Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors M McCartney and M Topping.

A copy of the Register of Interest for each Selby District Councillor is available for inspection at www.selby.gov.uk.

Councillors should declare to the meeting any disclosable pecuniary interest in any item of business on this agenda which is not already entered in their Register of Interests.

Councillors should leave the meeting and take no part in the consideration, discussion or vote on any matter in which they have a disclosable pecuniary interest.

Councillors should also declare any other interests. Having made the declaration, provided the other interest is not a disclosable pecuniary interest, the Councillor may stay in the meeting, speak and vote on that item of business.

If in doubt, Councillors are advised to seek advice from the Monitoring Officer.

There were no disclosures of interest.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Policy Review Committee held on 20 July 2021.

The Committee considered the minutes of the meeting held on 20 July 2021.

RESOLVED:

To approve the minutes of the Policy Review Committee meeting held on 20 July 2021 for signing by the Chair.

The Chair had no address for the Committee.

To receive an update on and discuss the work of the Low Carbon Working Group.

Members received an update from the meeting of the Low Carbon Working Group, which had met on 23 August 2021.

Carbon Footprint

Officers began by confirming that the Council’s Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions had been calculated by APSE (Association for Public Service Excellence) with the preliminary figure for the Council’s carbon footprint being 2,592 tonnes for the year 2018-2019.Scope 3 included data on the leisure and waste contracts, business mileage, water use, and predicted energy use of built assets.

The updated value for Scope 1 and 2 emissions was 1,348 tonnes (previously 418 tonnes) as this now included owned and leased vehicles used by the Council, including purchase of the waste collection trucks used by Urbaser (was Amey).

Members were notified that the next steps would be to develop a methodology using the LGA carbon emissions accounting toolkit for monitoring, recording and reporting Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions data annually so Officers could track progress. Using the toolkit would also allow a comparison with other local authorities; it was important to understand how to implement this, and how to adopt into each service area.

The option to transfer the Council’s electricity tariff to a renewables tariff were being investigated, but the tariff could be switched in April 2022, in line with our current contract with the energy supplier.

Tree Planting

The Committee noted that the Tree Planting Officer Working Group was to meet with the White Rose Forest Partnership (WRFP) to develop further understanding of the partnership and provide guidance on stakeholder engagement, taking into consideration available resources.

The Council’s own tree planting plans were being developed, with an initial focus on investigating the feasibility of tree planting on Council land, producing wider communications about tree planting and creating landowner engagement in collaboration with the WRFP.

Officers reported that the WRFP Action Plan 2021-2025 was being launched in November 2021 to coincide with National Tree week and would involve significant communications with landowners and local groups to highlight the opportunities for support and funding towards tree planting schemes.

A climate change page for the Council website was also proposed which would include a section on tree planting, providing advice, guidance and external links to available tree planting opportunities, grants and funding. There was also a potential opportunity for community groups in the area to take on roles in the Council Tree Warden Scheme.

Draft Low Carbon Action Plan and Low Carbon Strategy

The Lead Executive Member had suggested that the Council prepare a strategy to go to Executive, followed by the Action Plan at a later date, to allow time to review the resource allocation for the Action Plan and focus on what was achievable. The Executive Member had also attended the last Low Carbon Working Group meeting to outline his thoughts on the draft Low Carbon Action Plan.

Officers had developed a Draft Low Carbon Strategy which had been reviewed by the Leadership Team and the Executive Member, who gave feedback. It was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.

To consider a report that reviews the current bulky waste collection service, and sets out the details of the existing service along with benchmarking information from neighbouring authorities.

The Committee received the report of the Contracts Team Leader which had been brought to committee to allow Members to review the current bulky waste collection service; the report set out the details of the existing service along with benchmarking information from neighbouring authorities.

Officers explained that the collection of domestic waste was governed by the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Controlled Waste regulations 1992. Under regulation 4 of the Controlled Waste Regulations, the Council could charge for the collection of certain items of household waste, which included:

·                     Any article of waste which exceeded 25 kilograms in weight; or

·                     Any article of waste which did not fit, or could not be fitted into a receptacle for household waste provided in accordance with section 46

The Committee noted thar the Council had provided a separate bulky waste collection service for over 20 years. The service had been chargeable since 2005 with a reduced rate payable by those in receipt of certain income related benefits. The current collection charge was £50 for up to 5 items, reduced to £37.50 for those in receipt of a Means Tested Benefit.  A bed base, mattress and headboard would be classed as a single item as would a three-piece suite or dining table and chairs. At the point of booking, residents were given a specific date for collection, which was usually within 10 working days.

Members also noted that despite collections being suspended during April and May 2020 due to Covid-19, the total number of collections carried out during the year was 16% higher than the previous year.

Also in attendance for this item was the Executive Lead Member for Health and Culture.

The Committee asked why collection rates had increased despite the service being suspended for a short while due to the pandemic; Officers thought that the increase could be down to residents doing more DIY at home and taking the pandemic as an opportunity to clear out their homes, therefore producing more material and items that needed disposal.

Members were complimentary about the service and felt that it was delivered consistently and well with reasonable pricing compared to the rest of the county.

Officers were asked if there had been an increase in fly tipping over the past two years and explained that for specific figures, they would need to supply these to the Committee after the meeting. Members noted that when the pricing structure for bulky waste collection had been changed previously there had been no increase in the level of fly tipping.

The Committee asked Officers to bring back a further report on fly tipping to them as it was a matter that required relatively frequent consideration.

RESOLVED:

The Policy Review Committee noted the report.

To consider and comment on a report on homelessness, following discussions at the Committee’s July 2021 meeting.

Councillor T Grogan left the meeting at this point and did not return.

The Committee were asked to consider and comment on a report about homelessness in the district, presented by the Private Sector Housing Officer and Housing Options Supervisor.

Members noted that Homelessness came to the attention of the Policy Review Committee following an update on Universal Credit (UC) which was discussed at its meeting in July 2021. There had been a national rise in the number of people claiming Universal Credit, which had also been seen in Selby i.e., in October 2020 there were 4,131 claimants in the Selby area, whilst the latest figures in April 2021 showed 5,626 claimants.

Officers explained that measures to help with the economic impacts of COVID-19 were received by the Council (a hardship fund, which in 2020/21 was used to help 2,300 claimants). However, the government’s additional uplift for UC claimants was now coming to an end, along with many other support schemes, and it was therefore important to consider the impact of this on residents. This could include increasing debt, potential evictions, reduced funding assistance and general conditions which could exasperate the plight of those close to homelessness or already experiencing it.

The Committee asked a number of questions of Officers, starting with how the Council got to know about rough sleepers in the district and how many there were currently. Officers explained that various sources were used, including notification by the public and the Streetlink service. The Homelessness Team would go out to try and find the person the same day in order to offer assistance. There was one rough sleeper in the district at present that the team knew of, with the annual estimated number (calculated on a single night in November each year) being around five.  

Members noted that there had been an increase in requests for housing due to landlord evictions; the temporary suspension of bailiffs had been good, but it had also given a false sense of security, as the notice periods for evictions was back to two months.

The team produced personalised homelessness plans for those that needed it and had emergency accommodation that could be accessed if required; the district’s thriving private rented sector was crucial in providing such accommodation. The majority of people needing to access emergency accommodation in the pandemic were in private sector homes.

Members praised the Homelessness Action Plan and asked how those people at risk of homelessness became aware of the services they could access to help them. Officers explained that to ensure the information was out there the team did a great deal of partnership working, produced leaflets for inclusion in foodbank parcels, worked with the Citizens Advice Bureau and other voluntary agencies and lastly through direct customer contact.

The Committee were very impressed with the work of the team and how committed they were to what they did. Members expressed concern that in the next few months there would be a very difficult crisis period when support  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

Following on from Officer’s presentation in March 2021, a verbal update on the payment of COVID-19 Business Grants by the Council.

Officers gave a verbal update on the payment of Covid-19 grants.

Members noted that over 500 businesses had been forced to close in the November and January national lockdown and these businesses had received grant payments totalling £5.9 million; pubs also received an additional £150,232 in grants in separate schemes.

The Committee also acknowledged that the Restart Grant, which was announced in the Budget from 1 April onwards, had now closed for applications. A total of £4,098,032.00 had been paid to 535 businesses in individual grants ranging from £2,667 to £18,000. The amount of grant per business was determined by the sector the business was in, i.e., retail, leisure and the rateable value of the property.

Officers explained that the discretionary Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) scheme had been paid to businesses from the November lockdown onwards in phases, to support them through ongoing restrictions; 373 businesses received grants totalling £2,637,506. As all the original funding allocation of £2.6 million was distributed within the required timescale from central government, the Council had secured a further funding pot in order to continue providing assistance; £673,000 was received.

Members were informed that a third phase of funding was considered for those businesses that could evidence that the delay of the recovery roadmap and continuing restrictions had caused them reduced trade and they still had fixed costs of the business to maintain. This phase had now closed with 73 businesses receiving a further £470,073 in grant support payments.

Officers stated that the amount left in the fund was £170,803. A total of £3,119,579.00 had been paid out, and any unallocated spend after 31 March 2022 would need to be returned. Demand for the third phase was low so it was not envisaged that any further grants could be paid.

Officers were able to confirm that there weren’t many fraudulent applications and that the Council’s checking service was very robust.

RESOLVED:

                        The Policy Review Committee noted the update.

To consider the Committee’s work programme.

The Committee considered the work programme for 2021-22.

Officers discussed adding fly tipping to the work programme alongside the litter picking item at the October meeting, as requested by Members earlier in the meeting, but that this would need to be discussed with the relevant team first.  

The draft Corporate Policy Framework was taking longer than expected to develop as it was complex and wide ranging; as such, it was unclear as to which meeting this could be presented at. Members would be kept informed.

Members agreed the work programme as presented.

RESOLVED:

To note the work programme for 2021-22.