Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

An Apology for absence was received from Councillor Rochford.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting.

RESOLVED: The minutes from the Environment and Community Panel meeting held on 27 January 2016 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Please indicate if there are any interests which should be declared.  A declaration of an interest should indicate the nature of the interest (if not already declared on the Register of Interests) and the agenda item to which it relates.  If a disclosable pecuniary interest is declared, the Member should withdraw from the room whilst the matter is discussed.

Those declarations apply to all Members present, whether the Member is part of the meeting, attending to speak as a local Member on an item or simply observing the meeting from the public seating area.

There was none.

To consider any business which, by reason of special circumstances, the Chairman proposed to accept as urgent under Section 100(b)(4)(b) of the Local Government Act, 1972.

There was none.

Members wishing to speak pursuant to Standing Order 34 should inform the Chairman of their intention to do so and on what items they wish to be heard before the meeting commences.  Any Member attending the meeting under Standing Order 34 will only be permitted to speak on those items which have been previously notified to the Chairman.

There was none.

If any.

There was none.

To receive comments and recommendations from other Council bodies, and any responses to recommendations, which the Panel has previously made.

At the Cabinet meeting held on 2 February 2016, the following responses were made to the recommendations from the Environment and Community Panel on 27^th January 2016 in respect of the following items:

EC33: Cabinet Report – Community Infrastructure Levy

PANEL RECOMMENDED: That the Environment and Community Panel support the recommendations to Cabinet as set out in the report.

CABINET RESPONSE: The comments of the Panel were taken into account when Cabinet considered the item.

EC34: Cabinet Report – Electric Vehicle Charging Points

PANEL RECOMMENDED: That the Environment and Community Panel support the recommendations to Cabinet as set out in the report.

CABINET RESPONSE: The comments of the Panel were taken into account when Cabinet considered the item.

The Panel noted the response made by Cabinet to the recommendations from the Panel meeting on 27 January 2016 in respect of the following items:

-       Community Infrastructure Levy

-       Electric Vehicle Charging Points

The Environmental Health Manager presented the Air Quality Annual Update.  He explained that the latest annual report had been completed along with the Updating and Screening Assessment 2015.  Documents were available to view on the Borough Council’s website and had been submitted to DEFRA for peer review.  The Environmental Health Manager encouraged Members to view the report on the website and contact him if they had any queries.

The Environmental Health Manager explained that the Council had a statutory duty under the Environment Act 1995 to annually review and assess air quality across the Borough.

The Environmental Health Manager explained that the Council had declared two Air Quality Management Areas; London Road/Railway Road one way system and the Gaywood Clock area.  The Environmental Health Manager referred to his report which set out the location of Air Quality Monitoring Stations and provided details of which pollutants they monitored.  The Council also used Diffusion tubes to monitor air quality and readings were taken from the tubes on a monthly basis.  An annual mean was then recorded.

The Environmental Health Manager informed the Panel that data collected showed a general downward trend in all areas.

The Environmental Health Manager explained that the Environmental Quality Team had considered a number of Planning and IPPC Permit applications for air quality impact and details of recent applications were set out in the Environmental Health Manager’s Report.

The Panel was referred to the Updating and Screening Assessment conclusion and proposed actions as detailed in part 3.6 and 3.7 of the Environmental Health Manager’s report.

The Environmental Health Manager reminded the Panel that as part of the King’s Lynn Transport Interchange Project, the taxi rank had been relocated inside the ground floor of the Cattle Market car park.  This had led to various concerns regarding air quality being raised by the taxi trade.  The Environmental Health Manager explained that the Environmental Quality Team had relocated Diffusion Tubes to this area and carried out additional monitoring.  The results showed that there were no breaches of the exposure limits for benzene, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide and NO2.

The Chairman thanked the Environmental Health Manager for his report and invited questions and comments from the Panel.

In response to a question from the Vice Chairman, Councillor Miss Bambridge, the Environmental Health Manager explained that wood burners were installed in accordance with Building Control regulations and Smoke Control areas were in place in some areas which encouraged the use of approved appliances.  The Environmental Health Manager explained that the Team did sometimes receive domestic complaints.

Councillor Moriarty referred to the monitoring carried out at the taxi rank.  He highlighted that often taxi drivers were waiting at the rank for a long period of time and asked if monitoring had been carried out to reflect this.  The Environmental Health Manager explained that monitoring had included equipment which provided instant results, diffusion tubes and monitoring over an eight hour period, which was deemed to be the same as a working day.  Monitoring  ...  view the full minutes text for item EC45:

The above report is on the Cabinet Forward Decision List for consideration by Cabinet on 1 March 2016.  The Panel are requested to consider the report and make any appropriate recommendations to Cabinet.

The Corporate Project Officer presented the Cabinet report which updated Members on progress on the Crematorium Project.  He explained that the project had been split into three phases.  Phase 1 was the enabling works, including new car park and footpaths.  Phase 2 was the new cremator hall and associated works and Phase 3 was the new cremators and ancillary equipment installation and decommissioning works.

The Corporate Project Officer informed the Panel that the new cremation equipment became operational on 2 April 2015.  The old cremators were then removed to allow the office refurbishment to go ahead which had been completed on 22 June 2015.

The Panel was informed that before any works could be carried out it was necessary to obtain a bat licence to exclude bats from the relevant parts of the building.  He explained that as bats were a protected species, the Council could have been fined up to £5,000 per bat if one was killed as a result of the works, if a licence had not been obtained.  During the works it was realised that there was an issue with bats away from the work area in that there was a roost of bats far up into the building and the hole that the bats were using to access the roof could not be blocked without the relevant licence.  A Bat Specialist had to be called in and additional works had been proposed to ensure that the reoccurring bat problem was removed.   The additional works would require a further bat licence and additional bat boxes would need to be in place before the works started.

The Corporate Project Officer explained that additional works would also include re-roofing the original building.  He explained that due to asbestos in the original roof tiles these would be removed and replaced with tiles to match the new extension and the roof would be made ‘bat tight’.

The Panel was referred to the project finances as set out in part 4.5 of the Corporate Project Officer’s report.  He informed those present that additional works to improve the air cooling system in the building had been incorporated into the budget.

The Corporate Project Officer commented he now felt the Crematorium was of high class and provided adequate staff facilities, including showers on site.

The Chairman thanked the Corporate Project Officer for his report, there were no questions from the Panel.

RESOLVED: That the Environment and Community Panel support the recommendations to Cabinet as set out below.

1. To approve the outturn figure as shown in section 5.1 of this report.

2. To approve the works outlined in section 4 of this report in relation to both the bat mitigation and the cost of replacing the roof.

The Chairman invited the Panel to put forward any suggestions of training or updates which could be provided in the future.

Councillor Mrs Squire asked if the Panel could conduct a visit to the waste sites and the depot.

RESOLVED: The above to be investigated and added to the Panel’s Work Programme as appropriate.

To consider the Work Programme.

In considering the Work Programme Members’ attention is drawn to the Cabinet Forward Decision List.

The Chairman informed those present that if they had any suggestions for items to be added to the Work Programme they could email him at any time.

Councillor Moriarty referred to the Cabinet Forward Decision list and asked for the Statement of Community Involvement to be presented to the Panel, prior to its consideration at Cabinet.  The Chairman agreed that this should be added to the Work Programme.

RESOLVED: The Work Programme and Forward Decisions list was noted.

To note that the next meeting of the Environment and Community Panel is scheduled to take place on Wednesday 23^rd March 2016 at 6.00pm in the Committee Suite, King’s Court, Chapel Street, King’s Lynn, PE30 1EX.

The next meeting of the Environment and Community Panel was scheduled to take place on Wednesday 23 March 2016 at 6.00pm in the Research Room, Town Hall, Saturday Market Place, King’s Lynn.