MINUTES OF A MEETING OF

THE EXECUTIVE

HELD IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBER ON THURSDAY 13 APRIL 2023

 

Members in attendance:

* Denotes attendance

Ø Denotes apologies for absence

*

Cllr K J Baldry

*

Cllr T R Holway

*

Cllr H D Bastone (Vice Chairman)

*

Cllr N A Hopwood

*

Cllr J D Hawkins

*

Cllr J A Pearce (Chairman)

 

Non-Executive Members also present either in person or remotely for all or part of the meeting:

Cllrs Abbott, Austen, Birch, Brown, Long, Reeve, Rowe, Smerdon, Spencer and Taylor

 

Officers in attendance and participating:

All items

 

Chief Executive, Deputy Chief Executive, Section 151 Officer, Director – Strategy & Governance (via Teams) Monitoring Officer; Democratic Services Manager; Assistant Director – Strategy & Organisational Development (via Teams) Assistant Director - Waste & Operations; Principal Project Manager

 

E.93/22          MINUTES

                       

The minutes of the Executive meeting held on 2 March 2023 were confirmed as a true and correct record.

 

 

E 94/22          DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

                       

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

 

 

E.95/22          PUBLIC QUESTION TIME

The Leader informed that no public questions had been received in accordance with the Executive Procedure Rules.

 

 

E.96/22          EXECUTIVE FORWARD PLAN

 

Members were presented with the most recently published version of the Executive Forward Plan that set out items on the agenda for Executive meetings for the next four months and duly noted its contents.

 

 

 

E.97/22          WASTE AND RECYCLING SERVICE UPDATE

 

A report was considered that provided an update on the progress and performance of the waste service since it returned to Council control on 3 October 2022.

 

Upon the conclusion of the lead Executive Member introduction, some questions of clarity were asked with regard to the costings.  It was also confirmed that reference to fly tipping was incorporated within the overall street cleaning service.

 

In the ensuing debate, reference was made to:

 

(a)  the tireless work of the lead Executive Member and lead officers.  In recognition of the volume of work that had been undertaken to reach this point, a number of Members wished to formally put on record their specific thanks to the lead Member, lead officers and the service operatives;

 

(b)  the need to focus on the future of the waste and recycling service.  Members emphasised the importance of the Council now concentrating its collective efforts on looking forward to the future of the service rather than reflecting on recent history.

 

It was then:

 

RESOLVED

 

1. That the successful transfer of the service, the improvement in service performance and the key operational risks that the service was operating under, be noted.

 

2. That Council be RECOMMENDED:

 

(a)  To utilise the Vehicle and Plant Earmarked Reserve and the one-off implementation budget, to purchase end of life fleet replacements and the fleet required for the roll out of the remaining properties onto the Devon Aligned Service (DAS) in October 2023 which is anticipated to cost £2.16million;

 

(b)  To use internal borrowing of up to £0.5million to fund the improvements to the Torr Depot, with the associated revenue costs of £35,000 per annum for 25 years (the life of the asset) being financed by efficiencies and savings delivered by the service;

 

(c)   To allocate £180,000 from the Revenue Grants Earmarked Reserve to fund additional project management capacity; and

 

 

 

(d)  That the setting of fees and charges for the waste and recycling service is delegated to the Director for Customer Service and Delivery, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, the lead Executive Member for waste and recycling and the Section 151 Officer.

 

 

E.98/22          CONCLUDING COMMENTS

 

                        As this was to be the final Executive meeting of this Council term, the Deputy Leader offered the thanks of the Executive to the Leader of Council for her hard work and dedication in leading the Council through challenging times.

 

                        In response, the Leader thanked the Executive Members and Council staff alike for their hard work and cited this Council term as an excellent example of what collaborative working was able to achieve.

 

 

(Meeting commenced at 10.00 am and concluded at 10.25 am)

 

 

______________________

Chairman

 

 

(NOTE: THESE DECISIONS, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF MINUTE E.97/22 (PART 2 a-d) (WHICH ARE RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE COUNCIL MEETING TO BE HELD ON 13 APRIL 2023) WILL BECOME EFFECTIVE FROM 5.00PM ON MONDAY, 24 APRIL 2023 UNLESS CALLED IN, IN ACCORDANCE WITH SCRUTINY PROCEDURE RULES)