Agenda and minutes

No apologies were received.

Councillor Wheeldon declared a personal, non-prejudicial interest in agenda item 7 (Update on general use of plastic bags) as he worked in support of an anti-packaging campaign.

23 November 2011

The minutes of the last meeting had been circulated with the agenda. 

Upon a vote it was unanimously

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on the 23 November 2011 were agreed and signed as an accurate record.

These must be received no later than 10am on the fifth working day before the date of the meeting

No public questions had been received.

1. By Council
2. By Cabinet

No matters had been referred to the Committee.

Cabinet Member Built Environment

Cabinet Member Sustainability

The Cabinet Member Built Environment explained that whilst there were still some outstanding issues, he remained hopeful that exchange of contracts for North Place and Portland Street would take place later in the month (January). 

He highlighted the article that had featured in the Gloucestershire Echo earlier in the day about the Brewery Development - Phase 2.  This was good news for the town and whilst not a development for which the Council was responsible it would meet many of its objectives for this part of the high street.  It was now a matter for the Planning Committee to consider the planning application. 

The concept statement for the railway station was released before Christmas and the Government was undertaking public consultation by which people were able to lobby the Government in reference to specific improvements.  He suggested that people would want any franchisee to improve and modernise the station.  A unified response would be agreed at a meeting of the Cheltenham Development Task Force on Friday (20 January) and it was hoped this meeting would provide more clarity on envisaged timescales, which were at present, unclear.

He noted, prior to discussion of the budget, the significant investment being made to improve Grosvenor Terrace Car Park prior to the closure of North Place and Portland Street, which would include repairs and heightened security.  He anticipated work commencing by September 2012 but was, at this stage, unclear about any timescales for the work.

The Cabinet Member Sustainability updated that the Pittville Bridge was now sitting on abutments and would soon be functional.  A programme of works had been circulated to all Members.  He also confirmed that the Montpellier and Imperial Gardens planning application would be considered by the Planning Committee tomorrow (19 January). 

A Member workshop was recently held to discuss branding for the Local Authority Waste Company which had been named ‘Ubico’, which should not be considered an extravagance but a necessity.  A briefing would be circulated to Members in the coming days.  Progress on the formation of a Gloucestershire Waste Committee had stalled and whilst there was general political will, there was also need for a rethink as to how to take this matter forward.  He could offer no timescales at present. 

Discussion about plastic bags was scheduled later on the agenda, but from a Cabinet perspective he invited any ideas or suggestions that would raise awareness of the consequences of plastic bags and/or result in a reduction of those being used.  Admittedly however, these ideas could not involve Council budgets as no funds were available. The plastic bag issue had been covered in the press recently and the Cabinet Member had already received a number of phone calls about alternatives, including bags which were bio-degradable after a period of 18 months.  

The Chair tabled an email she had received from one of her constituents, who had recently contacted the Depot to request a replacement lid for her recycling box.  She was told that the Council now  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Discussion paper of the Climate Change & Sustainability Officer and presentation by Darren Price – Deputy Manager (Marks and Spencer)

The Chair noted that this item had been scheduled at the request of Councillor Fletcher.

The Town Centre Manager introduced Jennie Hall, the Finance and Operations Manager from Marks & Spencers (M&S), in place of her colleague Darren Price who was unable to attend.  He explained that Jennie would make a short verbal presentation to the Committee in relation to the discussion paper that had been circulated and would be unable to answer more general questions about M&S policies, etc.

Jennie stressed the importance of Plan A which was integral to M&S, with 180 commitments to change the way they work, 95 of which had been achieved.

Plastic bags were a key focus for M&S who issued an average of 133 plastic bags per person, per annum.  A 7% reduction in the number of bags issued by M&S would result in 280 million less plastic bags a year.  M&S introduced the 5 pence charge per food bag, as research showed that charging for the use of bags was more effective than offering incentives for not using them and at the same time raised money for charity.  There were currently no plans to charge for any bags other than those for food but the bags used by M&S were better than some, as M&S used recycled polythene.

Other measures adopted by M&S included the Oxfam Clothes Exchange, unsold food sent to anaerobic digestion to generate energy to light and heat stores and a reduction of non-glass packaging.  Full details of the achievements to date and aims for the coming year were set out in the ‘How We Do Business 2011’ report which was available on the M&S website. 

In response to a question from a member of the committee, Jennie confirmed that sales had not been impacted by the introduction of charges for food bags, though some customers were initially reluctant to pay.  The solution was educating customers to kick the habit of using plastic bags.

Responding to a question from a member of the committee the Town Centre Manager proposed that it was in the interest of retailers to reduce the number of plastic bags issued as this would reduce their costs but equally they didn’t want to make it difficult for consumers to purchase goods.  He felt that the drive needed to come from the consumers and highlighted that the Regent Arcade had introduced a programme by which they would exchange a plastic bag for a bag for life. 

Members commended M&S for their efforts, innovation and successes and whilst generally accepting the reasons given by Jennie as to why bag charges didn’t apply to clothing purchases, they felt this should be explored and considered. 

Members recognised that there was no Council funding available to educate consumers and agreed that the focus should be supporting the efforts of the retailers.  Suggestions included;

• Create a webpage on the Council website which outlines the negative impact plastic bags have on the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Cabinet report of the Cabinet Member Finance & Community Development and Chief Finance Officer and presentation by Finance Officer

The Cabinet Member Finance and Community Development introduced the general fund budget proposals in the form of the Cabinet report dated the 13 December. 

The Cabinet Member explained that the budget process for the coming year had been easier than expected.  This was as a result of targeted decisions that had been made in the last budget round but also the Icelandic bank decision which had been dealt with more expeditiously than expected. In addition £250k of New Home Bonus had been built into the 2012/13 base budget and the impact of HRA self-financing was a positive one. On top of this a predicted overspend of more than £500k had been addressed by an immediate freeze on recruitment, supplies and services.

He highlighted the following structural issues, which included low level investment interest.  Car parking income continued to fall, as was the case nationally and he considered that concessionary fares played a role in this decline. The Garden Waste scheme paid for itself but had not generated as much income as envisaged and therefore the estimated revenue had been reduced in next year’s budget.

Whilst this year’s budget had been relatively pain free and saw the continuation of the Council Tax freeze, he warned that the situation would be very difficult in the following financial year as there would effectively be 5 % uplift in expenditure.

Nina Philippidis, Accountant, gave a brief presentation on the budget (see attached).

The Cabinet Member Sustainability elaborated further on a point raised by the Cabinet Member Finance & Community Development and explained that last years budget proposals had included a reduction in mowing of verges.  Whilst this was reinstated last year it was not from the base budget but this year it had been built into the base budget.  This formed part of an agreement between the Council and Gloucestershire County Council (GCC) which included other work such as clearing of ally ways, etc.  GCC were being asked to reconsider their proposal to reduce the budget by £35k and maintain it at the current level in light of this Council’s decision to maintain the ‘top-up’.  At this time there were no plans to renegotiate the contract with GCC.

The following responses were given by the Cabinet Member Finance & Community Development and Accountant, to questions from members of the committee;

• The renewal of the electricity contract had been postponed last year and a 6 month extension entered into.  This formed part of the base budgets and it was hoped that a competitive renewal could be achieved.
• Invest to save schemes with a longer than 5 year pay back period were not considered prudent given the 5 year term of the MTFS. 
• The criteria for recruitment was refined as part of the freeze so vacancies were only filled where entirely necessary. 
• £250k of the New Home Bonus had been built into the base budget and ideally capital would be reinvested in capital.  The Cabinet Member agreed that this funding should not be used to maintain revenue  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The Chair referred Members to the work plan as circulated with the agenda. 

She noted that as a consequence of the Council decision of the 12 December 2011, new scrutiny arrangements would be in place following the May 2012 elections.  Any outstanding items on the work plan would therefore be considered by the new Scrutiny Committee as appropriate.

The Executive Director voiced concerns that Grahame Lewis, who was scheduled to present the CBC Business Continuity Arrangements to the next meeting, may not have returned to work following a recent operation.  As a consequence, she suggested that the Committee schedule a flood update in its place.  Members agreed. 

The Chair requested, on behalf of the Climate Change Working Group, that an update be scheduled for the next meeting.  Members agreed.

Councillor McCloskey asked that a progress review of the Air Quality Management Order group be scheduled on the work plan for the new scrutiny committee to consider in Autumn.  Members agreed.

The Vice Chair suggested that between now and the next meeting, Members consider any items or recommendations it wanted to put forward to the new scrutiny committee for consideration.  Members agreed. 

There were no urgent items for discussion.

29 February 2012

The next meeting was scheduled for the 29 February 2012.