Apologies were received from Councillors Cannon, Round and Webb.

Councillor Springett was present as Substitute Member for Councillor Webb.

There were no urgent items, with it noted that the minutes of the previous meeting had been circulated separately.

Whilst not a Visiting Member, it was noted that Councillor Garten was present to speak as a witness for Item 14 – Environmental and Waste Crime Enforcement Review.

There were no disclosures by Members or Officers.

There were no disclosures of lobbying.

RESOLVED: That all items on the agenda be taken in public as proposed.

There was concern expressed that Minute 81 did not include the title of the response, that some Members thought the letter had already been sent to Kent County Council ahead of the call-in and that no further clarification was given at the meeting on the matter.

Consideration of the minutes would be deferred to the next meeting to allow the matter to be reviewed.

RESOLVED: That consideration of the minutes be deferred to the next meeting.

There were no petitions.

There were no questions from Local Residents.

There were no questions from Members.

An updated version of the Cabinet Forward Plan will be available on Friday 13 October 2023, which can be accessed using the link below:

Your Councillors - Maidstone Borough Council

The Principal Democratic Service Officer outlined the changes made to the Cabinet Forward Plan following its republication in case the committee wished to conduct pre decision scrutiny on any of the items.

RESOLVED: That the Cabinet Forward Plan be noted.

The Committee was informed that there had been minimal engagement from the external stakeholders to the Water Management Cycle Review, with it felt that the review should be paused to focus on other items within the work programme.

During the discussion, support was expressed for adding a review of the Integrated Transport Strategy (ITS) to the work programme, due to concerns over the non-delivery of the ITS Schemes, which were intended to support the Council’s 2017 adopted Local Plan and the ongoing Local Plan Review process.

It was felt that a scope should be presented to the Committee for its consideration before a final decision was made. The scope would be discussed by the Chairman, Vice-Chairman and relevant Officers.

RESOLVED: That a review into the Integrated Transport Strategy be agreed in principle, with the Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Officers to discuss a scope for circulation to the Committee ahead of the next meeting, before a final decision was made.  

The Chairman welcomed the witnesses to the Environmental and Waste Crime Enforcement Review, who were identified as follows and provided an introductory statement on their roles and responsibilities:

·  Councillor Garten, Cabinet Member for Environmental Services

·  Jennifer Stevens, Head of Environmental Services and Public Realm

·  John Edwards, Public Realm Operations Manager

·  Carl McIvor, Waste Crime Manager

In response to questions on service provision: 

·  The Head of Environmental Services and Public Realm stated that the use of a private company to enforce litter fines was mutually discontinued, in part due to the negative public perception generated through the company being target driven in issuing fines. The service was then brought in-house;

·  The Waste Crime Team’s (the Team) focus had shifted from littering to fly-tipping, following consultation with the then relevant Service Committee. Littering continued to be monitored, with a focus on littering from vehicles onto the road network;

·  The Public Realm Operations Manager emphasised that providing the service in-house provided greater benefits and flexibility to the service’s provision. It was stated that the Waste Crime Manager had only recently joined the team, with it important to allow the officer to settle in before any decisions were made relating to service provision; and

·  The Cabinet Member stated that it a recruitment process would be undertaken to appoint a street scene officer to deal with on-street littering and increase enforcement action.

Several Members of the Committee expressed concern on the prevalence of litter on the road network and in rural areas. In response, the Public Realm Operations Manager stated that:

·  Cleansing litter from high speed roads carried competing considerations, such as the full lane road closures and verge cutting required by Kent County Council (KCC) as the highways authority, and that Council officers would be required to work night shifts, which would impact daytime resources. The verge cutting exercises had been reduced to thrice annually, but these prevented litter picking from taking place at that time as the waste was cut into smaller pieces. The amended Annual High Speed Road Cleaning Programme could be presented to the Committee in the future for review;

·  Consideration could be given to how the Council could take the lead on high speed road cleaning. 12 new throwing bins would be installed on the A249 and A229 to allow drivers to dispose of their waste whilst moving and prevent littering on the road network and verges;

·  Local Residents were able to submit dashcam footage online to support enforcement action against littering and fly-tipping, with the Waste Crime Manager confirming that action was recently taken against an individual disposing of a cigarette end.

The Cabinet Member emphasised that the increased fixed penalty notice fees agreed in October 2023 had been introduced to address the concerns also raised by the Committee; Any successes would be publicised.

In response to questions on the possible closure of Tovil Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) and the impact that this would have on the Borough:

·  The Head of Environmental Services and Public Realm stated that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

6.30pm to 7.43pm