Agenda and minutes

Apologies were reported on behalf of Alderman McCoubrey and Councillors Austin, Campbell and Keenan.

            The minutes of the meeting of 7th January were taken as read and signed as correct. It was reported that those minutes had been adopted by the Council at its meeting on 2nd February.

No declarations of interest were reported.

The Committee considered the undernoted report:

“1       Relevant Background Information

1.1    The figures presented in this report cover the second quarter of the financial year i.e. the period from October 2014 to December 2014.  Monitoring figures were measured by Cleansing Services Quality Officers.  Enforcement, Dog Warden and Education and Awareness information was supplied by the Customer Support Service, Dog Warden Service and the Community Awareness Section within Cleansing Services, who were responsible for these functions over the period concerned.

1.2    The monthly monitoring programme consists of a random 5% sample of streets throughout the city being inspected and graded.  From the grading, a Street Cleanliness Index is calculated and plotted for the various areas of the city, and the city as a whole.

1.3    The index range is from 1 to 100; with a Cleanliness Index of 67 being regarded as an acceptable standard by Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful.  The results show the trends on a month to month basis.  To alleviate the influence of spurious results on the overall index, the results are averaged over the last 4 surveys.  Spurious results may occur for reasons such as adverse weather conditions, seasonal problems etc.

2       Key Issues

2.1    The overall city wide cleanliness index for this quarter is 74.  This is a decrease compared to the score for the previous quarter’s cleanliness index of 75.  The index for the same period in the previous year was 74.  A cleanliness index of 74 is above the target set and is considered an extremely good level of cleanliness.

2.2    The breakdown by individual area is as follows:

2.3    North

         The North Cleanliness Indices for October 2014 to December 2014 were 72, 74 and 73 respectively.  This represents a decrease for all three months, with October (down 4), November (down 1) and December (down 1) by comparison to those figures for the same period in the previous financial year viz. 76, 75 and 74 respectively. 

         The area is however maintaining a good level of cleanliness.

2.4    South

         The South Cleanliness Indices for October 2014 to December 2014 were 78, 77 and 76 respectively.  This represents an increase for October (up 3), a similar score for November (77), and an increase for December (up 2) by comparison to those figures for the same period in the previous financial year viz. 75, 77 and 74 respectively. 

         The area is maintaining a very good level of cleanliness.

2.6    East

         The East Cleanliness Indices for October 2014 to December 2014 were 77, 77 and 74 respectively.  This represents an increase for October (up 2), an increase for November (up 3) and a decrease for December (down 2), by comparison to those figures for the same period in the previous financial year viz. 75, 74 and 76 respectively. 

         The area is maintaining a very good level of cleanliness.

2.6    West

         The West Cleanliness Indices for October 2014 to December 2014 were 73, 72 and 71 respectively.  This represents an increase for October (up 1), a similar score for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

The Committee considered the undernoted report:

“1          Relevant Background Information

1.1       Members will be aware that the Belfast Policing and Community Safety Partnership (PCSP), and the four District PCSPs (DPCSPs), were formally established in May 2012.  These Partnerships are facilitated by the Council and overseen regionally by a Joint Committee consisting of representatives from the Department of Justice and the Northern Ireland Policing Board.  Membership is made up of elected representatives, independent members (publicly appointed) and statutory/voluntary designated organisations which play a role in tackling crime and anti-social behaviour. 

1.2       In the 2014/2015 financial year, the Joint Committee provided the PCSP with £761,520 of which £486,520 and £275,000 was directed towards service delivery and core costs respectively.  Members will also be aware that a further £122,500 of the Health and Environmental Services Department’s revenue estimates was allocated to the (D)PCSPs to support service delivery.

1.3       (D)PCSPs aim to make our community safer. They do this by focussing on the policing and community safety issues that matter most in local areas.  They consult and engage with the local community to identify and prioritise issues of concern in relation to policing and community safety and develop plans to tackle these issues.  They also monitor police performance and work to gain the co-operation of the public with the police in preventing crime; and deliver a reduction in crime and enhance community safety through various interventions and initiatives.

2          Key Issues

2.1       2014/2015

            In 2014/2015, the (D)PCSPs have successfully delivered a series of community safety and policing initiatives across the city.  Some examples of this work include:

            Strategic Contribution

2.2       The role of Belfast PCSP is to develop a strategic citywide response to policing and community safety needs.  Some examples of this work are:

2.3       Human Trafficking – Belfast PCSP has continued to develop new and innovative ways of raising awareness of Human Trafficking not only in Belfast but across Northern Ireland.  This approach has taken many forms including:

·        Frontline Service Providers event attended by 200 representatives from the hospitality industry, taxi drivers, council officers and postal workers.  This event was designed to improve knowledge among front line workers of the ‘tell tale’ signs of human trafficking to improve detection. 

·        The PCSP is represented on the NI Assembly Strategic Group tasked with raising awareness of this issue.  This approach has been recognised and supported by the Minister for Justice, David Ford, OFMDFM Junior Ministers Jonathan Bell and Jennifer McCann and the National Crime Agency.

·        Hosted in conjunction with the Lord Mayor, the EU Anti-Trafficking Co-Ordinator, Maria Vassiladou to learn about the European approach to the issue. 

·        Launched the Human Trafficking Gift Box on the front lawn of City Hall.  This initiative was the first of its type in Ireland which provided the community with a chance to learn more on this issue.

·        Commissioned an awareness raising DVD and online campaign endorsed by the Minister for Justice.  To date, 1,000 DVDs have been distributed as part of the training package.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

            The Head of Environmental Health reminded the Committee that, following the Council meeting on 2nd February, a letter had forwarded to the Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development requesting that, in the interest of safety, consideration be given to removing the statutory requirement for all dogs to bear the address of their owner. 

            She confirmed that a response had been received from the Minister which stated that there was a requirement under the Dogs (Licensing and Identification) Regulations 2012 for the keeper of a dog to ensure that it had the name and address of the keeper attached to it, and that that had been a legislative requirement since 1983.  The Minister stated in her letter that DARD officials would consider the issue regarding safety concerns within the review of dog licence fees, which would take place in due course.

            The Committee noted the information which had been provided.

            The Committee was advised that the premises at Corry Place, within the Harbour Estate, were currently leased by the Council’s Port Health Unit from the Belfast Harbour Commissioners.  The premises had been designed and approved to meet the requirements of EU legislation for the inspection of high risk foods, including foods of animal origin.  The Head of Environmental Health explained that the lease would expire on 31st May, 2015, and that a new lease would be required.  The terms of the new lease would be subject to a further report being brought to the relevant Committee for agreement.

            The Committee agreed that the Estates Management Unit would enter into discussions with the Belfast Harbour Commissioners to negotiate a lease and to issue a business tenancies notice under the Business Tenancies Order (NI) 1996, if required.

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

“1           Relevant Background Information

1.1         At the Health and Environmental Services Committee meeting on 16 Apr 2012, Members approved the ‘Towards Zero Waste’ Action (ZAP) Plan 2012-2015.  This plan established a series of actions to improve Belfast’s recycling rate and target dates by which these would be achieved in the period from 2012 to 2015, which provided the Service with an annual programme of work towards reaching a 50% recycling rate and a 35% landfill diversion rate by 2020 as required by European law.

1.2         This report provides a review of the ZAP plan and outlines the proposed next steps for the Council.

2             Key Issues

               Overall Performance

2.1         The delivery of the projects within the ZAP plan has resulted in an increase in the recycling rate from 32% in 2011/2012 to around 44% in 2014/15 (year end projected figure), a total increase of 12%.  This is short of the original target of 50% which was always going to be challenging, not least due to the DOE taking significant action on illegal waste operations which impacted detrimentally upon waste operations across NI, and as the Service adopted a clearer value for money focus when considering how the Council’s waste could best be managed.  In recent years, this resulted in a balanced approach for managing the residual waste being used in order to improve both the recycling rate and the amount of waste diverted from landfill, with increases in gate fee prices.  Additionally, after six years of declining waste arisings, in 2013/2014 an increase of 4% in the amount of household waste generated was experienced and projections for 2014/2015 suggest that this increase is not a one-off event.

2.2         Looking at Belfast’s local performance, in the absence of fully validated figures for 2014/2015 and assuming that the current actions deliver as projected, the Council will have increased its recycling rate by 12% over the duration of the ZAP plan, against a regional increase for NI of around 3%.

2.3         This will mean that the Council will have experienced an average recycling rate increase of 4% per annum between 2012-2015 while the ZAP plan was being delivered, double the previous annual increase.  In other words, it created a paradigm shift for Belfast.

               Benchmark

2.4         Due to the population, household numbers, housing stock and social deprivation, Belfast has no obvious regional comparator.  To compensate for this, Waste Management benchmarks against similar post-industrial cities elsewhere in the UK and implementing the ZAP plan resulted in significant improvement in Belfast’s ranking against these comparators.

2.5         In 2010/2011, Belfast was fifth in the benchmark group but by 2013/2014, the city had overtaken its comparators and was ranked first.  Consequently, the Service is considering revisiting its benchmarking cluster to identify a new grouping of best-in-class cities within both the UK and Europe against which it can compare performance and learn from.

               Projects

2.6         A number of projects within the ZAP plan have played a fundamental role in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

            The Head of Waste Management provided Members with an update on the Landfill Allowance Scheme and he pointed out that Waste Management Customer Service Standards had remained high during 2014/15.

            The Committee congratulated the staff on the successful figures and noted that a further report would be brought to a future committee regarding the end of year update.