘hits’ seemed to peak when specific awareness raising campaigns were undertaken · work was underway to reduce the number of social media platforms currently used by the Council’s Tourism, Marketing and Events Service to promote the local offer, with ... view the full minutes text for item 6. |
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SCRUTINY WORK PROGRAMME PDF 136 KB To consider a report by the Scrutiny Coordinator (copy enclosed) seeking a review of the committee’s forward work programme and updating members on relevant issues. 12 noon – 12.15 p.m. Additional documents:
Minutes: The
Scrutiny Coordinator submitted a report (previously circulated) seeking
members’ review of the Committee’s work programme and
provided an update on relevant issues. Discussion
focused on the following – ·
the
item on the work programme for the Committee’s next
meeting relating to Planning Enforcement was re-affirmed and it was agreed to
invite the relevant Lead Cabinet Member to that meeting; members also noted the
potential for items to be added to the agenda for that meeting following the
Scrutiny Chairs and Vice-Chairs’ Group meeting that afternoon ·
the
report on progression of the proposed new Waste and Recycling Service Design
requested by the Committee earlier on the agenda would be programmed for May ·
highlighted
issues arising from the Llantysilio Mountain Fire to
be considered by the Scrutiny Chairs and Vice-Chairs’ Group that afternoon for
allocation to scrutiny as appropriate and confirmed that feedback from the
forthcoming multi-agency meeting would be shared with members ·
Councillor
Meirick Davies raised the issue of resources in Building Control and was
advised that the matter should be raised in the Service Challenge in the first
instance (the Committee’s representative on that Service Challenge was
Councillor Huw Williams). He was also
advised to complete a Member Proposal Form if he wished for the matter to be
considered for scrutiny. RESOLVED that, subject to the above, the forward work programme as detailed in Appendix 1 to the report be
approved. |
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FEEDBACK FROM COMMITTEE REPRESENTATIVES To receive any
updates from Committee representatives on various Council Boards and Groups 12.15 p.m. Additional documents: Minutes: The Scrutiny Coordinator
drew the Committee’s attention to the notes of the Business Improvement and Modernisation Service Challenge on 2 October 2018 which had
been previously circulated as part of the Committee’s Information Brief. Councillor Glenn Swingler
reported that he had recently attended a lines of enquiry meeting with regard
to the Customers, Communication and Marketing Service in order to formulate
questions for the Service Challenge meeting which would be held November/December. The Corporate Director Economy and Public
Realm confirmed the process for member feedback to the Committee following the
subsequent Service Challenge meeting and also highlighted the importance of
members familarising themselves with the work of the
two Corporate Programme Boards and encouraged them to
complete the appropriate member proposal form for scrutiny if they considered
there to be any issues which would benefit from further scrutiny. RESOLVED that the reports be received and noted. The meeting concluded at 1.15 p.m. |