Wrthi'n llwytho
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1.1 The Chair welcomed Members and Officers to the meeting. 1.2 There were apologies from Councillor Elizabeth Haynes.
2.1 There were no interests declared.
3.1 The minutes of the previous Cleaner Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 7 March 2024 were confirmed as an accurate record.
4.1 Councillor Lynda Clarkson raised item 3 on the action sheet and highlighted that ward-by-ward data wasn’t available to be distributed to members, and the SO confirmed that the action sheet would be amended to show this. All other actions had been completed and the Committee agreed to remove these.
5.1 The Chair introduced the item and following the EM briefly introduced the report before introducing the HoWT to go through the report in more detail. 5.2 In response to Members’ questions the officers and Executive Member provided the following answers: • HoWT – A number of measures had been taken, as part of the Raise the Rate Campaign as well as the Strategic Improvement Programme, which had brought TCBC closer to its recycling target. There had been a need to look at enforcement to drive TCBC to the 70% target. DCOH&CC – The main issue we had encountered had been engagement. We worked with our Communications team to improve engagement with our communities and remind them of the need to recycle. Welsh Government (WG) were happy with the positive trajectory we had demonstrated to hit the target within 2024/25. • HoWT - The drop in recycling performance shown during quarters 3 & 4 from section 3.1 of the report, had been due to a drop in garden waste recycling, although it was confirmed that this had been expected. • HoWT - Green waste had not been considered as part of the Enforcement Policy but had been considered as part of the wider Waste Strategy. The HoWT emphasised that legislation changes around what was collected was continuously tracked and this had targets being regularly reviewed. • EM – Considerations of residents who faced challenges to recycle were considered as part of the Policy, particularly residents who had access and space issues or those who were in terraced housing. The EM stated that whilst she was confident TCBC had done everything to take disadvantaged residents’ needs into account, she recognised that there were still areas of improvement. HoWT – TCBC had been keen to ensure residents were supported and work had been done as part of the Strategic Improvement Programme researching other Local Authorities best practices and that feedback was fed into both the Policy and wider Waste Strategy. DCOH&CC – In response to a question around recycling considerations being included in future housing plans, the Deputy Chief Officer stated that this was something that would be looked into but had not been considered within the Waste Strategy. • DCOH&CC - The rental lease for the existing Recycling Transfer Station expired in March 2027 but there was no timescale in place for a new site. He did however state that feasibility studies had been conducted on several locations and Members would be updated when information was available. • HoWT – In response to a question on how TCBC increased the number of residents in flats ability to recycle, it was stated that a report had been drafted which had reviewed past performance and there had been no significant effect to the overall Borough target of 70% from these properties. The priority of the work completed had been on those areas that had given the greatest improvements to the overall target. EM – As stated the impact on the overall target was minimal, but residents in flats had expressed a willingness to contribute to the Borough target and this had been encouraged. • HoWT – Across Torfaen there were several collection points for residents to recycle plastic film. It was the HoWT’s assumption that this information had been made available on the TCBC website. Part of the Raise the Rate campaign had involved regular communications around what plastics could be recycled in an effort to help educate residents on what we had been asking of them, in an effort to bring us closer to our overall recycling target. • HoWT – There had not been any data on Section 46 Notices issued in Torfaen included in the report as the data that was held only dated back a few years and there had been none issued in that time. Although there were examples of other authorities’ data that were included in the report to give the committee some context in the absence of data held by ourselves. • HoWT - The number of Raise the Rate surveys that were completed and returned were 1529. • HoWT – There had been campaigns around educating residents on food waste recycling and campaigns had also been introduced focussing on education and engagement ahead of the enforcement policy being implemented. More detailed communications would also be released to help us reach our target looking at education and we had attended local events to further engage with residents. Food recycling waste would be the next key area targeted through Comms, larger families were able to request larger bins and once requested a review would be undertaken involving an Officer attending the property to confirm this was a necessity and recycling was being done as much as possible. The HoWT reiterated that literature would be sent out advising residents on what could and could not be recycled but this would need to be an ongoing action to ensure residents were regularly updated on any changes. DCOH&CC –Officers have attended engagement activities in the communities but have also engaged with schools and pupils. In past engagement campaigns it was noticed that by educating the children on issues they would then help with educating their parents. It was important that we made sure that all comms around the policy as well as the recycling offer were clear and simple and ensured that it was reached by the largest possible audience. EM – It was important that we engaged effectively with residents and educated all residents as changes in the recycling industry were relatively regular. It was important that enforcement was used as a last resort for those residents that were refusing to recycle and contribute to the Borough’s target, but the vast majority of residents wanted to contribute, and these residents were supported to continue doing their best to contribute. Clear information needed to be issued ahead of the Enforcement Policy being implemented to ensure that residents were able to recycle as much as possible and were aware of when enforcement action would be taken. • HoWT – The key message of the Enforcement Policy had been to engage with and educate our residents first and that enforcement action would only be taken as a last resort. The HoWT accepted that there was a common misconception around this based off the public comments submitted and discussions had been had with our Communications Team to ensure that this message had got across to residents and reassured them of the approach of the policy. • HoWT – On TCBC’s website there was an A-Z of what materials were recyclable and this had been kept updated when new materials needed to be added. Other than the website, literature had been provided to residents, to ensure those who did not have access to online services had been notified and there had also been discussions around officers attending more community events to further reach residents. • HoWT – It was important that the policy maintained a sense of reasonableness and that action was not taken until officers had a chance to engage first, particularly when it came to issues around top-hatting and side waste. It was important for officers to understand why this was happening as advice would firstly be given to ensure this did not result in a persistent issue. An email had been sent by the HoWT to all Members which had requested feedback as Members had specialist knowledge of their own Wards. • HoWT – In terms of visits from Officers, based on the information that was provided by Blaenau Gwent, visits were encouraged to be no longer than 10 minutes at a property and limits had been set on the number of visits Officers could undergo to households to engage, although the HoWT did state that this would ultimately need to be looked at on a case-by-case basis. • HoWT – The Enforcement Team would be internal to TCBC and by keeping it as an internal team this would allow TCBC to employ an engagement first strategy. If enforcement were to be outsourced to an external contractor, then this would most likely lead to more FPN’s being issued. DCOH&CC – The Enforcement Team would be made up of new posts within the Economy & Environment department. • HoWT – As previously mentioned TCBC were keen for Members to provide feedback particular to their Wards, which could be used to identify areas that need to be targeted. Officers had also gathered feedback from crews to further identify areas that needed to be targeted. • HoWT – Additional bins were available, if necessary, but that required an Officer to attend the household and conduct an assessment to determine if this could be allowed. There had not been any considerations made for these measures to be short-term should a household require it. • HoWT - Residents who encountered issues around recycling, due to vulnerabilities, were able to have allowances made when it came to FPN’s. Comms and engagement were vital to ensure residents were aware of this. DCOH&CC – The approach needed for vulnerable residents would be flexible. • HoWT – TCBC officers had led on engagement campaigns, and information had been shared later with Councillors. • HoWT – When creating the draft policy officers had worked with Property Management companies, landlords, WRAP Cymru and other Local Authorities, using the advice and guidance gathered alongside our own existing policies. DCOH&CC – We also worked with WG, the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) and the Treasury Department to develop the policy. • DCOH&CC – Feedback regarding the draft letters and the style and tone being more accessible and informal had been appreciated and had been taken on board. HoWT – The letters included in Appendix 1 were taken from templates provided by WG. Initial letters had been discussed around making them more accessible but later letters would need to be in a more formal tone. • HoWT – It was not expected that we would see an increase in fly-tipping as a result of the policy, and after liaising with other local authorities there was no evidence to suggest they had seen an increase in this either. We had engaged with our Streetscene team as well as they would have had knowledge of hotspots and we had also tackled incorrect side waste. • EM – The 70% target had been set by WG and the key message they wanted to promote with this target was the need to address the climate emergency. HoWT – The Recycling Target is in place to reduce the amount of residual waste that gets sent to generate energy from waste. The fiscal implications were important but were in place to encourage the recycling number to increase. 5.3 Officers and the EM left the meeting and members and the SO and TD&MSO remained.
6.1 The next meeting would be held on Thursday, 5 September 2024 and would be the Visioning Session for the upcoming Scrutiny year. 6.2 The meeting ended at 12.26pm
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