Agenda item

Report of the Cabinet Member Sustainability

The Cabinet Member Sustainability introduced the report as circulated with the agenda which proposed the formation of a Gloucestershire Joint Waste Committee (GJWC).

The report outlined the proposal to coordinate and run waste services countywide. Two of the districts (Gloucester City and Stroud) felt they could not consider this approach at this time due to their existing contractual arrangements. He explained that the general principle behind the creation of the GJWC was to coordinate collection and disposal aspects of waste, create economies of scale through management savings and ultimately combine rounds, vehicles and equipment.

The proposals offered considerable cost savings for CBC at £200k over a 5 year period which was in addition to the savings forecast for the creation of Ubico, the local authority company with Cotswold District Council.

The Cabinet Member highlighted that a number of powers would be reserved to CBC, including the budget and the design of the service.

The Cabinet Member highlighted that the main risk was that all the participating authorities needed to come together to form the business case and to this end he proposed an amendment to resolution e) of the report which read as follows :

“the above recommendations (a) to (d) will not take effect until all the participating authorities referred to in section 1.2 of this report have passed resolutions equivalent  to recommendations (a) to (d) and if any one participating authority does not pass such resolutions then the revised financial model shall be reviewed by Cabinet”

Members supported the proposed amendment agreeing it was right to include provisos.

The Cabinet Member Sustainability also proposed an amendment to paragraph a) of the resolution to read as follows :

a)     accept the financial case set out in (section 5) of the report, subject to explicit costing of the collection costs per household being agreed by the Chief Executive in consultation with the Council Leader, Cabinet Member Sustainability and s151 Officer.

Members supported the amendment.

The Cabinet Member Corporate Services referred to paragraph 3.4 of the report and in particular bullet point three which stated that the support services of the GJWC may be reviewed in the future, which included the use of GO or One Legal. He suggested that this be strengthened so that these two support services were considered for inclusion from the start. This was supported by the Cabinet Member Sustainability and agreed by other Cabinet Members.

RESOLVED that:

(a)             the Financial case set out in (section 5) of the report be accepted, subject to explicit costing of the collection costs per household being agreed by the Chief Executive in consultation with the Council Leader, Cabinet Member Sustainability and s151 Officer;

(b)            the establishment of the Gloucestershire Joint Waste Committee (GJWC) in accordance with Sections 101 and 102 of the Local Government Act 1972, and the Local Authorities (Arrangement for the Discharge of Functions)(England)(Amendment) Regulations 2001 made under Section 20 of the Local Government Act 2000 be agreed; 

(c)             authority be delegated to the Chief Executive in consultation with the Cabinet Member Sustainability, s151 Officer and the Borough Solicitor to finalise and complete the Inter Authority Agreement (including the Constitution), including but not limited to the delegation arrangement for enforcement, the year one Business Plan  and other documentation and to take all necessary steps to create the GWJC  by April 2012;

(d)            the existing Shadow Joint Waste Board and Programme Board arrangements will persist until the end of March 2012 to oversee this process.

(e)             the above recommendations (a) to (d) will not take effect until all the participating authorities referred to in section 1.2 of this report have passed resolutions equivalent  to recommendations (a) to (d) and if any one participating authority does not pass such resolutions then the revised financial model shall be reviewed by Cabinet.

Upon the establishment of the GJWC:

(f)               the delegation to the GJWC of this Council’s  functions in relation to the collection, management, disposal treatment, or recycling of waste and street cleansing described in detail in paragraph 4.1 of this report but subject to the retained decisions as set out in paragraph 4.2 of this report be authorised;

(g)            GloucestershireCounty Council be appointed as Administering Authority to undertake the role  set out in 3.4  of the report;

(h)            Cllr Roger Whyborn and Cllr Steve Jordan be appointed to the GJWC.