Agenda and minutes

to approve as a correct record the minutes of the Panel held on 1 July 2021;

O&S.11/21       

The minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel held on 1 July 2021 were confirmed as a correct record.

Members are invited to declare any personal or disclosable pecuniary interests, including the nature and extent of such interests they may have in any items to be considered at this meeting;

O&S.12/21       

Members and officers were invited to declare any interests in the items of business to be considered during the course of the meeting but there were none made. 

A period of up to 15 minutes is available to deal with issues raised by the public;

O&S.13/21

In accordance with the Public Forum Procedure Rules, the Chairman informed that no questions had been received for consideration.

Mr Roger English (AONB Manager) to attend

O&S.14/21       

The Manager of South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty gave an update to the Committee where he outlined the history of the South Devon AONB and how this organisation interacted with South Hams District Council.

The Manager responded to a number of Member questions and it was agreed that he would circulate a follow up submission to Members outside of this meeting. 

to include the actions taken to bring about sustained improvements in the delivery of the waste service

O&S.15/21       

The Executive Member with responsibility for Waste and Recycling, along with relevant officers, presented a report which provided an update on the Council’s waste and recycling contractor’s (FCC) performance since the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 10 June 2021 and the Extraordinary Council meeting held on 17June 2021, as requested at previous Overview and Scrutiny Committee meetings (minutes O&S.03/21 and O&S10/21 refer).

During the update the following points were made:

·           While an improvement in performance was acknowledged, it was far from the improvement the Committee had been expecting.  However, the ‘pingdemic’ and national lack of HGV drivers were noted as having impacted on performance. FCC’s action to increase resources in the area was noted.

·           The Vice Chair gave his thanks to the Executive Member, the Deputy Chief Executive, and the Waste Team for their continued hard work in attempting to resolve this issue. 

·           Section 2.7 Missed Bins was highlighted:  contractual levels were 240 per month, but were currently averaging at 50 per day.  Members considered this to be deeply regrettable.

·           It was estimated that in the region of 500 households were still not receiving a consistent recycling service.

·           Officers were interrogating data from FCC to ensure quality of service on a daily basis, and contacting customers with historical complaints to ensure there was no longer an issue. 

·           FCC were looking to increase storage space for vehicles and increase bay size at the Ivybridge depot.  FCC were also reviewing rounds to ensure the correct mix of vehicles were in place.

·           The Council would require a ‘cast iron’ confirmation from FCC that all issues could be resolved to the timescale that had been agreed at the Extraordinary Council meeting.

·           The Lead Executive Member thought that the issues would not be resolved before the end of this calendar year, but reiterated his commitment to getting the service up and running as quickly as possible.

In light of some Members wishing to raise points that were considered to be of an exempt nature, it was:

RESOLVED

That in accordance with Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business as the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A to the Act is involved.

Once all Members were content that they had no further exempt issues or questions to raise, it was then:

RESOLVED

That the press and public be re-admitted to the Meeting.

It was then:

RESOLVED

That the Committee

1.      is disappointed in the failure of FCC to fulfil its obligations in respect of all the services it is contracted to supply to Council and calls upon them to implement Devon aligned service across the District as soon as possible; and

2.      Requests the Executive Member and officers to provide a performance report on all services provided by FCC by 15 August 2021.

(a)   Climate Change & Biodiversity Action Plan

O&S.16/21       

(a)    Climate Change & Biodiversity Action Plan

Membership of the Task & Finish Group was confirmed.  Members were reminded that, in accordance with the revised Council Constitution, substitutions were permitted but the request was time bound.

It was then:

RESOLVED

That the first meeting be held virtually over Teams on 19 August 2021 at 10:00 am and that a draft set of Terms of Reference to underpin this Review be presented to this meeting for approval.

O&S.17/21       

Following discussions it was agreed that:

·        Council delivery corporate theme 1 would be moved to 4 November 2021 Committee meeting.

·        Devon Home Choice report would be brought to next meeting on 30 September 2021.

·        Whilst confirmation of attendance was awaited, the Dartmoor National Park Chief Executive had been invited to attend the 30 September Committee meeting.

·        Two dates to be fixed at the next meeting for Devon Health & Wellbeing Board and Broadband & Connecting Devon and Somerset representatives to attend.