To receive the following questions from councillors in accordance with Council procedure rule 33.
In the 2015 Air Quality Management Action Plan the 11 district wide actions were:
1. Creation of a ‘low emission strategy’ and ‘low emission zone’ feasibility study (target date 2017)
2. Installation of electric vehicle recharging points
3. Parking permit and pricing incentives for green vehicles (target date 2016)
4. Feasibility study for freight transport consolidation centre (FCC) / freight quality partnership (target date 2016)
5. Taxi licensing incentives for green vehicles (target date 2016)
6. Improved use and enforcement of traffic regulation orders (target date 2016)
7. Review of the council and contractors fleet
8. Eco driver training (trial to be complete by 2016)
9. Air quality planning guidance (target date 2015)
10. Community involvement projects
11. Introduce south facing slip roads to Lodge Hill interchange
Please can the Cabinet member confirm which of these actions are
complete and provide an update of those which are not? What
evidence do we have that each of these measures has been successful
or otherwise?
B.
Councillor Helen Pighills to Cabinet
Member for housing, Councillor Elaine Ware
At the last Council meeting on 11 October, we were told that Old
Abbey House in Abingdon would be transformed into council-owned
social housing. Please can you update us on progress? I am
especially interested in the outcome of the feasibility study in
terms of costs, whether the scheme will involve renovation or a
complete rebuild, and which Vale officer is leading on this
project.
C. Councillor Catherine Webber to Cabinet Member for waste, Councillor Charlotte Dickson
Food waste is recycled to form fertiliser and electricity, according to Vale’s website. Until recently we were told to use the light green compostable bin liners, which are biodegradable, and which residents purchase at our own expense especially for our food recycling bins. Now we’re told we can use ordinary plastic bags, such as the 5 pence bags from the supermarkets, or even bread bags. I thought plastic bags weren’t biodegradable. So how are these non-biodegradable plastic bags used in recycling our food waste?
D. Question from Councillor Emily Smith to Leader of the council, Councillor Matthew Barber
Could the Leader of the council explain how elected members and
members of the public will be involved in the development of the
Joint Spatial Plan for Oxfordshire? Given that the County, City and
district councils have different community involvement policies,
which body will be responsible for coordinating public engagement
to ensure consultation is meaningful and the process is
transparent?
E. Councillor Debby Hallett to Cabinet Member for the corporate services contracts, Councillor Robert Sharp
Could the Cabinet member please clarify where in the five councils outsourcing negotiations and when scrutiny members were warned we would no longer have control of our own emails and be forced to use a Microsoft Outlook solution? Even if Council agreed to this, surely the timing could have come between administrations so a ‘new council, new method’ would apply? Why would Vale sign up to an email system where members cannot have our emails forwarded to us so we can manage our own workloads? If the answer includes something about risk, I’d like to hear about the evidence of any security breaches we’ve had altogether per year in the past 5 years, and how many of those are due to members using their own email servers to manage their emails? To precisely what problem is this the best solution?
F. Question from Councillor Palmer to the Leader of the council, Councillor Matthew Barber
Two years ago I asked Councillor Barber about how the Vale was going to respond to the Syrian Refugee Crisis. At the time as a council we were unsure how to respond but I believe in the interim there has been a positive response. Would the Leader give an update?
Minutes:
In the 2015 Air Quality Management Action Plan the 11 district wide actions were:
1. Creation of a ‘low emission strategy’ and ‘low emission zone’ feasibility study (target date 2017)
2. Installation of electric vehicle recharging points
3. Parking permit and pricing incentives for green vehicles (target date 2016)
4. Feasibility study for freight transport consolidation centre (FCC) / freight quality partnership (target date 2016)
5. Taxi licensing incentives for green vehicles (target date 2016)
6. Improved use and enforcement of traffic regulation orders (target date 2016)
7. Review of the council and contractors fleet
8. Eco driver training (trial to be complete by 2016)
9. Air quality planning guidance (target date 2015)
10. Community involvement projects
11. Introduce south facing slip roads to Lodge Hill interchange
Please can the Cabinet member confirm which of these actions are
complete and provide an update of those which are not? What
evidence do we have that each of these measures has been successful
or otherwise?
Answer
Councillor Ware undertook to provide a detailed written response in view of the number of points and complexity of the points raised.
B.
With the agreement of Council Councillor
Debby Hallett asked the following question on behalf of Councillor
Helen Pighills (who was
delayed due to traffic) to
the Cabinet Member for housing, Councillor Elaine
Ware
At the last Council meeting on 11 October, we were
told that Old Abbey House in Abingdon would be transformed into
council-owned social housing. Please can you update us on progress?
I am especially interested in the outcome of the feasibility study
in terms of costs, whether the scheme will involve renovation or a
complete rebuild, and which Vale officer is leading on this
project.
Answer
Officers are currently assessing various options for funding the project and aim to produce a development brief and associated feasibility study as soon as possible. Once available officers will seek to appoint a suitable company to undertake the development. A lead officer will be identified once the council’s current re-organisation process has been completed. In the meantime the project is being progressed by a group of senior officers drawn from the property and development teams.
Supplementary question
In response to a supplementary question the Cabinet member stated that Old Abbey House could only be considered as an asset of community value, and alternative uses assessed, if there was a proposal to sell the property.
C. With the agreement of Council Councillor Bob Johnston asked the following question on behalf of Councillor Catherine Webber (who was delayed due to traffic) to the Cabinet Member for waste, Councillor Charlotte Dickson
Food waste is recycled to form fertiliser and electricity, according to Vale’s website. Until recently we were told to use the light green compostable bin liners, which are biodegradable, and which residents purchase at our own expense especially for our food recycling bins. Now we’re told we can use ordinary plastic bags, such as the 5 pence bags from the supermarkets, or even bread bags. I thought plastic bags weren’t biodegradable. So how are these non-biodegradable plastic bags used in recycling our food waste?
Answer
Food waste collected in the Vale of White Horse is sent to an anaerobic digestion facility. Previously the advice was to use biodegradable bags. However, Agrivert, who run the facility, have found that the biodegradable bags were not breaking down in the process and were having to be removed. This involves a machine which pulverises the bags using metal plates that rotate incredibly fast leaving only food behind. As they were having to remove the biodegradable bags there was no reason for residents not to be allowed to use ordinary plastic bags if they wished.
The plastic bags along with the biodegradable bags are taken to an energy recovery facility, where they are incinerated to produce electricity.
Supplementary question
In response to a supplementary question regarding the use of the food waste the Cabinet member stated that the plastic free food is digested by bacteria which produces methane biogas used to create electricity. The leftover liquid, a high quality fertiliser, is spread on local farmland to grow crops.
D. Question from Councillor Emily Smith to Leader of the council, Councillor Matthew Barber
Could the Leader of the council explain how elected members and
members of the public will be involved in the development of the
Joint Spatial Plan for Oxfordshire? Given that the County, City and
district councils have different community involvement policies,
which body will be responsible for coordinating public engagement
to ensure consultation is meaningful and the process is
transparent?
Answer
Councillor Barber responded that The Joint Spatial Plan will follow the same plan-making process as the council’s Local Plan, but on a countywide scale. The district council would retain responsibility including consultation.
E. Councillor Debby Hallett to Cabinet Member for the corporate services contracts, Councillor Robert Sharp
Could the Cabinet member please clarify where in the five councils outsourcing negotiations and when scrutiny members were warned we would no longer have control of our own emails and be forced to use a Microsoft Outlook solution? Even if Council agreed to this, surely the timing could have come between administrations so a ‘new council, new method’ would apply? Why would Vale sign up to an email system where members cannot have our emails forwarded to us so we can manage our own workloads? If the answer includes something about risk, I’d like to hear about the evidence of any security breaches we’ve had altogether per year in the past 5 years, and how many of those are due to members using their own email servers to manage their emails? To precisely what problem is this the best solution?
Answer
The new mailbox restrictions are a part of the council's planning for the introduction in May of the new General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). The new regulations will prohibit councillors from holding third parties' personal information relating to council business in their own email systems. The use of private mailboxes for council work is not best practice even under the current Data Protection Act, and can make it very difficult for officers to respond to requests made under the Freedom of Information Act.
This is a change we have to make before May next year, and the recent mailbox migration was the ideal opportunity to do it. I understand that this has been inconvenient for us all, but responsibility on this occasion does not lie with the five councils contract or with the contractor.
F. Question from Councillor Palmer to the Leader of the council, Councillor Matthew Barber
Two years ago I asked Councillor Barber about how the Vale was going to respond to the Syrian Refugee Crisis. At the time as a council we were unsure how to respond but I believe in the interim there has been a positive response. Would the Leader give an update?
Answer
Councillor Barber responded that the housing team, supported by the generosity of volunteers and church groups, had resettled six families.