Agenda and minutes

Councillors Christian Holliday, Gordon Jackson, Sheila Kirkland and Tony Phillips submitted apologies for absence.

In accordance with Procedure Rule 23(j), Councillor Jenny Wicks attended as a substitute on behalf of Councillor Sheila Kirkland.

In accordance with the revised local Code of Conduct, a councillor is required to disclose at the meeting any Disclosable Pecuniary Interest (DPI) that they may have in respect of any matter for consideration on this agenda.  Any councillor with a DPI must not participate in any discussion or vote regarding that matter and they must withdraw from the meeting immediately before consideration of the matter.

If that DPI has not been registered, the councillor must notify the Monitoring Officer of the details of the DPI within 28 days of the date of the meeting.

There were no declarations of disclosable pecuniary interest.

To confirm the minutes of the Executive Advisory Board meeting held on 25 May 2017

The minutes of the meeting held on 25 May 2017 were confirmed as a correct record and were signed by the Chairman.

Presentation from the Waste and Fleet Services Manager

The Waste and Fleet Services Manager gave an overview of the recycling and waste service. In 2009, alternate weekly collections of refuse and recycling began, with weekly recycling of food waste. Guildford was the first borough in the country to offer a design of vehicle and approach to service that later became the standard across the UK. By 2010, Guildford was able to evidence a satisfaction rate of 90%; by 2012 a more comprehensive service was delivered, and the satisfaction rate increased further to 94%. The current vehicle fleet was introduced in 2013, and was a big success. Moving from a box system to a separated system saved around 30% of staffing costs. The comingled system included in-cab reporting that allowed crews to report contaminated bins, and generated automatic letters to residents. The system had also led to a reduction in staff sickness levels associated with manual handling. Recycling rates were 56%, with a satisfaction rate of 97%. The latest data was still to be ratified by DEFRA, but indicated a recycling rate of 59.7%, which compared well with the highest performing authorities in the UK. However, 59% of bins were not full when put out for emptying, 55% of items put into black bins could have been put into green bins for recycling, and there was scope to increase levels of food waste recycling.

The Recycling and Waste Officer reported that there were some emerging challenges linked to the finances of Surrey County Council, and this Council was working with the County Council and various project teams to deal with issues. The current vehicle fleet would be due for replacement in 2019, and it was unlikely that the purchase of new vehicles could be delayed beyond that point. Therefore, this Council was actively looking at securing the right solution for Guildford for 2020-2027, bearing in mind that the decision-making process would take around 12 months, with a 6-month build time for new vehicles. Examples from other councils were provided to illustrate some of the potential options available. The Recycling and Waste Officer explained how waste was dealt with at the recycling plant, and agreed to circulate details of the end destination of items recycled.

The Lead Councillor for Infrastructure and Governance confirmed that this agenda item had been brought before the Board at a very early stage, with plenty of time to determine areas of focus, such as using emerging green/hybrid technologies, improving recycling rates, changing collection intervals or tackling food waste. Electric buses were being trialled in London, meaning that the technology may extend to refuse vehicles by 2019. 

The Board discussed some of the issues raised in the presentation, and was cognisant that the health and safety of employees was extremely important, including minimising the risks to refuse collectors associated with manual handling. Street cleansing was also discussed: recyclable materials such as cans, plastic bottles, grit and hard-core, were removed from street sweepings and included in the overall recycling figures. Work was in progress to improve  ...  view the full minutes text for item S11

The Democratic Services Manager reminded councillors that, following a scrutiny review of the Council’s governance arrangements in 2015, the Council had introduced, with effect from January 2016, a hybrid arrangement involving two Executive Advisory Boards (EABs) and a single Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC). The Council had also agreed that the new arrangements should be reviewed after a 12-month period of operation.

As part of the 12-month review, a seminar for all councillors was held on 07 March 2017. Comments from that seminar, together with recommendations from the Corporate Governance and Standards Committee (15 June 2017) had resulted in a set of recommendations to be considered by this Board, as well as the Borough EAB and the OSC, prior to final consideration by full Council on 25 July 2017. Having met on 10 and 11 July respectively, the Borough EAB and the OSC had proposed some amendments to the recommendations, details of which were included in the agenda for this meeting.

The Board went on to discuss each recommendation.

The Board agreed that webcasts allowed for transparency and public engagement, and that it would not be appropriate to remove a facility after it had already been made available to the public. Where it was necessary to discuss exempt or confidential material at an EAB meeting, this could be done in private session,  or task groups could be set up to provide a forum for more detailed discussion. The Board recognised that topics discussed at EAB were often at an early stage of development, and agreed that this could be made clear to webcast viewers to prevent potential misunderstandings.

The Board agreed with the OSC and the Borough EAB that meetings between the Executive and the EAB/OSC chairmen and vice-chairmen should be on a six-monthly rather than annual basis in order to have a continuity of relationship.  The purpose of these meetings was to put forward ideas and suggestions for the Work Programme, and for that reason, the Board also recommended that a representative from CMT should attend.

The Board endorsed the amendments recommended by the Borough EAB and OSC in respect of improving the arrangements for topic selection and broadening the approach to the development of the OSC work programme.

The Lead Councillor for Infrastructure and Governance reminded the Board that lead councillors were ultimately responsible for the topics discussed at EAB meetings, and therefore should normally take the lead on presenting matters, with support from officers.

The Board agreed that lead councillors should be involved in task groups, and since such groups would only be set up to consider significant matters, it was likely that lead councillors would wish to participate.

In respect of the recommendation that the focus for public engagement should be aimed more at OSC than EABs, the Board agreed with the Borough EAB and OSC that this recommendation be removed from the list of recommendations to be considered by full Council.

The Board agreed that proactive measures for public engagement were relevant to the work  ...  view the full minutes text for item S12

The Democratic Services Manager explained that both EABs had agreed to establish a politically balanced Joint EAB Budget Working Group in September 2016, comprising four councillors appointed by each EAB. The Board agreed to continue with this arrangement, and was asked to appoint one Conservative member, one Liberal Democrat member, one Labour member and one Guildford Greenbelt Group member to a new Joint EAB Budget Task Group. 

RESOLVED:

That Councillors Angela Gunning, David Quelch, David Reeve and Caroline Reeves be appointed to the Joint EAB Budget Task Group for 2017-18.

Reason for Decision:

To ensure backbench councillor involvement in the budget setting process.

The Board discussed the progress on items previously considered and agreed that topics that had been superseded should be removed from the list.  Progress on the Electric Theatre was discussed, and a new working group had been set up to monitor compliance with the terms of the lease recently granted to the Academy of Contemporary Music. On 23 February 2017 the Board had received an update on the Health and Wellbeing Strategy and were awaiting details of successes and more information on preventing carer strain, which the Democratic Services Manager agreed to follow up.

To consider and approve the EAB’s draft work programme.  Details of future Executive decisions are included.  

In considering its work programme, the Board discussed the possibility of taking forward a proposal to develop a Strategy for the Borough’s Elderly, and agreed that this should be discussed at the forthcoming Work Programming meeting.  At that meeting, the Director of Resources would suggest that the unscheduled item on sustainability issues could be included in the agenda for the Society EAB meeting on 07 September 2017.

The Board was asked to submit suggestions for topics to include within the current Work Programme.