Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence from those Members who are unable to attend the meeting.

Apologies were received from Councillor Martyn Bolt, Councillor Yusra Hussain, and Chris Friend (Co-optee).

The Councillors will be asked to say if there are any items on the Agenda in which they have disclosable pecuniary interests, which would prevent them from participating in any discussion of the items or participating in any vote upon the items, or any other interests.

Councillor Taylor declared an interest regarding his position as Alternative Director of Suez Ltd in relation to agenda item 8.

Councillor Mather declared an interest regarding her position as Director of Suez Ltd in relation to the Councils waste management contract relating to agenda item 8.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on 19^th October 2021 and 2^nd November 2021.

The Panel considered the minutes of the previous meetings held on 19^th October and 2^nd November 2021 (special meeting).

RESOLVED -

The Minutes of the meeting held on the 19 October and 2^nd November 2021 were agreed as a correct record.

Most debates take place in public. This only changes when there is a need to consider certain issues, for instance, commercially sensitive information or details concerning an individual. You will be told at this point whether there are any items on the Agenda which are to be discussed in private.

All items were considered in the public session excluding agenda item 10.

The Panel will receive any petitions and hear any deputations from members of the public. A deputation is where up to five people can attend the meeting and make a presentation on some particular issue of concern. A member of the public can also hand in a petition at the meeting but that petition should relate to something on which the body has powers and responsibilities.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 10 (2), Members of the Public should provide at least 24 hours’ notice of presenting a deputation.

No deputation or petitions were received.

The Board will hear any questions from the general public. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, questions should be emailed to executive.governance@kirklees.gov.uk  no later than 10am on 29^th November 2021.

No questions were received from the public.

The Panel will consider its work programme for 2021/22

Contact:
Jodie Harris, Principal Governance and Democratic Engagement Officer

The Chair of the Panel gave an update in relation to the following items on the work programme.

Ad-hoc scrutiny Panel on residential housing stock health and safety compliance - The overview and scrutiny management committee had requested that an ad-hoc Panel be established in March 2021 to consider health and safety compliance across the residential housing stock. Further to a report submitted to Cabinet in respect of fire safety improvements to four high rise blocks, the Panel had met on 5 occasions and had established a work programme that extended to April 2022. The Panel would produce a final report including its recommendations once work had concluded.

Cultural Heart update – The Scrutiny Panel had requested regular informal updates. The Chair was briefed on progress, and it was agreed it was important to ensure a clear pathway through scrutiny for recommendations to be made and responded to. There were plans for an update of progress of the Cultural Heart to be presented to the Economy and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Panel in March 2022 and it was agreed the update would include a response to the recommendations given by the Panel in September 2021. The recommendations were also responded to in the Cabinet report which was considered on 16^th November 2021.

Councillor Taylor expressed that the period between the reports presentation to scrutiny and Cabinet was too long and significant progress had been made by the time it was considered at Cabinet.

Trans Pennine Upgrade – A report was submitted to full council on 17^th November 2021. It was agreed that the Economy and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Panel would consider the upgrade as part of their work programme. The Panel would be fully informed of the information that contributed to the withdrawal of the formal objection, and due to the nature of the information, it was agreed to be considered in private.

Councillor Taylor noted that April felt too long to consider the upgrade given a decision was taken in October 21.

RESOLVED – The Panel noted the Work Programme 2020/21 and it was agreed that:

1.    The Panel were clear on the timescale of reports being presented to Scrutiny in relation to consideration at Cabinet.

2.    The Chair would consider the timetable with Officers to ensure efficient scrutiny.

3.    An additional private meeting of the Panel be held prior to April 2022 in relation to the Trans Pennine Route Upgrade.

The Panel will consider the report Procurement Options for Waste Management.

Contacts:

Nigel Hancock - Programme Manager

Lory Hunter - Commercial & Technical Development Manager

Will Acornley, Head of Operational Services

The Panel considered the report Procurement Options for Waste Managementpresented by Lory Hunter, Commercial and Technical Development Manager, Will Acornley, Head of Operational Services, Nigel Hancock, Programme Manager and Wendy Blakeley, Service Director Highways and Street Scene.  Councillor Naheed Mather, Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Environment and Councillor Will Simpson, Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Culture and Greener Kirklees were also in attendance.

Will Acornley highlighted that the outline business case was the latest in a series of documents that had been presented to Scrutiny which would help the Panel to understand how the Council planned to transition to a new contract for Waste Management.

A presentation was given by Lory Hunter and Nigel Hancock which set out the outline business case and highlighted that:

·       The Councils ambition in relation to the waste and recycling strategy was set over the next 12 months to 5 years.

·       There had been detailed engagement with residents and these discussions would continue as changes were made.

·       There were elements critical to the outline business case which included, more plastics in the green bin, a glass collection trial towards the end of 2022, food waste collection, nappy recycling, improving household waste sites to achieve a 70% recycling rate, free additional garden waste collection and reduce and reuse initiatives.

·       There were corporate and district priorities to consider which included, interim contracts, the climate emergency, the district heat network, the Kirklees local plan and the cultural transformation programme.

·       Consideration was to be given to related national policies and legislation including the Environment Act 2021.

·       The introduction of statutory requirements on local authorities and the ways in which these would affect the budget were still unknown, but there was flexibility within the contract to take account of these.

·       That the Interim contract would include, an energy from waste facility, recycling facility, 2 waste transfer stations, 5 household waste recycling sites, 1 transfer pad and 2 closed landfill sites.

·       That a conditioned survey had been completed in 2017 which indicated Suez had maintained the facilities well, and an updated survey was in progress.

·       That a review by the Department for environment, food and rural affairs (DEFRA) had made some suggestions for re-procurement which had been incorporated.

·       The Infrastructure and Projects Authority and Treasury Office were considering the expiry of PFI contracts.

·       A strategic business case was developed to consider 3 options for waste management.

·       This had included liaison with Central Government, the appointment of a technical, legal financial consultant (who specialised in waste PFI contracts) an update of the conditions survey and workshops all of which informed the outline business case options.

·       Option 1 was not the preferred choice due to limited market opportunities. It would involve the re-procurement of all facilities and the treatment to food waste.

·       Option 2 considered splitting the facilities into smaller specialist companies, creating 5 separate contracts including, core facilities, household waste sites, closed landfills, processing food waste and garden waste collection. All would need to be reprocured separately and would need separate management.

·       Option  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

To resolve that under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting during the considerations of the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of except information as defined in Part 1 of the Schedule 12A of the Act.

The Panel noted that under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business, on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information, as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

The Panel will consider a private report in relation to agenda item 8.

The report contains an appendix that is recommended to be taken in Private because the information contained is considered to be exempt information under paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006. It contains information regards the financial or business affairs of any person including the Council. It is considered that it would not be in the public interest to disclose the information contained in the report as disclosure could adversely affect overall ability to obtain value for money, compromise the commercial confidentiality and intellectual property of organisations mentioned in the report, may disclose contractual terms, and impact on any future legal action that may be required, which is considered to outweigh the public interest in disclosing information including, greater accountability, transparency in spending public money, and openness in Council decision-making.

Contacts:

Nigel Hancock - Programme Manager

Lory Hunter - Commercial & Technical Development Manager

Will Acornley, Head of Operational Services

The Panel considered the report Procurement Options for Waste Management in private session as per the above reasons.