Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Deputy Bill Fraser, Deputy Pauline Halliday, Vivienne Littlechild, Alderman Ian Luder, Deputy Janet Owen and Deputy Gerald Pulman.

The Chairman, John Tomlinson, declared a personal interest in respect of item 12 as a Member of the Barbican Residential Committee.

To agree the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 12 September 2012.

The minutes of the meeting held on 12 September 2012 were approved as a correct record..

The Chairman drew Members attention to Item 12 of the minutes (Questions on matters relating to the work of the Committee) and informed the Committee that he would revise the wording of this in coalition with Officers. 

MATTERS ARISING

[OK1] 

Matters Arising (Item 3) –

a)     Members discussed the ‘Love Clean Streets’ mobile app and were informed that a report analysing the usage of the app would be submitted to Committee for consideration in six months’ time.  

b)     Members wereinformed that an update on the Time Banding Scheme would be submitted to the Committee for consideration in May 2013.

c)     In respect of Rose Alley, the Director informed Members that Officers continued to investigate ways to improve the maintenance and a walkabout visit with the Chairman, Deputy Chairman and other interested Members would be arranged prior to Christmas.  Furthermore, one Member advised that the ladders, property of a window cleaner’, were still in the vicinity, and requested that this matter be followed up.

Some Members informed Officers that they had recently witnessed illegal trading activity taking place at Middlesex Street Market. Members queried whether trading areas were being pitched larger than the square in line with CoL policy, and whether traders were sub-contracting their stalls to other traders.  The Director informed the Committee that he was not aware of any recent illegal trading activity taking place at Middlesex Street Market or any of the 42 pitches being sub-contracted and only registered licence holders

To note actions arising from previous meetings.

Members considered the outstanding actions document and noted that the Waste Strategy timeline would be updated to reflect delays in the project.    A workshop session for Members in respect of the Strategy would take place in December prior to the document being published for public consultation and a date would be circulated to Members in due course.

Report of the Director of Public Relations.

(The Chairman agreed to consider item 11 at this point in the meeting).

Consideration was given to a report of the Director of Public Relations which provided an update on Public Relations activities in support of the services for which the Port Health and Environmental Services Committee was responsible during the period of October 2011 to September 2012.  [OK1] 

RECEIVED.

Report of the Town Clerk.

Consideration was given to a report of the Town Clerk in respect of the Governance arrangements of the Health and Wellbeing Board following significant changes made by the Health and Social Care Act 2012.

Officers informed Members that the role of the Health and Wellbeing Board was being given serious consideration by local authorities. Therefore, it was proposed that the Chairman of Community and Children’s Services Committee, the Chairman of the Port Health and Environmental Services Committee and the Chairman of the Energy and Sustainability Sub-Committee, and three Members of the CoCo or their representatives be appointed to form part of the Health and Wellbeing Board. Discussions ensued regarding the early appointment of CoCo Members to the Board to ensure they could shadow current Members of the Board during the transition phase.

The Town Clerk clarified that the Chairman of the Committee could delegate this position to a Member they deemed suitable for the role.Members asked for this to be reflected in the Proposed Membership document.

RESOLVED:- That,

a)     the steps to be taken to set up the Health and Wellbeing Board in the form of a standalone Committee of the Common Council including the timetable for consultation be noted;

b)     the following be endorsed:-

i)                 The Terms of Reference of the Health and Wellbeing Board;

ii)                the Membership of the Board as at April 2013; and

the convention that Chairman of the Board should be a Member of the CoCo, to ensure suitable representation at the Court of Common Council.

iii)               

Joint report of the Chamberlain, Director of the Built Environment, Director of Markets and Consumer Protection and Director of Open Spaces.

Consideration was given to a joint report of the Chamberlain and Directors of the Built Environment, Markets and Consumer Protection and Open Spaces which provided the annual submission of the revenue and capital budgets report.

The Chairman congratulated Officers on a well written report.  Officers informed Members that budgets had been prepared within the resources allocated to each Director, however the Director of Markets and Consumer Protection had only achieved this through inclusion of £250,000 as unidentified savings.  In order to meet his resource allocation, the Director of Markets and Consumer Protection included this figure as a result of reduction in Port Health income due to a decrease in trade and in light of proposed changes to animal imports and checks at the Heathrow Animal Reception Centre.

The Director of the Built Environment informed the Committee that £153,000 would be transferred from the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme (LATS) Reserve to the department’s local risk budget during 2013/14 to meet the increased cost of agency staff for public conveniences.

The Chairman requested a progress report regarding budget developments be submitted to the Committee for consideration in due course.

RESOLVED:-

a) The Committee approved the budget for submission to the Finance Committee;

1)     b[OK1] ) The Committee approved the draft capital budget; and

2)     c) The Committee authorised the Chamberlain to revise the budgets to allow for further implications arising from potential budget developments, including PP2P reviews, the implementation of the City of London Procurement Service, changes to the Additional Works Programme and changes in respect of recharges.

Report of the Director of the Built Environment.

Consideration was given to a report of the Director of the Built Environment which provided an update on the Public Conveniences Strategy to ensure toilets were provided of a type, in locations and at a time that suited potential users.  

Members queried whether the cost of using the facilities was deterring members of the public from using the facilities. The Director informed Members that the charge of 50p was consistent with other Local Authorities such as the city of Westminster and seemed to be accepted by users given the low number of complaints.

Discussions ensued regarding the non-use of the facilities at locations in Bishopsgate and Cheapside[OK1] . The Director informed Members that having considered an analysis of the usage trends it would appear that opening these facilities would not be cost-effective. However, the Director agreed to further analyse the use of facilities at Bishopsgate, and whether it would be cost effective to open the facilities at this location. He also agreed to consider whether the toilet for the use of people with disabilities at the Monument could be made available to the general public although concern was expressed that the facility may be too small for such use.

Members queried whether further locations could be included in the community Toilet Scheme (CTS) scheme. The Director informed Members that as this was a voluntary scheme potential members were always welcome to take part. There was no strategy on targeting specific wards, but the scheme relied on services joining voluntarily.

RESOLVED:- That,

1)     the actions taken be noted and the Corporation continue to support the Public Conveniences Strategy;

2)     the current charging policy at Tower Hill and Paternoster Square with a 50p charge be continued;

3)

Report of the Director of the Built Environment.

Consideration was given to a report of the Director of the Built Environment regarding the First Year Performance Review of the Domestic Waste Collection and Street Cleansing Contract with Enterprise Managed Services Limited (EMS).

The Director informed the Committee that EMS had delivered very well in relation to what was an extraordinary year given the significant number of Jubilee and 2012 Olympic Games events. They had also done well in accommodating the Corporation’s Time Banding project in relation to bagged waste and maintaining standards during the Occupy Protest.  Members proposed a vote of thanks be passed from the Committee to the street cleaning staff for the quality and speed of their clean-up operation following the Lord Mayor’s Show on 10 November 2012.

Members queried whether using less vehicles to clean the City’s streets after events would reduce the cost, however the Director informed Members that many of the vehicles were used free of charge as companies enjoyed the free advertising that came with donating their vehicles to street cleaning.  Members discussed the use of advertising on Renew-Recycling bins located in the City, and asked Officers to ensure the adverts displayed were current and constantly updated. The Director informed Members that an update report on the effectiveness of Renew Bins would be submitted to the Committee for consideration in September 2013.

RECIEVED.

Joint report of the Director of the Built Environment and the Director of Markets and Consumer Protection.

Consideration was given to a joint report of the Director of the Built Environment in respect of Enhanced Working Hours for Street Works in the City.

The Directors informed Members that initiative was formed as part of a project launched by the previous Town Clerk and Officers were pleased with the cross-directorate collaboration, and the work undertaken by the City’s term contractor Riney.

Members queried why some sites were idle and whether they should report these locations to the Director, and whether penalties could be imposed on the contractors causing noise pollution on site.  Members asked what criteria would be used to decide which sites in streets marked as ‘Amber’ would be included in the Enhanced Working Hours for Street Works scheme.  The Director informed Members that a team of three Officers monitored street works and any noise pollution would be investigated.  Idle sites should be marked with a sign explaining why the site was not in use, and Members were invited to report idle sites without signage to Officers.  Sites in streets marked as ‘Amber’  would be considered in detail in relation to the length of works, anticipated traffic disruption and likely noisy occurrences and discussed with the Environmental Health Officers to determine the benefits of extended hours given the likelihood of any noise pollution which may occur and the duration of the works.  Therefore, consultation on this scheme was very important and consultation with residents and businesses would be very important during the process.

Members queried the site at London Wall where the current Cross Rail work had blocked one lane of the highway; however, the lane was not in regular use by heavy goods vehicles. Officers agreed to investigate this matter further.

RESOLVED – That,

1)     a) the general principle of

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services which outlined the development of the draft City of London Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

The Chairman requested that the proposed priorities detailed on page 123 of the report required quantifying and that feedback on the changes should be reported back to the Committee.

RESOLVED:- That the proposed priorities detailed on page 123 of the report be quantified and that feedback on the changes be reported back to the Committee.

A question was raised in relation to what action the City had taken and what further action would be taken vis–à–visthe case of a recurring fire alarm sounding at the Barbican Centre and the receipt of a complaint from a resident.

The Director explained that the complaint had been raised with the Director of the Barbican Centre. The Complainant had reported a recurring fire alarm, however by the time Officers visited the site the alarm had stopped sounding. The Director agreed to investigate this matter further.

Any items of business that the Chairman may decide are urgent.

There were no items of urgent business.

MOTION – That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of the Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

Item No.                                              Paragraph(s) in Schedule 12A

RESOLVED - That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of the Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

To agree the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 12 September 2012.

The non-public minutes of the meeting held on 12 September 2012 were considered.

Report of the City Surveyor.

Consideration was given to a report of the City Surveyor regarding the refurbishment of the traditional crematorium at the City of London Cemetery.

There were no questions.

There were no items of urgent business.