Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor M D Conolly (Dover District Council), B Rogers (Thanet District Council), A Perkins (Canterbury City Council), I Thomas (Canterbury City Council) and M Vye (Kent County Council).

 To note appointment of Substitute Members in accordance with the agreed procedure.

It was noted that in accordance with the Operating Arrangements, Councillors A Friend and M J Roberts had been appointed as substitutes for Councillors M D Conolly and B Rogers respectively.

Members are required to disclose the existence and nature of a personal interest at the commencement of the item of business to which the interest relates or when the interest becomes apparent. An explanation in general terms of the interest should also be given to the meeting. If the interest is also a prejudicial interest, the Member should then withdraw from the room or chamber.

NOTE: (1)              By virtue of Rule 11 of the Members' Code of Conduct, a member must, if he/she is involved in the consideration of a matter at a meeting of an overview and scrutiny committee or sub committee, regard him/herself as having a personal and prejudicial interest if that consideration relates to a decision made, or action taken, by another committee or sub committee of which he/she may also be a member.

(2)           This rule will not apply if the member attends the Scrutiny Committee/Sub Committee for the purpose of answering questions or otherwise giving evidence relating to that decision or action.

              Councillor J Samper declared a personal interest in Minute No 6 by reason of her past involvement in discussions on waste services as a former Executive Member for Canterbury City Council.

              Councillor J Samper declared a personal interest in Minute No 6 by reason of her paying for green waste collection on her second home in the Shepway District Council area.

To confirm the attached Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 11 May 2009.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 11 May 2009 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

None

There were no items for consideration.

In accordance with Paragraph 7.1 of the Operating Arrangements any Member of the Committee may require that an item be placed for consideration on the agenda of the next available meeting.

There were no items for consideration.

To receive a presentation from Mr Chris Stannard of the East Kent Waste Project and Mr Mark Seed of Thanet District Council on proposals for a shared waste service.

The Minutes of the Waste Working Group of 9 September 2008, 3 December 2008, 15 January 2009 and 9 February 2009 are attached for information.

              The Committee received a presentation from Mr C Stannard and the Director of Environmental Services on the East Kent Joint Waste Project.

              It was stated that each of the four District Councils currently collected waste in different ways with a mixture of in-house and external service provision.  This resulted in a variety of collection costs and recycling rates.

              (a)      Project Objectives

              The aim of the project was to develop the most cost effective solution for collection, disposal and processing of waste that would increase the rate of recycling.

              (b)      District Commitments

              The key component of the project was that all four Districts would commit to the same collection method and that vehicles would operate across District boundaries resulting in efficiency savings in the number of rounds.  In order to enable Kent County Council to undertake the necessary investment to develop the necessary processing facilities the four districts would commit their waste streams to them until 2020.

              The new collection method would be as follows:

              ·         Alternate weekly split bodied collection of paper and card/glass, cans and plastic.

              ·         Alternate weekly collections of garden/food waste.

              ·         Alternate weekly collections of residual waste.

              In response to questions from Members it was stated that food waste would be still collected if put out with the residual waste in the alternate week that garden/food waste was not collected.  However, the residual waste collection would go to landfill rather than be recycled like the garden/food waste round.

              The project would start with Dover District Council and Shepway District Council participating from October 2010 with Canterbury City Council and Thanet District Council joining in 2013.  However, as Thanet District Council provided its own service in-house it was possible for it to participate in the project earlier than 2013.

              (c)      District Service Changes

              If the Nominal Optimum Model (NOM) were to be adopted, it would result in changes in the nature of waste collection in each of the four Districts.

              Canterbury City Council

              ·         The inclusion of glass in kerbside collections.

              ·         Introduce new food waste collection for a minimum of 60% of residents.

              Dover District Council

              ·         Change the collection of residual waste from weekly to alternate weekly.

              ·         Introduce new food waste collection for a minimum of 60% of residents.

              Shepway District Council

              ·         Change from weekly kerbside collections to fortnightly-commingled collections.

              ·         Introduce free garden waste collection for a minimum of 60% of residents.

              ·         Introduce new food waste collection for a minimum of 60% of residents.

              Thanet District Council

              ·         Introduce free garden waste collection for a minimum of 60% of residents.

              ·         Introduce new food waste collection for a minimum of 60% of residents.

              ·         Inclusion of glass in kerbside collections.

              As a consequence of these changes Shepway District Council and Thanet District Council would lose the income earned from charging for green waste collection and all four District Councils would lose the revenue gained from selling their recyclables, as Kent County Council would have responsibility for their disposal.

              The project would result in a recycling rate of 48% for all four Districts, which while  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.