Agenda item

To consider a report of the Leader of the Council and the Deputy Leader

The report provides an update on the business cases and related consultation with stakeholders and the public, completed or ongoing, as they relate to the remit of this Scrutiny Committee. The relevant business cases are as follows:-

·         waste collection – consultation results so far

·         low emission permits – consultation results so far

The Scrutiny Committee is asked to review the proposals and consultation findings relevant to the Committee and provide comments.

Officer Contact: Steve Skelton on 0161 474 3174 or email: steve.skelton@stockport.gov.uk

A report of the Leader of the Council and the Deputy Leader of the Council was submitted (copies of which had been circulated) providing an update on the business cases and related consultation with stakeholders and the public, completed or ongoing, as they related to the remit of this Scrutiny Committee.  The relevant business cases were:-

·         waste collection – consultation results so far

·         low emission permits – consultation results so far

Consultations in relation to resident facing proposals remained open until the end of December 2016 and updated business cases in relation to these would go forward to an extraordinary meeting of the Executive in January. Should there be a significant difference in the final consultation feedback to that reported to this meeting of the Scrutiny Committee, an update would be provided to this Scrutiny Committee for consideration ahead of the Executive's consideration of the 2017/18 Budget in February.

The Executive Councillor (Communities and Housing) (Councillor Sheila Bailey) attended the meeting to respond to Members’ questions.

The following comments were made/issues raised:-

Waste Collection

• Support was expressed for continuing the consultation on the proposals until the end of December 2016, although a Member expressed the view that the fact that over 80% of residents who had currently responded to the consultation strongly disagreed with the proposal for the collection of black bins from two weeks to three weeks (with a slightly bigger bin) was inevitable and the proposal should not have been put forward. The Executive Councillor advised the Scrutiny Committee that the consultation had elicited a number of useful comments and feedback from residents on the current recycling system in Stockport.
• Support was given for the maintenance of a high quality recycling system in Stockport given the extent of budget savings required by the Council and it was important that Members considered a number of proposals to try and improve it.
• The Executive would be considering a series of options in 2017, including whether it would be possible for certain types of plastics to be recycled. Pressure would continue to be put on the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority to examine improvements as to what waste could be recycled.
• It was acknowledged that the onus was on manufacturers to reduce packaging, but a Member enquired what work was being carried out to work with manufacturers on this issue.
• Support was expressed for an education campaign to encourage residents and businesses to recycle more, and ensure that more residents from harder to reach groups in all the Council's communities responded to similar consultations in the future.
• A Member enquired if any information was available on the collection from green bins in the winter given that there was usually only a small number of green, food waste bags in residents' green bins during the winter months.
• The Executive Councillor advised that an initiative would be undertaken to improve the rate of recycling in the buildings in the civic complex and a survey would be carried out with regard to what waste residents were currently putting in their black bins.

Low Emission Permits

• A Member expressed the view that the proposed change to the discount on low emission parking permits appeared to be at variance with the Government's encouragement for the use of lower emission vehicles, but the Executive Councillor pointed out that the Government had changed the tax bands as to who would qualify for discounts as every car produced in the next few years would be a low emission vehicle. The amount of income the Council would be foregoing in the next few years would therefore be considerable at a time when the income from the parking service was in deficit.
• Low emissions only referred to carbon dioxide, not the other particulates which caused damage to the environment.
• A Member enquired whether the proposed change to the discount offered on Low Emission Parking Permits could be phased in for those people who had already purchased a low emission vehicle. Officers had advised that the administrative cost of such a proposal was significant.
• A Member expressed the view that he did not believe the proposed change to the discount offered on Low Emission Parking Permits would be particularly harmful to the environment as a lot of the low emission vehicles were diesel vehicles which were more polluting. He felt that the Scrutiny Committee should examine the work carried out in some of the 'zero diesel' cities in the world.
• With regard to the responses from non-users of low emission permits, the comment that ‘public transport needs to be improved' was of particular importance. The Executive Councillor agreed to support an extension of Metrolink to Stockport through the Council's representatives on the Transport for Greater Manchester Committee.

RESOLVED – That the comments of the Scrutiny Committee be referred to the Executive for consideration.