Portfolio Update from Executive Member for Environmental Sustainability
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The Executive Member for Environmental Sustainability, Councillor McAndrew, gave a presentation that covered the following areas of his portfolio:
· Waste, recycling and street cleansing
· Grounds maintenance contract
· Parking
· Climate change and sustainability
· Air quality
· Community transport and transport strategy
The Executive Member said there had been a decline in the recycling rate, mainly due to the higher rate of residual waste being collected than the green waste. He presented data in respect of street cleansing inspections and highlighted the targets for monthly inspections.
The Executive Member also summarised data in respect of missed collections and said that the percentage of collections per month had remained above 99%. He presented some data from 2016 to 2020 in respect of complaints and detailed some of the complaints received.
Members were advised that the parking occupancy rate and parking transactions had slowly increased since the period of free parking at the start of the pandemic in 2020. The Executive Member praised the performance of the Civil Enforcement Officers. He said however, that they had been subjected to physical and verbal abuse by the public.
The Executive Member presented the sustainability changes that had been made to Council premises and also to Council services. He said that the Council had used its regulatory powers to promote actions by others including the adoption of a Sustainability Supplementary Planning Document.
Members were presented with a graph that showed East Herts Council’s journey towards Carbon neutrality by 2030. He spoke about the setting up of a new group a year ago called the Hertfordshire Climate Change and Sustainability Partnership. The Executive Member presented the draft sustainability priorities for 2021/22 and spoke about air quality in East Herts as well the delivery of funding for community transport schemes across the District. He invited the Committee to ask questions following his talk.
The Executive Member responded to questions from Members. Members received the presentation.
RESOLVED – that the presentation be received.