Agenda and draft minutes

In the absence of the Chair, Councillor Huw Williams, the Vice-Chair Councillor Graham Timms took the Chair for the meeting.

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.

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.

No urgent matters had been raised.

To receive the minutes of the Communities Scrutiny Committee held on 6 September 2018 (copy attached).

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

To receive any updates from Committee representatives on various Council Boards and Groups

12.15 p.m.

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.