Agenda and decisions

6.1

UNANIMOUSLY AGREED: That the Waste and Street Scene Policy Committee appoints Councillor Mike Chaplin to serve as Deputy Chair of the Committee.

7.1

This report brings the Committee up to date with the Council’s financial position as at Month 1 2022/23. The report also sets out the proposed budget timetable for the development of the 2023/24 budget

7.2

UNANIMOUSLY AGREED: That the Waste and Street Scene Policy Committee: -

(i) notes the Council’s challenging financial position and the Month 1 position;

(ii) notes the budget timetable set out in this report including the requirement for the Committee to plan to develop budget proposals over the course of the summer;

(iii) notes that the Strategy and Resources Committee agreed at its 31 May 2022 meeting to “require any Policy Committee that is forecasting an overspend on their budget to develop an action plan to address the overspend in-year and ask the Finance Sub-Committee to monitor both the development of any required action plans and delivery against them”; and

(iv) commissions work from officers to develop opportunities to address the underlying inflationary pressures that will continue into next year to bring spend back in line with budget.

7.3

Reasons for Decision

7.3.1

Under section 25 of the Local Government Act 2003, the Chief Finance Officer of an authority is required to report on the following matters:

•        the robustness of the estimates made for the purposes of determining its budget requirement for the forthcoming year; and

•        the adequacy of the proposed financial reserves.

7.3.2

There is also a requirement for the authority to have regard to the report of the Chief Finance Officer when making decisions on its budget requirement and level of financial reserves.

7.3.4

By the law the Council must set and deliver a balanced budget, which is a financial plan based on sound assumptions which shows how income will equal spend over the short- and medium-term. This can take into account deliverable cost savings and/or local income growth strategies as well as useable reserves. However, a budget will not be balanced where it reduces reserves to unacceptably low levels and regard must be had to any report of the Chief Finance Officer on the required level of reserves under section 25 of the Local Government Act 2003, which sets obligations of adequacy on controlled reserves.

7.4

Alternatives Considered and Rejected

7.4.1

The Council is required to both set a balance budget and to ensure that in-year income and expenditure are balanced. No other alternatives were considered.

8.1

The report provides details for the introduction of a 12-week separate food waste collection trial for approximately 8,000 households. The purpose of this trial will be to test the real-life experience of operating food waste collections in Sheffield and inform resource requirements for the future expansion of a permanent food waste collection service across the city. The duration and size of the proposed trial has been determined to provide sufficient data to inform the roll out of food waste collections citywide.

8.2

UNANIMOUSLY AGREED: That the Waste and Street Scene Policy Committee approves the delivery of a 12-week food waste recycling trial, to approximately 8,000 households as detailed in this report; and

The Waste and Street Scene Policy Committee undertook a ballot on the days and areas that should be included in the food waste trial, based on the parameters provided in Appendix 4 of the report to the Committee.

RESOLVED BY BALLOT:

(i)              That the days of collection should be Tuesday – Friday;

(ii)             That for Tuesday the area should be Option 1 (Woodseats, Norton Lees, Meersbrook);

(iii)           That for Wednesday the area should be Option 1 (Chapeltown, Ecclesfield, Burncross);

(iv)           That for Thursday the area should be Option 1 (Arbourthorne, Gleadless Valley); and

(v)             That for Friday the area should be Option 2 (Darnall).

8.3

Reasons for Decision

8.3.1

The Environment Act was enacted into UK Law in November 2021. This will lead to some major changes to Sheffield’s waste and recycling services, including mandating the introduction of separate, weekly food waste collections. Experience of authorities already operating food waste collections, demonstrates wide ranging performance in terms of public participation in food waste collection services and the amount of food waste collected.

8.3.2

Discussions are underway with Veolia to plan for the delivery of a citywide food waste recycling service. However, the wide-ranging factors and influences on scheme performance, and lack of experience of operating food waste collections in Sheffield makes it difficult to model resource requirements, and associated cost

8.4

Alternatives Considered and Rejected

8.4.1

No trial - This would mean that the introduction of a citywide food waste collection service, as mandated through the Environment Act, would be based on a desktop analysis and modelling, and the resource requirements would not be informed by a real life delivery of food waste collections in Sheffield.

8.4.2

Deliver a modified version of the trial over a shorter period and/or with fewer households. This option would reduce the financial cost to the Council for undertaking the trial. However, the collection resources Page 31 Page 12 of 14 5.3 (vehicles and crew would not be fully deployed and there would be minimal saving from this) and the quality and robustness of the service performance data would be reduced.

8.4.3

Carrying out a modified version of the trial over a longer period of time and/or with additional households. This option would incur significant additional costs that would have to be paid by the Council  ...  view the full decision text for item 8.

9.1

The report provides details of a revised Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Driver’s Licence Policy. The Licensing Authority is seeking approval of a revised policy, it was first published in 2016, the policy provides information and guidance on: applications, decision-making, and enforcement. In providing a publicly available document, it allows: transparency, accountability, and consistency.

The licensing authority is responsible for the regulation of hackney carriage and private hire drivers licensed in the district of Sheffield. Primary legislation regulates the industry, namely: Town Police Clauses Act 1847, and Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976.

9.2

UNANIMOUSLY AGREED: That the amendment below is the Substantive Decision of the Waste and Street Scene Policy Committee:

AMENDMENT: That the Waste and Street Scene Policy Committee seek views of Licensing Committee before the policy is approved for implementation; and that the Private Hire and Hackney Carriage Driver Policy returns as a recommendation for decision to this Committee September 2022.

Carried with 7 For, 2 Abstentions and 0 Against.

ORIGINAL RECOMMENDATION FOR DECISION NOT PASSED:That members of the Committee approve the revised Hackney Carriage & Private Hire Drivers Licence Policy to come in to force on 1^st September 2022.

9.3

Reasons for Decision

9.3.1

The Committee want a steer from Licensing Committee before making a decision on implementing the revised Hackney Carriage & Private Hire Drivers Licence Policy. The statutory guidance requires when formulating a taxi and private hire vehicle policy, the primary and overriding objective must be to protect the public. 

9.4

Alternatives Considered and Rejected

9.4.1

The Waste and Street Scene Policy Committee considered the recommendation to approve the policy and rejected it because they wish to seek views of Licensing Committee before making a decision because in setting this policy the Council should intend that the Licensing Committee who will deal with a large number of cases, ensure that cases will be dealt with in a standard way: applying the same criteria and attaching the same weight in each case, and so ensuring consistency and administrative efficiency.

10.1

The report provides details for proposals on how to deliver the £500k investment agreed as a budget amendment for 22/23. This is a one-off budget lift so a mix of invest to save, and one-year improvements are proposed to ensure sustainability.

A 500k budget amendment was agreed for 22/23 with the following accompanying text: ‘Street clean environmental enforcement one-off funding directed specifically to the areas of most need, to deal with issues around litter, vermin and street cleaning.’

10.2

UNANIMOUSLY AGREED: That the Waste and Street Scene Policy Committee agrees the spending proposals in the attached report to cover a mix of clean up increased enforcement and ‘invest to save’ proposals to deliver quick wins in year and sustainable improvements in the city over years to come.

10.3

Reasons for Decision

10.3.1

Local Authorities have various duties to help maintain the local environment. This includes the activities suggested in this report. Under Part 4 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA), local authorities have a statutory duty to keep relevant land free of litter and refuse. Section 33 of the EPA provides for the offence of fly tipping. The Prevention of Damage by Pests Act 1949 requires local authorities to take such steps as may be necessary to secure so far as practicable that their district is kept free from pests.

10.3.2

These proposals offer the best balance of quick wins which most residents and businesses will benefit from, alongside taking opportunities to change and improve how services work and how we work with residents and businesses to prevent problems in the future. This will ensure improvements can be sustained and at the lowest possible cost.

10.4

Alternatives Considered and Rejected

10.4.1

The main alternative option was to put more or all the funding into simply

doing one-year increased cleaning and enforcement and including more

litter clean ups in between contractual Amey cleans. However, there is

the obvious risk from that, in that there is no sustainability once the

money has gone. SCC would risk having to spend another £500k in

23/24 and potentially each year to achieve the same gains. Also having

done a huge clean, but not changed how we work and more prevention

activities, residents would perceive an improvement and then any

subsequent slide very acutely thereby increasing pressure to continue

the £500k each year.

10.4.2

Instead, the proposals assume no additional investment in year 2 or

beyond to maintain the improvements, although there may be further

policy decisions required as the project officers develop proposals. These

could be eg on the future level of waste disposal for community litter

picks off the network if volunteering does increase, although these are

not expected to be large costs compared to the benefit in kind or the

original £500k.