Energy Panel

Minutes of the Meeting held on 3rd September 2009

Time Commenced: 11.00am  Time Terminated: 11.35am

Present:

Councillor B. Holland (In the Chair)
Councillors Kelly, S.R. Oldham, Piddington, M. Smith and Taylor

Apologies for Absence:

Councillor Whitehead

13. Declarations of Interest

There were no declarations to report at this meeting.

14. Minutes

The Minutes of the proceedings of this Panel held on 23rd July 2009, having been circulated, were taken as read and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

15. Recycling Performance Update 2009/10

Consideration was given to a report of the Assistant Executive Director – Technical and Property Services, detailing the Council’s recycling performance for 2009/10 and outlined the progress made in the introduction of managed collections across the borough.

He reported that for the period 1st April 2009 to 30th June 2010 recycling performance was 35.6% and the Council had exceeded the recycling rate of 30% during the first quarter.

An analysis of domestic residual waste sent to landfill over the last four years showed how recycling had improved and black bin waste had reduced during the period April and June 2009.

 Reference was made to the progress made in the introduction of managed collections in the borough up to and including 31 July 2009 which was as follows:-

• Number of Properties on Managed Collections - 88414
• Number of Properties still to be introduced
  • Mossley (2 rounds) - 2355
  • Rural Round - 1133 
• % of borough operating managed collections - 92%

He further reported that the Mossley rounds were programmed to start on managed collection week commencing 14 September 2009. During the period 6 August 2008 to 31 July 2009 a total of 269 enquiries had been registered on the Council’s Customer Relations Management system of which only 53 had been actual complaints, representing 0.05% of all households.

The Chair requested further information with regard to the number of complaints received prior to the introduction of managed collections. The Assistant Executive - Director of Technical Services stated that he would ensure that all Members of the Panel received copies of this information.

Reference was made to the extra packaging which was produced by supermarkets and Councillor Piddington, Cabinet Deputy for Environmental Services, stated that this was a concern raised at the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority which was a national issue and had to be dealt with by central government.

Concern was also expressed with regard to the polystyrene packaging which was produced from fast food outlets in the borough and Councillor Piddington stated that it would be good practice if the Council’s staff restaurant revised there packaging practices in the first instance.

He referred to a recent review of international research into waste collections, which had confirmed existing advice for councils and householders on avoiding risk to public health. The study commissioned by Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and the Chartered Institution of Waste Management had reviewed all available research on the potential health risks associated with waste collection. He stated that the study looked specifically at changes in the collection frequency of residual waste from weekly to fortnightly and reviewed over 150 published papers and documents, the study had found no evidence that changing to a fortnightly collection created risks that could not be dealt with by following the good practice guidance already available.

He reported that every household had the potential to reduce carbon emissions by 1.1 tonne per annum if all waste was recycled. If all Tameside households recycled then there was a potential to reduce carbon emissions by 105,600 tonnes from the position of zero recycling.

Taking a baseline recycling level of 8.5% in 2003/04, the following chart demonstrated the CO2 saving per annum linked to recycling performance:-

*Current level to 30th June 2009.

With recycling levels currently at 35.6% then 62,656 tonnes of carbon emissions were being saved annually.

He also made reference to the improvements made to the blue bin collection service, stating that from 13 July 2009 the blue collection scheme had changed to a pulpable collection consisting of newspapers and pamphlets, cardboard and tetrapak. At the same time the frequency of collections had increased from every 8 weeks to every 4 weeks to allow for the additional recycled material to be sorted and collected.

It had been projected that the improvements to the existing service would increase the pulpable tonnage by 5000 tonnes per annum and the tonnage collected via the blue bin scheme during July 2009 had seen a 61% increase in recyclate collected during the same period last year.

Resolved

1. That the report be noted and the progress made in the introduction of managed collections be noted.
2. That the Waste and Resources Action Programme be requested to make a presentation at a future meeting of this Panel.

16. Greening the Fleet – Staff Travel Options

Consideration was given to a report of the Assistant Executive Director – Technical and Property Services detailing the options to help reduce fuel consumption improve carbon emissions and reduce staff travel costs across the authority.

He stated that an Energy Savings Trust – Fleet Health Check had been undertaken in 2007 with the following objectives:-

• To review the Council’s green fleet management practices;
• To increase fleet efficiency to reduce both fleet costs and the impact on the environment;
• To promote best practice including cleaner fleet management; and
• To provide guidance on health and safety practices.

He stated that the findings had been encouraging with many of the recommendations being either already implemented or planned for implementation. The Energy Saving Trust had prepared its own recommended action plan based on a 3 year target for estimated CO2 reductions, however it had been accepted that many of the recommendations and targets could be met much earlier with the initiatives already underway within Tameside.

He further reported that there had been limited effort made to reduce costs of staff travel which now amounted to in excess of approximately £800,000 per annum and that the time spent travelling was largely unproductive and therefore any mileage reductions would potentially return further benefits to service areas, other than the direct travel costs and carbon emission reductions.

He stated that there were many ‘Greening the Fleet’ initiatives underway for the Council’s fleet, however the options to reduce fuel bills for staff travel had not yet been fully adopted by the Council. The Council would benefit from improved green fleet management by:-

• Reduced traffic levels;
• Improved road safety;
• Reduced emissions of air pollutants and less noise;
• Cost effective reductions in greenhouse gas emissions; and
• Less stress for Council staff whilst driving.

He further stated that the above initiatives and objectives would support and compliment the Council’s Travel Plan which was currently in the process of being updated.

The suggested ways forward in terms of reducing fuel bills for staff travel would be further studies to investigate the following:-

• Use of lease cars for high mileage staff (greener low emission cars only to be made available by the Council to high mileage users);
• Provision of small ‘greener’ cars for daily hire by Council staff;
• Increased use of existing Community Transport buses to provide a staff mini bus service between the town centres;
• Increased usage of video technology to avoid unnecessary travel to meetings;
• Increased use to cycling facilities; and
• Flexible working/working differently.

The options required further detailed exploration with a cost benefit analysis to be produced, however, there was a strong case to pilot the use of council provided vehicles, which would be small, low carbon and fuel efficient to help costs and emissions. A further report would be required detailing the ‘invest to save’ capital investment strategy with the costs and expected benefits, together with the management arrangements necessary to ensure that the pilot was given full attention.

Resolved

1. That the Panel approve the options outlined in the report and that the Director of Economy and Environment be requested to further report to a future meeting of the Panel on the cost benefit analysis and feasibility of the option to provide small greener cars for daily hire by Council staff.
2. That a capital bid be prepared and submitted to support the recommendation above, with a view to the Borough Treasurer considering how funding may be provided early to meet the January 2010 target deadline.
3. That staff who claimed mileage be requested to submit mileage claim forms only through the on-line system. Submission of manual forms would only be allowed where staff did not have access to the staff portal.
4. That a further analysis of staff private car mileage claimed be undertaken with a view to proposing target mileage reductions for each Service Area.
5. That a revised Travel Plan be submitted to a future meeting of the Panel before approval by the Cabinet Deputy for Technical Services.

17. Information on the Benefits of Installing Automated Meter Readers

Consideration was given to a report of the Assistant Executive Director – Technical and Property Services detailing the Automated Meter Readers in Council buildings and its uses, particularly the ability to enable the Council to better monitor its energy usage.

Particular reference was given to the following:-

• A description of Automated Meter Readers;
• Why the Council needed to consider installing Automated Meter Readings;
• Options to install Automated Meter Readers;
• Automated Meter Readings for gas meters;
• The cost of installing Automated Meter Readers for gas meters; and
• Automated Meter Readers for electricity meters.

The key benefits to the authority which would be as follows:-

• More accurate readings;
• More accurate costing/bills;
• Round the clock monitoring with half hourly usage information;
• Potential for site managers to monitor and target energy use and wastage;
• Capabilities of energy management through profile data;
• Price optimising on new technologies;
• Better budgeting capabilities;
• Reduced standing charge costs as a result of no pedestrian meter reading charges (usually factored into the standing charge shown in the bills); and
• Early action ‘rewards’ under the mandatory Carbon Reduction Commitment and Carbon Trading scheme due to begin in March 2010.

Resolved

1. That further work be undertaken to consider the potential savings likely to be delivered by Automated Meter Readers and that other local authorities be consulted to ascertain the true savings following implementation.
2. That a future report be presented to the Energy Panel with a full and robust Business Case for the introduction of Automated Meter Readers.

18. Items for Future Meetings

The Chair informed the Panel that 3 students from Year 9 or Year 10 (one student from a high school in each parliamentary constituency) would be co-opted on to the Panel to represent young people’s views with regard to energy efficiency and recycling and that a future meeting of the Panel would be held at one of these high schools.

The Principal Democratic Services Officer informed Members of the panel that Maurice Smith, General Advisor for Education and Cultural Services, had been in contact with various schools in the borough and names of the students would be know in due course. The following schools had expressed an interest in their pupils being co-opted to the Energy Panel:-

• Hyde Technology College;
• Fairfield High School; and
• All Saints College.

19. Dates of Future Meetings

It was noted that the Energy Panel would meet on the following dates, all meetings commencing at 11.00am:-

19th November 2009, 21st January 2010 and 25th March 2010.

20. Urgent Items

The Chair reported that there were no urgent items for consideration at this meeting.

Chair