Apologies for absence were received from Councillor N Hartin, Councillor Mrs V Parry was present as substitute.

Members are reminded that they must not participate in the discussion or voting on any matter in which they have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest and should leave the room prior to the commencement of the debate.

None were declared.

To consider the Minutes from the meeting of the Environment and Services Scrutiny Committee held on 18 November 2013, attached marked 3

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting of the Environment and Services Scrutiny Committee held on 18 November 2013 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any questions, statements or petitions from the public of which members of the public have given notice.  Deadline for notification for this meeting is Wednesday 19 March 2014

There were no questions from members of the public.

To receive any questions of which members of the Council have given notice.  Deadline for notification for this meeting is Wednesday 19 March 2014.

There were no questions from members of the public.

To receive information from the Director of Commissioning on potential future areas of scrutiny work. 

The Director of Commissioning presented information on potential future areas of scrutiny work using the learning from the recent Rapid Action Group [RAG] activities.  He drew attention to the key areas highlighted within the three year Business Plan and Financial Strategy as well as the appropriate application of the RAG learning.

Members considered key areas highlighted within the 2014/17 Financial Strategy programme of activities that may merit consideration for inclusion within the Committee’s work programme, as follows:

Regulatory and Business Support model [RaBSS]

Members noted the possibility of the existing RAG continuing its work but acknowledged that any new area of work could not be considered until the evaluation of the RAG process had been completed.

Review of Joint Use Leisure Facilities to identify how to best deliver on a local basis

It was noted that the local community was being encouraged to take greater responsibility in the running of joint use facilities.

Sports and Recreational Activities

It was noted that redesign would be centred within Community Action, Positive Activities, Outdoor Recreation and Sports Development and consideration would need to be given to the role scrutiny could play in the redesign.

Redesign of Outdoor Recreation Service

This included rights of way, parks and open spaces [for example, Severn Valley country park, the Meres at Ellesmere], the creation of Parish Path Partnerships.  Building community ownership was understood as key for the future together with the main agenda for the future being to encourage people to become more physically active.

Waste

New approaches to encourage customer behaviour change were to be developed with a view to increasing recycling and reducing waste growth.  Contract efficiencies within the existing Veolia contract would be sought.

Councillor Minnery, Chairman of the recent RAG looking at waste agreed that future work on this service area would be useful particularly the need to increase the rate of recycling and to convey the message to encourage customers to recycle. He stated that there was a genuine opportunity for efficiencies to be made and suggested future work could also focus on vehicle routing, the use of the incinerator to generate income and co-mingling of waste.

It was agreed that the focus of ongoing work in this area needed to be structured and appropriate and be guided by appropriate Officers from the service area.  The Director of Commissioning agreed to identify the best way forward for scrutiny to play a valuable role in the redesign of this area.

Customer Contact – Face to Face

This element included the redesign of the libraries service including Visitor Information Centres.  The redesign of Face to Face contact points to meet the demand for increased access in alternative methods of contact.

In response to a Member’s query, the Director of Commissioning suggested the following areas would offer scrutiny the best opportunity to be involved in the redesign process:

      i.        Face to Face redesign in libraries

    ii.        Waste – a) how to encourage more recycling and behaviour change in customers and b) ways to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.

To receive feedback from the Waste RAG and discuss any key areas of work that may merit further scrutiny.

This issue had been considered during the general debate on identification of areas for the future work of the Committee.  The Chairman thanked Councillor Minnery for attending the meeting and drawing attention to key areas that would benefit from scrutiny involvement in future.

The Committee is next scheduled to meet on Monday 16 June 2014 at 2.00pm.

It was noted that the next meeting of the Committee was scheduled to be held on Monday 16 June 2014 at 2.00pm.

The meeting closed at 3.15pm