Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Sub -Committee held on 18 January 2017 (attached) and authorise the Chairman to sign them.

The minutes of the meeting held on 18 January 2017 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Report and presentation attached.

The report and presentation before Members provided an overview of the Council’s performance against the Corporate Performance Indicators relevant to the Sub-Committee

The presentation highlighted areas of strong performance and potential areas for improvement.

In total two Corporate Performance Indicators had been included in the Quarter 4 2016/17.

Also included in the presentation were demand pressure indicators that illustrated the growing demands on Councils services and the context that the performance levels set out in the report had been achieved within.

Members were advised that there had been changes to the way performance data would be reported.

Performance data would be considered by the relevant Overview & Scrutiny Sub-Committee first, then the Overview & Scrutiny Board before finally being considered by Cabinet. This would allow the Cabinet reports to reflect any actions or comments the overview and scrutiny committees had made to improve performance in highlighted areas as well as shortening the overall performance reporting cycle.

The Sub-Committee NOTED the contents of the report and presentation and made no recommendations.

Report and presentation attached.

The report and presentation before Members detailed current fly tipping activity within the borough the actions being taken to reduce the problem.

The report gave details of recent fly tipping activity and the strategy that officers were using to provide proactive interventions and enforcement action.

In summary the report highlighted that fly tipping in the borough had increased but enforcement action had also increased. Multi agency tactics were being used to catch industrial tippers and discussions were continuing with the Highways department to re-engineer hotspots to prevent future incidents. Officers were also looking at introducing more ANPR/CCTV initiatives to deter tipping and going forward there would be an increased use of joint undercover operations with various outside agencies.

It was agreed that officers would update Members following enforcement exercises so that Members could brief constituents on actions being taken to combat the problem of tipping.

The Sub-Committee NOTED the contents of the report and presentation.

Report and presentation attached.

The report and presentation before Members detailed the current position regarding street lighting within the borough.

The report highlighted that there were approximately 20,000 street lights in the borough of which 99% were maintained to a fully working order at any time.

The aim was to repair any faulty lights within ten working days and a programme to implement LED bulbs was continuing borough wide.

Members were advised that a successful collaborative procurement process between Havering and the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham had taken place in 2016 that had appointed Volkers Street Lighting as the maintenance contractor.

Members noted that the life expectancy of a steel column was thirty years and an average of six hundred and seventy columns a year would require renewal.

Additional maintenance costs arose from cable failures, damage, vehicle knock downs, vandalism and routine maintenance.

Officers advised that faulty lights were notified by CRM and public reporting statistics. Volkers also carried out night time checks.

Going forward, lower energy costs would provide continuing financial savings and LED lighting would provide actual maintenance savings.

The Sub-Committee NOTED the contents of the report and presentation.

Report and presentation attached.

The report and presentation before Members gave a detailed explanation of the air quality levels in the borough and initiatives that were being used to improve them.

Members were advised that pollution levels were on the decrease and that Havering was one of the cleanest London boroughs.

The report highlighted the work of the Air Quality Working Group and how the Council helped to deliver the Clean Air Action Plan and co-ordinated the implementation LiP (Local Implementation Plan) funded projects for air quality.

The report also detailed initiatives that were in place such as greening projects, air quality education programmes, air quality championing and campaigns and possible future projects.

Members also noted that a business pack was available for businesses which provided information, advice and contacts on such things as smarter travel, electric vehicles, waste & recycling, cycling, low emission vehicles and air quality and air TEXT.

In response to a question relating to the use of diesel vehicles by the Council, officers advised that Fleet Management had trialled various different vehicles that used alternative power provision.

The Sub-Committee NOTED the contents of the report and the presentation.