Ards and North Down Borough Council a G E N

ARDS AND NORTH DOWN BOROUGH COUNCIL

28 February 2019

Dear Sir/Madam

You are hereby invited to attend a meeting of the Environment Committee of the Ards and North Down Borough Council which will be held in the Council Chamber, 2 Church Street, Newtownards on Wednesday 6 March 2019 commencing at 7.00pm.

Tea, coffee and sandwiches will be available from 6.00pm.

Yours faithfully

Stephen Reid Chief Executive Ards and North Down Borough Council

A G E N D A

1. Apologies

2. Declarations of Interest

3. Environment Directorate Budgetary Control Report January 2019 (Report attached)

4. Environment Directorate Annual Service Plans 2019-20 (Report attached)

5. Policy for Use of Council Vehicles (Report attached)

6. Donation of Lifebelt to Council (Report attached)

7. Waste Management Consultations (Report attached)

8. Recycling of Soft Plastics (Report attached)

9. Notice of Motion Report – Walker’s and TerraCycle Crisp Packet Recycling Scheme (Report attached)

10. Baseline Study and Gap Analysis of Coastal Erosion Risk Management NI (Report attached)

11. Recycling Community Investment Fund (RCIF) – 2018/19 Slippage/Underspend Proposal (Report attached)

12. RCIF 19/20 Funding Allocation Proposal (Report attached)

13. Live Here Love Here Small Grants – Public Liability Insurance Issues(Report attached)

14. Licensing and Regulatory Services Update (Report attached)

15. Further Report - Notice of Motion on Impact of Road Closure Legislation upon Community/Voluntary Events (Report attached)

16. Provision of Holding Kennels (Report attached)

17. Grant of Entertainment Licence (Report attached)

18. Street Café Licence (Report attached)

19. Attendance at Parkex (Report attached)

20. Capital Pilot for HRC Optimisation (Report attached)

20.1. Geological Disposal Framework Consultation (Report attached)

21. Notices of Motion

21.1. Notice of Motion submitted by Councillor Cooper

That this Council continually provides two portable toilets for the annual Goldsprings True Defenders Flute Band in Comber, to ensure cross community harmonisation and provide adequate public access to toiletry facilities.

21.2. Notice of Motion submitted by Councillors Boyle, Woods and McKee

This council notes with great concern the conclusions made from the National Geological screening for a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) by Radioactive Waste Management which suggests areas in Northern Ireland might be suitable for a GDF. That this council does not consent, and never will, to the hosting of any geological disposal facility in Ards and North Down Council area or in any part of Northern Ireland. Further, it agrees to write to the Minister for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Rt Hon Greg Clark (or equivalent) stating the above.

***IN CONFIDENCE***

22. Tender for the Provision of Painting Works & Provision of External Cleaning & Tankage Services (Report attached)

23. Extension of Waste Haulage Contract (Report attached)

24. Arc21 Extension of Current MRF Contract for Blue Bin Materials (Report attached)

25. ITEM WITHDRAWN

26. Tender Report on the Treatment of Street Sweepings (Report attached)

27. Event Support Review (Report attached)

28. Any Other Notified Business

Circulated for Information

(i) NI Water – Litter Traps (Copy correspondence dated 7 and 18 January 2019 attached) (ii) M&S – Single Use Plastic (Copy correspondence dated 5 February 2019 attached) (iii) Sustainable NI (Copy correspondence dated 19 February 2019 attached) (iv) NI Water – Cotton Waste Water Treatment Pumping Station (Copy correspondence dated 26 February 2019)

MEMBERSHIP OF ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE (16 Members)

Alderman Henry Councillor Edmund Alderman Fletcher Councillor Ferguson (Chairman) Councillor Armstrong-Cotter (Vice Councillor McKee Chairman) Councillor Boyle Councillor McAlpine Councillor Cathcart Councillor Martin Councillor Cummings Councillor Woods Councillor Douglas Councillor Smart Councillor Dunlop Councillor Wilson

Unclassified

ITEM 3

Ards and North Down Borough Council

Report Classification Unclassified

Council/Committee Environment

Date of Meeting 06 February 2019

Responsible Director Director of Environment

Responsible Head of Head of Finance Service

Date of Report 21 February 2019

File Reference FIN45/40012

Legislation Section 5 Local Government Finance Act (NI) 2011

Section 75 Compliant Yes ☐ No ☐ Not Applicable ☒

Subject Envionment Directorate Budgetary Control Report – January 2019

Attachments Appendix - Waste Stream Variances

This Environment Budgetary Control Report covers the 10-month period 1 April 2018 to 31 January 2019 and is set out on page 4. The net cost of services is showing an over spend of £263,471 (1.7%).

Explanation of Variance

In addition, a Budgetary Control Report by Income and Expenditure for the Directorate is, also, shown on page 4 which analyses the overall adverse variance (£263,471) by expenditure (£142,787 adverse) and income (£120,683 adverse). Environment

Expenditure - £142.8k (0.7%) worse than budget to date. This adverse variance is mainly made up of the following: - 1. Waste and Cleansing Services – £7.3k adverse. a. A combined summary of the main waste stream variances is set out in the table below.

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£’000 Commentary Landfill 76.6 1,020 tonnes more than budget though this is partially offset by the gate fee being slightly less than budget (£0.75 per tonne less). Brown/Green bin (78.6) 1,544 tonnes less than waste budget but gate fee is slightly higher than budget (£0.62 per tonne more). Blue bin waste 98.5 508 tonnes less than budget but average gate fee is higher than budget (£13.33 per tonne more).

HRC waste (71.4) Lower tonnage than budget Total 25.1

Overall, the main waste stream budgets are over budget by £25.1k. b. Payroll costs are £118.0k favourable to date. There are a significant number of posts being covered by agency staff. c. Spend on refuse bins is £60.0k over budget to date due to a higher demand from residents for new and replacement green/brown bins. d. Buildings maintenance work at the Balloo Transfer Station is £34.0k adverse. Ramps have been built to facilitate new trailers to attach to the compactors at the Transfer Station.

2. Assets and Property Services - £231.6k adverse. This is explained by: - a. Property Operations are £151.0k over budget to date. This is mainly due to: - i. Contractor costs are £163.2k over budget to date. There has been more property maintenance work carried out to date to try to address a backlog of outstanding jobs. ii. Payroll costs are £14.4k favourable. This is mainly due to reduced overtime costs.

b. Technical Services are £114.1k under budget to date. This is mainly due to: - i. Payroll costs are £14.9k favourable. Two Technical Officer posts have been filled from 1 October. A vacant Plant Operative post is to be recruited. ii. Utility costs are £20.4k over budget to date.

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iii. Contractor costs are £122.0k under budget to date. This covers areas such as statutory compliance work, refurbishments, playgrounds, statutory upgrades, Christmas costs and energy saving initiatives.

c. Fleet Management is £201.7k over budget to date. This is mainly due to: - i. Payroll costs are £17.5k. There is a vacant mechanic’s post which is in the process of being filled. ii. Vehicle maintenance, materials, consumables and tyres costs are £121.6k over budget to date. This is partly due to significant price increases for some vehicle parts (up to 30% in some cases). iii. Vehicle fuel, lubricants and oil are £64.4k over budget to date. Higher than expected fuel prices have contributed to this adverse variance. iv. Other vehicle costs are £29.5k over budget to date. Vehicle tracking system costs are higher than budget to date.

3. Regulatory Services - £95.3k favourable. This is explained by: - a. Payroll costs are £76.4k under budget year to date. There have been vacant posts in Building Control. Two have been filled with one still to be recruited. In addition, two vacant posts in Neighbourhood Environment Team are now being covered by agency.

Income - £120.7k (3.5%) worse than budget to date. This adverse variance comprises: 4. Waste & Cleansing Services - £100.2k adverse. This is mainly due to trade waste income (£106.9k) being worse than budget to date. Processes within this service are currently being reviewed with the aim of improving performance later in the year. 5. Assets and Property Services - £36.5k favourable. This is mainly due to wind turbine income being £41.2k better than budget to date. 6. Regulatory Services income - £57.0k adverse. This is mainly due to Building Control income being £37.7k behind budget to date. There has been a slowdown in both site commencements and applications particularly commercial works. In addition, car park income (£3.7k) and licensing income (£9.1k) are £12.8k behind target to date.

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BUDGETARY CONTROL REPORT By Directorate and Service

Period 10 - January 2019

Note Year to Date Year to Date Variance Annual Variance Actual Budget Budget £ £ £ £ %

Environment

200 Environment HQ 121,014 121,800 (786) 147,900 0.6 210 Waste and Cleansing Services 10,572,890 10,465,400 107,490 12,608,600 1.0 220 Assets and Property Services 5,418,645 5,223,600 195,045 6,537,400 3.7 230 Regulatory Services 116,622 154,900 (38,278) 344,400 24.7

Totals 16,229,171 15,965,700 263,471 19,638,300 1.7

BUDGETARY CONTROL REPORT By Income and Expenditure

Period 10 - January 2019

Expenditure Income Note Actual Budget Variance Actual Budget Variance £ £ £

Environment

200 Environment HQ 121,014 121,800 (786) - - - 210 Waste and Cleansing Services 11,848,865 11,841,600 7,265 (1,275,975) (1,376,200) 100,225 220 Assets and Property Services 5,589,058 5,357,500 231,558 (170,413) (133,900) (36,513) 230 Regulatory Services 2,028,950 2,124,200 (95,250) (1,912,328) (1,969,300) 56,972 ------Totals 19,587,887 19,445,100 142,787 (3,358,717) (3,479,400) 120,683

RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended that the Committee notes this report.

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Landfill Waste Stream Variance - Jan 2019 YTD

Actual Budget Apr - Jan Apr - Jan Variance

Landfill Tonnage 31,719.98 30,700.00 1,019.98 tonnes

Gate Fee 97.70 98.45 (0.75)

Total Cost 3,099,042.05 3,022,415.00 76,627.05

The total variance is made up of a price & volume variance £ Volume Variance 100,417.03 Due to higher tonnage than budget Price Variance (23,789.99) Due to reduced gate fee compared to budget Total Variance 76,627.05 Blue Bin Waste Stream Variances - Jan 2019 YTD

Actual Budget Apr - Jan Apr - Jan Variance

Blue Bin Waste Tonnage 7,922.22 8,125.00 (202.78) tonnes

Avg Gate Fee 48.33 35.00 13.33

Total Cost 382,880.89 284,375.00 98,505.89

The total variance is made up of a price & volume variance £ Volume Variance (7,097.30) Due to lower tonnage than budget Price Variance 105,603.19 Due to higher gate fee compared to budget Total Variance 98,505.89 Blue Bin Waste Stream Variances - Jan 2019 YTD

Due to higher gate fee compared to budget Brown / Green Bin Waste Stream Variances - Jan 2019 YTD

Actual Budget Apr - Jan Apr - Jan Variance

Brown / Green Bin Waste Tonnage 15,885.94 17,430.00 (1,544.06) tonnes

Gate Fee 57.92 57.30 0.62

Total Cost 920,113.64 998,739.00 (78,625.36)

The total variance is made up of a price & volume variance £ Volume Variance (88,474.64) Due to lower tonnage than budget Price Variance 9,849.28 Due to higher gate fee compared to budget Total Variance (78,625.36) Unclassified

ITEM 4

Ards and North Down Borough Council

Report Classification Unclassified

Council/Committee Environment Committee

Date of Meeting 06 March 2019

Responsible Director Director of Environment

Responsible Head of Head of Waste & Cleansing Services Service

Date of Report 14 February 2019

File Reference 43600

Legislation Local Government Act 2014

Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Other ☐ If other, please add comment below:

Subject Environment Directorate Annual Service Plan 2019 - 2020

Attachments Appendix 1 - Copy of Waste & Cleansing Annual Service Plan Appendix 2 Copy of Regulatory Services Annual Service Plan Appendix 3 Copy of Assets & Property Annual Service Plan

Since 2017/18 Service Plans are produced by each Service in accordance with the Council’s Performance Management policy.

Plans are intended to:

• Encourage compliance with the new legal, audit and operational context • Provide focus on direction • Facilitate alignment between Corporate, Service and Individual plans and activities • Motivate and develop staff

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• Promote performance improvement, encourage innovation and share good practice • Encourage transparency of performance outcomes • Better enable us to recognise success and address underperformance

A draft plan for 2019/20 is attached. This plan has been developed to align with objectives of: The Big Plan for Ards and North Down 2017-2032; the Corporate Plan 2015-19 and the draft Annual Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) 2019/20. The agreement of the plan will also aid toward achievement of the Council’s performance improvement duties under the Local Government Act (NI) 2014.

The Service Plan highlights where the service contributes to the Corporate Plan and, where this is the case, sets out the objectives of the service for the 2019/20 year. It further identifies the key performance indicators used to illustrate the level of achievement of each objective, and the targets that the Service will try to attain along with key actions required to do so.

The plan has been developed in conjunction with staff, officers and management and consultation with key stakeholders where relevant.

The plan is based on the agreed budget. It should be noted that, should there be significant changes in-year (e.g. due to Council decisions, budget revisions or changes to the PIP) the plan may need to be revised.

The Committee will be provided with update reports on performance against the agreed plan.

RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended that the attached plan is adopted.

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WASTE AND CLEANSING SERVICES

APRIL 2019 – MARCH 2020

Head of Service signature Nigel Martin

Date 21.11.2018

Peer Review signature Claire Jackson

Date 21.11.2018

Director signature

Date

Final Draft – 22.11.2018

CONTENTS

CONTENTS ...... 2 1. Introduction...... 6 2. Customers/Stakeholders ...... 8 3. Context, Challenges and Assumptions ...... 10 4. Opportunity for Improvement ...... 12 5. How will the Waste and Cleansing Services contribute to corporate objectives? ...... 13 6. Key activities for 2019/20 ...... 14 7. Risks ...... 19 8. Resources ...... 21 9. Monitoring and Review ...... 21 10. Conclusions ...... 21 11. Appendices ...... 22

Guidance Notes

Section: 1,2,3,4,5,7,8,9,10 and 11 please follow the notes included at the beginning of each section.

Section 6 notes:

Community Plan Outcome and Corporate Objectives

These fields should be populated with the Community Plan Outcomes and Corporate Objectives underpinned by the Service Objective. As it is possible that a Service Objective fulfils more than one of the Community Plan Outcomes or Corporate objectives, these should be listed.

Service Objectives

There is no defined set number of objectives that you must complete in this section however you should ensure to complete those appropriate to your service, think quality instead of quantity.

There is no need to create new objectives each year. It should be noted that the NIAO expect that Councils should be in a position to compare prior years of data i.e. 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 and the data should be used to identify areas for improvement.

Please reflect on the previous year’s objectives and measures to determine if they are still applicable and if not please outline why in Section 4.

In line with the Council’s general duty of improvement Service Objectives should be measured against, and fulfil, at least one of the following improvement criteria: (a) strategic effectiveness; (b) service quality; (c) service availability; (d) fairness; (e) sustainability; (f) efficiency; and (g) innovation.

When you are drafting an objective the ‘SMARTER’ acronym should be used. Objectives should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timely, Engaging and Reviewed i.e.

Specific – clear objectives avoiding ‘woolly’ statements. Desired outcome should be clearly stated. Measurable – measures which relate to the objective which can be assessed as per the RAG status Achievable – Stretching yet realistic targets, which reflect previous baseline data, were available Relevant – objectives relevant to related corporate objectives and the service; measures and targets relevant to the objective Timely – objectives and targets should relate the period under review Engaging – objectives should be meaningful and important to the service rather than mundane and uninteresting (where possible!) Reviewed – don’t just use the same objectives as last year without review; also seek peer review

Below are some examples of objectives which are SMARTER and some which are not.

SMARTER Not SMARTER Decrease the time to resolve customer issues from 2 Resolve customer queries as quickly as days to 1.5 days by July 2015. possible Increase customer satisfaction by 8% over last year by Increase customer satisfaction over the December 2015 year

Final Draft – 22.11.2018

Key activities table : This section is the framework for action, with clear indications of what needs to be done, what difference it will make, who is the person responsible for ensuring the objective is achieved, and who do we need to help us.

When completing this section please ensure there is a clear demonstrable link between the Service Objective, the actions and the outputs/outcomes. For example:

SERVICE AREA: Performance and Projects Community Plan Outcome: Supports other services in the achievement of community plan objectives Corporate Objective: Be financially responsible Service Objective: We will do the right things right – being efficient, effective, transparent and accountable as a service

What are the Business as Usual What difference will it make How will we know Lead Officer(s) Who do we need activities we will deliver (actions)? (outputs/outcomes)? (measures)? to help us? (Internal/External partners) Review policies, processes and ways Increase confidence and % handbooks SUMs of working and as a result, update knowledge of staff, therefore reviewed handbooks/guidance improving compliance, efficiency % satisfactory audit and performance reports

This “Service development / improvement” element of the template should identify areas of the service that requires development/ improvement along with any new, innovative ideas for future improvements.

Available resources to inform this element will be previous trend data, consultation results from prior Performance Improvement Plans, contacts received via the Your Opinion Matters campaign and results of the recent Resident Survey.

What service development / What difference will it make How will we know Lead Who do we need Is a improvement will we undertake (outputs/outcomes)? (measures)? Officer(s) to help us? Business in 2019/20? (Internal/External Case partners) required Develop an approach to Identify potential Date of agreement of Andrew Scott benchmark our Service against improvements within service. benchmarking others and learn from this. approach

The new “Service / activities being stopped” element of the template gives the opportunity to think about all the BAU that we do and critically evaluate whether it is providing Value for Money; is it efficient; do we need it or are we doing it because we always have? All the savings that have been identified through this review for the coming year along with a description of the implications of these savings should be detailed. An example of this is shown in the table below:

What service / activities will we Reason for stopping activity Savings Impact on Impact on the Impact on be stopping in 2019/20 Performance Public staffing Out of hours call handling by Financial efficiency savings – £x None – in-house None – On call Extension to XXXX current service expensive and not answer service put officer shift pattern – efficient. in place available from agreed with 6.30 am until officers. 11.00 pm and answer service from 11.00 pm until 6.30 am

Performance Measures This should include any measures identified in the What are we going to do this year? Section and should include any Statutory and Corporate Indicators. When completing the measures you should state the method of measurement for the relevant objective, some examples are; £+/-Budget, % of XXX and completed date of full implementation. See example below:

Performance Measures Is the 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 (should include those outlined above and relevant measures measure Actual Actual Actual Actual Target from Community, Corporate and Performance Improvement Statutory, to date Plans plus those that are Statutory) Corporate, Existing or New? % satisfactory audit reports Existing N/A N/A 5% 6% 8% % handbooks reviewed New N/A N/A N/A N/A 100% % spend against budget Corporate N/A 85% 100% 96% 100% Net cost per head of population Corporate N/A £11.80 £10.74 £6.72 <=£13.00

Please note that CLT have set the following corporate measures: • Net cost per head of population • Staff attendance • Resident satisfaction • Spend against budget • Staff reporting regular/monthly receipt of team brief

Target(s) You will need to state the expected target figure/standard you want to achieve in this section, for example; 80%, <£7.2 million and 1st October 2018.

Resources • What resources are required to complete the task? These resources will be about people as often as about money. • What skills do staff need to ensure success? If any development is required (whether through training, mentoring, learning on the job) was this reflected in their Pride in Performance conversation? • You should identify here if all actions are resourced within the current budget plan (that is the 2018/19 plan) or if you require additional resources to take forward the planned projects for 2019/20. In the event that additional budget is required but not available you should identify here what the impact would be on performance, the public and staffing.

Final Draft – 22.11.2018

1. Introduction.

1.1 Section Profile:

The Waste and Cleansing Services comprises of:

• Waste Resources and Contracts – Service Unit Manager – Alison Curtis, responsible for Household Recycling Centre staff and Waste Education Officers.

• Waste Collection Services – Service Unit Manager – Ian Frazer, responsible for waste collection and recycling collection staff

• Borough Cleansing Services – Service Unit Manager – Alastair Kerr, responsible for Street Cleansing and Public Conveniences staff

The chart below shows where Waste & Cleansing sits within the Directorate.

Director of Environment

Head of Building Head of Assets and Control, Licensing Head of Waste and Property Services and Neighbourhood Cleansing Services Environment

Property Operations Building Control Borough Cleansing Manager Business Manager Services Manager

Licensing and Waste Collection Technical Manager Regulatory Services Services Manager Business Manager

Neighbourhood and Transport Manager Waste Resource and Environment Contracts Manager Business Manager

1.2. Why do we deliver the service?

The Council has a number of statutory obligations relating to waste management and street cleansing services. The key legislative requirements are set out in the Waste and Contaminated Land (NI) Order 1997, the Litter (NI) Order 1994, the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act (Northern Ireland) 2011, and related Commencement Orders and Regulations.

In terms of the Council’s Community Plan “the Big Plan” the fifth outcome is “All people in Ards and North Down feel pride from having access to a well-managed sustainable environment”, Waste and Cleansing Services has an important role in terms of delivering services to support this outcome.

The Council’s Corporate Plan (2015 – 2019) has three external objectives – People, Place and Prosperity. Waste and Cleansing Services have a key role to play in ‘Place' promoting a clean, green, healthy, safe and sustainable environment, and enhancing the appearance of our towns and villages.

1.3. What is the purpose of the service?

The primary purpose of the service is to ensure the effective management of municipal solid waste produced within the borough, in order to protect the local environment. Secondly, the Council has a statutory duty under the Litter (NI) Order and the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act, to keep adopted streets and roads clean and free from litter.

2. Customers/Stakeholders

2.1 Who are your customers and what do you know about them?

Businesses Approximately 1200 Medium Medium Supporter, neutral and businesses who use the critic Council’s commercial waste collection service Arc21 Joint Committee High Medium Supporter Schools Approximately 65 across the Medium High Supporter Borough Other Directorates Council High High Supporter DAERA Government Dept. High High Neutral NIEA Government Agency High High Neutral HSE NI Government Agency High High Neutral and critic Transport NI Government Agency High High Neutral NIHE Housing Authority/land Medium Medium Supporter and critic owner Housing Landlord High Medium Supporter and critic Associations Resident Constituted body High Medium Supporter and critic Associations representing residents

2.2 What are your customers’ needs/demand levels?

Customers Needs / demands from the service Residents Waste collection, recycling services and street cleansing services – daily demand Businesses Commercial waste collection and recycling services, street cleansing services – daily demand Elected Members Queries and complaints on behalf of constituents relating to the range of services provided – daily demand NIEA Quarterly reporting of waste statistics (Wastedataflow) and ensuring compliance with Waste Management Licence conditions – weekly demand NIHE Dealing with waste management and street cleansing issues relating to NIHE owned properties Housing Associations Provision of waste collection services and street cleansing services Resident Associations Providing advice, support and assistance with environmental issues that arise within their area HSE NI Ensuring compliance with legislation and use of safe working practices

2.3 Customer satisfaction / needs

The Council carried out a Residents’ Survey in July 2018. The overall satisfaction level was 83%. Specific results relating to Waste & Cleansing Services include:

• 84% of residents were aware that the Council provides waste and recycling services (the most recognised Council services). • They were also the most commonly used Council services. • Getting information on waste and recycling services was the most common reason for visiting the Council website. • Dog fouling, rubbish and litter are recognised as the most common problem in local areas

It is not planned to carry out further satisfaction surveys during 2019 – 2020.

The Council also offers all its residents a free App (Bin-ovation) to assist them with using the Council’s recycling services. As well as providing a recycling guide for all materials, it also provides a reminder when their collection is due, for all the kerbside collections provided by the Council (mixed dry recycling, organics, glass and residual waste)

The Council has a statutory duty to make quarterly returns to the NI Environment Agency in respect of waste arisings managed by the Council. The results for all eleven NI Councils are published quarterly by Statistics and Analytical Services Branch – DAERA. An Annual report is also provided.

All customer queries, complaints, service requests and compliments are logged on Tascomi T-Care system.

3. Context, Challenges and Assumptions

3.1 Context

The Council’s Waste Management and Cleansing Services are closely linked, in that changes to arrangements in one service area may directly or indirectly impact on another service area. Due to Brexit, waste management is entering a period of uncertainty as it is not clear whether new and emerging EU legislation will be adopted by the UK. The impact of the reliance of the sector on European markets for reprocessing of recovered materials and the use of refuse derived fuel (RDF) is also unclear.

The Council has been refining current collection methods. This has included a need to capture additional materials at the kerbside (glass and hard plastics) and to recycle a wider range of materials at the Household Recycling Centres. The measures have in turn impacted on how the Council currently delivers waste collection services and the distribution of waste across the containers provided. The collection services are currently being remodelled using bespoke route optimisation software (WEBASPX). The out-workings from this project are the ongoing revision of current collection rounds. The annual report on waste arising across the eleven NI Councils has again highlighted the significant volumes of waste handled through the Council’s Household Recycling Centres, and well above the NI average. As a result, the current acceptance arrangements are being revised with the introduction of a permit system to discourage the commercial sector and “waste tourists” from outside the Borough.

The cleanliness of the Borough remains a high priority for residents and visitors alike. The completion of the Public Realm works in the five principal towns has increased the expectations of members, businesses and the public, in terms of the appearance of the town centres. A twice-yearly deep cleaning programme has been introduced, supplemented with a pavement washing programme in the five towns and while capable of dealing with general grime, stains and spillages, however, there is still a problem with discarded gum and seasonal algal growth in some areas.

In line with the Corporate Plan, the services have a major role to play in the following areas:

• People – Increase pride in the borough by supporting communities with clean-ups and self-help initiatives. • Place – Promote a clean, green, healthy, safe and sustainable environment, by improving recycling levels and ensuring the borough is clean and attractive. • Prosperity – Providing clean and attractive town centres to attract visitors and investors. • Performance – Be financially responsible; maximise the potential of our staff to deliver outcomes; and deliver high quality customer focused services.

3.2 What changes are you expecting in the next few years? (PESTLE)

• It is probable that Brexit will have an impact on the markets for both recycled materials and refuse derived fuel (RDF). In the absence of local processors this could present processing difficulties and financial pressures. • Budgetary pressures to deliver the range of services are likely to continue. • In line with the Council’s Estates Strategy, the Council needs to examine and rationalise the current provision of Household Recycling Centres. Some HRCs have been in operation for over 30 years and are no longer considered fit for purpose, due to capacity and health and safety issues.

• Further Public Realm Schemes are planned for Ballygowan and Portaferry. Learning from the problems and issues that have arisen with the public realm works in the five towns completed, it is recommended that the use of natural stone is restricted to special features and/or kerbs

3.3 What are your future challenges?

The key challenges facing the service are wide and varied and relate primarily to meeting legislative requirements:

▪ Out-workings of Brexit ▪ Contributing to the outcomes identified in the Community Plan. ▪ Ensuring staff can avail of training and development opportunities to maximise their potential in delivering services. ▪ Meeting the requirements of new and pending environmental legislation. ▪ Ensuring the success of new recycling initiatives, to allow the Council to meet statutory targets (50%) and an agreed corporate recycling target of 65% by 2020. ▪ Ensuring compliance with the NI Landfill Allowances Scheme (NILAS) to avoid the potential of financial penalties. ▪ Ensuring suitable markets are available for recycled materials. ▪ Meeting customer demands and the increasing customer expectation, in terms of the delivery of the various services provided. ▪ Improving the Local Environmental Audit and Management Score (LEAMS) for the cleanliness of the Borough, measured through independent Keep NI Beautiful surveys. ▪ Delivering cost effective services while complying with Health & Safety requirements.

4. Opportunity for Improvement

4.1 Reflection of Service Performance

During the last financial year and the current financial year, key targets were set for the services:

• To increase the Council’s recycling rate, to meet the 2020 Government target (50% of household waste to be recycled and/or composted).

Year Recycling Rate (%) Target %

April 2015 – March 2016 40.21 -

April 2016 – March 2017 49.19 50

April 2017 – March 2018 52.10 55

April 2018 – March 2019 60% target 60

• To meet the Northern Ireland Landfill Allowances Scheme (NILAS) targets and in turn avoid the potential for punitive fines in 2020.

Year NILAS Allowance (tonnes) Amount used (tonnes)

April 2016 – March 2017 22,722 20,462

April 2017 – March 2018 21,487 18,869

April 2018 – March 2019 20,252 9,280 (half year)

• The Cleanliness Index for the Borough is measured by independent surveys carried out on a quarterly basis by Keep NI Beautiful. Due to delays in the assimilation and transformation of legacy staff, it has not been possible to implement significant changes in how the service is delivered, with the aim of improving the LEAMS Cleanliness Index score to 80 or greater,

Year Cleanliness Index Score Cleanliness Index Target

April 2016 – March 2017 77 75

April 2017 – March 2018 75 80

April 2018 – March 2019 79 (Q2) 80

• Staff attendance has remained stubbornly below the 95% target, primarily, due to long term absenteeism. The Council’s Attendance policy is being followed with OH referrals and review meetings being carried out as required to address the issues.

5. How will the Waste & Cleansing Services contribute to corporate objectives?

The Waste and Cleansing Services can be expected to have a direct impact on the following:

Outcome/Objective Service objectives Develop more engaged, Through improved recycling sufficient savings can empowered and integrated be delivered to sustain the Recycling Community communities (PEOPLE) Investment Fund (RCIF). Increase pride in the borough Rolling Borough LEAMS Cleanliness Index score of (PEOPLE) 80 or greater. Promote a clean, green, healthy, Rolling Borough LEAMS Cleanliness Index score of safe and sustainable environment 80 or greater. (PLACE) Increase recycling rate to 65% by 2020. Meet annual NILAS target through the diversion of biodegradable waste from landfill. Enhance our towns, villages and Number of community initiatives supported through coastlines (PLACE) RCIF. Rolling Borough LEAMS Cleanliness Index score of 80 or greater Be financially responsible Deliver services within agreed budgets (PERFORMANCE) Maximise the potential of our staff Achieve staff attendance above 95%, completion of to deliver outcomes > 90% of personal development plans by staff and (PERFORMANCE) associated training.

6. Key activities for 2019/20

SERVICE AREA: Cleansing & Waste Management Community Plan Outcome: Feel pride having access to a well-managed, sustainable environment Corporate Objective: Develop more engaged, empowered and integrated communities; and enhance out towns, villages and coastlines Service Objective: Ensure through improved recycling, sufficient savings can be delivered to sustain the Community Recycling Investment Fund (CRIF) Underpinning strategies: Waste Resource Management Strategy

What are the Business as Usual What difference will it make How will we know Lead Officer(s) Who do we need to activities we will deliver (actions)? (outputs/outcomes)? (measures)? help us? (Internal/External partners) A range of kerbside recycling services Increase the Council’s overall recycling rate % household waste N Martin and I Recycling Officers recycled Frazer and Cleansing Operatives Provision of Household Recycling Reduce amount of residual waste sent to % municipal waste N Martin and A Recycling Officers Centres (HRCs) landfill landfilled Curtis and Cleansing Operatives Provision of recycling bring sites Reduce overall cost of waste disposal Financial cost of N Martin and A Recycling landfill disposal Curtis Officers and external service provider

What service What difference will it make How will we know (measures)? Lead Officer(s) Who do we need to help Is a development/improvement (outputs/outcomes)? us? (Internal/External Business will we undertake in partners) Case 2019/20? required? Revision of commercial Increased recycling of No. of businesses using the N Martin and I Waste Collections Officer waste collection service commercial waste commercial waste recycling service Frazer and Businesses No Improving recycling rates at Increase the Council’s % household waste recycled and N Martin and HRC Attendants and Council HRCs overall recycling rate and % municipal waste landfilled A Curtis Recycling Project Team No reduce dependence on landfill disposal

SERVICE AREA: Cleansing & Waste Management Community Plan Outcome: Feel pride having access to a well-managed, sustainable environment Corporate Objective: Increase pride in the borough; promote a clean, green, healthy, safe and sustainable environment; enhance our towns, villages and coastlines. Service Objective: Maintain a Borough LEAMS Cleanliness Index score of 80 or greater. Underpinning strategies: The Litter Order (NI) 1994 and the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act (NI) 2011

What are the Business as Usual What difference will it make How will we know Lead Officer(s) Who do we need to activities we will deliver (actions)? (outputs/outcomes)? (measures)? help us? (Internal/External partners) Daily mechanical sweeping, litter picking, Improve the cleanliness of the borough LEAMS score N Martin and A Neighbourhood and servicing of street litter bins Kerr Environment Team Pavement washing and deep cleaning of Improve cleanliness of main town centres LEAMS score N Martin and A public realm areas and reduce complaints Kerr

What service What difference will it make How will we know (measures)? Lead Officer(s) Who do we need to help Is a development/improvement (outputs/outcomes)? us? (Internal/External Business will we undertake in partners) Case 2019/20? required? Introduction of Town Centre Improve ability to deal with LEAMS score N Martin and A Street Cleansing staff and completed Wardens problems and issues that Kerr Neighbourhood Team arise between regular sweeps Introduction of revised shift Provide greater flexibility to LEAMS score N Martin and A Street Cleansing staff completed pattern to increase 7-day deal with issues such as Kerr week availability of street spikes due to good sweeping staff weather, events, etc.

What service / activities will we Reason for stopping activity Savings Impact on Impact on the Public Impact on staffing be stopping in 2019/20 Performance A number of service delivery models are being changed, but Not applicable N/A +ve +ve +ve no activities are stopping

Performance Measures Is the measure 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 (should include those outlined above and relevant Statutory, Actual Actual Actual Actual to Target measures from Community, Corporate and Performance Corporate, Existing or date Improvement Plans plus those that are Statutory) New? % staff absenteeism Corporate, existing No data 7.43% 7.35% 5% % spend against budget Corporate, existing 98.7% 99.4% 105.35% 100.73% 100% Tonnage of municipal solid waste sent to landfill Statutory, existing 52,812 43,836 39,540 19,461 36,000 % household waste recycled Statutory, existing 40.21% 49.19% 52.1% 55.1% 60% LEAMS cleanliness index score (Rolling 12 month Corporate, existing 74 76 75 77 80 period) Meet NILAS target for diverting biodegradable waste Statutory, existing 27,612 20,462 18,885 9,280 19,017 from landfill (actual/target) (23,956) (22,722) (21,487) (20,252) (19,017)

Resources:

Are all actions resourced within the current (2018/19) budget plan? Yes x No

Will additional resources be required? Yes No x (If no please comment in Section A below how the actions will be funded, i.e. Staff Resources, Equipment, Revenue Budget, Capital Budget.) (If yes please detail additional resources in Section B below.)

Section A: The services will be funded through the agreed revenue budgets and savings achieved through reductions in overtime working and reduced expenditure on landfill disposal costs.

Section B:

Resources:

If the required additional resources are not available please state: N/A What is the likely impact on performance?

What is the likely impact on the public?

What is the likely impact on staffing?

7. Risks

Gross Residual Risk Status Risk Risk Notes to Risk Further Action Action Due explain Ref: Current controls Risk Owner Description Required by rationale for Tolerate / I L R I L R scoring, etc. Action

1 Failure to meet Possible Major Medium Service policies and procedures Remote Moderate Low Continue to monitor new statutory are regularly reviewed and and forthcoming

legislative designed to ensure compliance. legislation to alert Tolerate Ongoing Head of Service

requirements Council to any action/changes required.

2 Failure to Possible Major Medium Risk assessments and safe Possible Moderate Medium protect the systems of work.

health & safety Safety training. Regular Health and

of employees PPE provision. Safety reviews through Head of Service resulting in Audits and review. Tolerate Team Meetings. Ongoing and Service Unit death/injury Use of technological aids to Ongoing refresher Managers and resulting in assist LGV Drivers training for all staff prosecution, fines and claims

3 Failure to Possible Major medium Analysis of monthly budget Remote Moderate Low Training for Head of deliver services reports. Services and Service Head of Service within agreed Correct use of purchase order Tolerate Unit Managers on Total Ongoing and Service Unit

budgets system and council purchasing to allow more detailed Managers policy. analysis Internal audit checks

4 Out-workings Possible Major Medium Monitoring of Government press Possible Major Medium Continue to monitor of Brexit releases and reports regarding press releases and

relevant legislation reports to alert Council Tolerate Ongoing Head of Service

to any action/changes required.

5 Failure to Remote moderate low Service delivery plan. remote minor low

deliver services Development of KPIs Head of Service

to a Use of Tascomi Customer Tolerate None and Service Unit

satisfactory Relations Management System Managers

standard

Gross Residual Risk Status Risk Risk Notes to Risk Further Action Action Due explain Ref: Current controls Risk Owner Description Required by rationale for Tolerate / I L R I L R scoring, etc. Action

leading to to record, monitor and track widespread complaints and queries. dissatisfaction and high levels of complaints 5 Failure or Possible moderate medium All major waste contracts are Possible moderate Low closure of main procured through arc21, whose Contractor staff carry out regular monitoring

used to and review meetings with

process the contractors to identify any Tolerate None

various waste issues or problems. Monthly

streams report provided to arc21 collected by the Steering Group Council

8. Resources

8.1 Staffing At this stage it is not proposed to change the level of staffing within the service, but to look at improving efficiency and effectiveness through changes to shift patterns and possible centralisation of specific service areas.

8.2 Financial

The agreed revenue budget for 2019 – 2020, to enable the key objectives to be met is as follows:

Service Area Net Budget for 2019 – 2020 £ Waste Collection Services 3,258,040 Waste Contracts and Resources 7,924,374 Street and Other Cleansing Services 2,066,186 Total Net Budget for 2019/20 13,248,600

8.3 Other

No other required resources have been identified during the service review process

9. Monitoring and Review

Financial monitoring and reporting are carried out monthly so significant financial events will be quickly identified and investigated.

Waste data monitoring is carried out monthly to reconcile payments and invoices. More detailed reporting takes place on a quarterly cycle to meet the requirements of the DAERA through WasteDataFlow returns.

Quarterly reports will be provided to the Environment Committee in respect of the progress of the new recycling initiatives against projected targets

10. Conclusions

The Council’s Cleansing and Waste Management Services Department is still in the process of transforming services following the merger of the legacy councils. During the current year, further progress has been made in terms of service delivery and the implementation of the Council’s Sustainable Waste Resource Management Strategy. Various household kerbside recycling initiatives has been implemented resulting in a decrease in landfill waste collected through the grey bin. Evolution of these kerbside services will continue in line with experience and ongoing assessment of need to meet the targets set out in our Strategy. Focus has more recently moved to improving commercial waste recycling based on offering commercial premises the same range of kerbside recycling services as the householder.

Through surveys and the analysis of waste data, it is recognised that the Council’s HRCs are underperforming in terms of recycling. The reasons include: • Householders viewing HRCs as “dumps” rather than a recycling facility • Site space restrictions limiting the range of recycling containers that can be provided

• Lack of staff to meet and direct members of the public to the appropriate area (a number of sites are single manned) • Poor layout and over provision of containers for residual waste

A project team will be working on improving the listed problems, however longer term officers consider that there is a need to rationalise the number and location of HRCs (something that has been identified in the process of drafting a Council Estates Strategy.

The delivery of Cleansing Services continues to be provided by an in-house team with an emphasis on making service delivery more customer focussed, while complying with the Council’s governance requirements. There will be a continued focus on staff training to increase employee awareness of their role and how it impacts on the public as the customer.

A new street washing service was also commenced in the five towns to enhance the cleaning regime for the new public realm works. The appearance and cleanliness of both Bangor and Holywood were recognised in this year’s Best Kept Town Awards. The efforts of the staff with responsibility for the cleanliness of the Council’s public conveniences was also recognised with four awards.

Health and safety within the waste management industry remains under the spotlight due to a number of recent fatalities both in NI and the UK. While the Council has a good record in terms of health and safety, the learning outcomes of accidents elsewhere will result in a need to change certain current practices and there will be a need to strike a reasonable balance between employee/public safety and the customer’s expectations.

Through the introduction of a range of new recycling initiatives, the Council will aim to minimise the financial impact of the on-going annual increase in landfill tax. During the term of the Corporate Plan the focus in terms of waste management will continue to be increasing the Council’s recycling and recovery rates towards a target of 65% by 2020, while significantly reducing the dependency on landfill.

Finally, Cleansing and Waste Management services have an important role in helping to deliver on the fifth outcome of the new Community Plan (The Big Plan) for the Borough; “All people in Ards and North Down feel pride from having access to a well-managed sustainable environment”.

11. Appendices

No additional information.

Regulatory Services

1st April 2019 to 31st March 2020

Head of Service signature

Date 19/02/2019

Peer Review signature

Date

Director signature

Date

CONTENTS

CONTENTS ...... 2 1. Introduction...... 6 2. Customers/Stakeholders ...... 10 3. Context, Challenges and Assumptions ...... 14 4. Opportunity for Improvement ...... 16 5. How will the contribute to corporate objectives? ...... 17 6. Key activities for 2019/20 ...... 18 7. Risks ...... Error! Bookmark not defined. 8. Resources ...... Error! Bookmark not defined. 9. Monitoring and Review ...... Error! Bookmark not defined. 10. Conclusions ...... Error! Bookmark not defined. 11. Appendices ...... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Guidance Notes

Section: 1,2,3,4,5,7,8,9,10 and 11 please follow the notes included at the beginning of each section.

Section 6 notes:

Community Plan Outcome and Corporate Objectives

Service Objectives

There is no defined set number of objectives that you must complete in this section however you should ensure to complete those appropriate to your service, think quality instead of quantity.

Please reflect on the previous year’s objectives and measures to determine if they are still applicable and if not please outline why in Section 4.

When you are drafting an objective the ‘SMARTER’ acronym should be used. Objectives should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timely, Engaging and Reviewed i.e.

Below are some examples of objectives which are SMARTER and some which are not.

When completing this section please ensure there is a clear demonstrable link between the Service Objective, the actions and the outputs/outcomes. For example:

What are the Business as Usual What difference will it make How will we know Lead Officer(s) Who do we need activities we will deliver (actions)? (outputs/outcomes)? (measures)? to help us? (Internal/External partners) Review policies, processes and ways Increase confidence and % handbooks SUMs of working and as a result, update knowledge of staff, therefore reviewed handbooks/guidance improving compliance, efficiency % satisfactory audit and performance reports

What service / activities will we Reason for stopping / changing Savings Impact on Impact on the Impact on be stopping / changing in activity Performance Public staffing 2019/20 Out of hours call handling by Financial efficiency savings – £x None – in-house None – On call Extension to XXXX current service expensive and not answer service put officer shift pattern – efficient. in place available from agreed with 6.30 am until officers. 11.00 pm and answer service from 11.00 pm until 6.30 am

Performance Measures Is the measure 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 (should include those outlined above and relevant measures Statutory, Actual Actual Actual Actual to Target / from Community, Corporate and Performance Improvement Corporate, date standard Plans plus those that are Statutory) Existing or New? % satisfactory audit reports Existing N/A N/A 5% 6% 8% % handbooks reviewed New N/A N/A N/A N/A 100% % spend against budget Corporate N/A 85% 100% 96% 100% Net cost per head of population Corporate N/A £11.80 £10.74 £6.72 <=£13.00

Target(s) You will need to state the expected target figure/standard you want to achieve in this section, for example; 80%, <£7.2 million and 1st October 2018.

Please note: When you have completed your Service Plan please delete pages 3-5 and update the Contents table on page 2. This is achieved by right clicking on the Table of Contents, choose update field, the choose Update entire table and select OK.

1. Introduction.

1.1 Section Profile:

Regulatory Service area comprises of the following three key services below, including staff structures:

Building Control

Head of Regulatory Services

Service Unit Manager Building Control

3 x Senior Surveyors Senior Administrative Officer

Technical Officer 11 x Building Control Surveyors 5 x Administrative Officers

Licensing

Head of Regulatory Services

Service Unit Manager Licensing and Regulatory Service

Senior Licensing Officer

2 x Licensing Officer Administrative Officer

Neighbourhood Environment Team

Head of Regulatory Services

Service Unit Manager Neighbourhood Environment Team

Supervisor Neighbourhood Environment Team

Senior Administrative Officer

7 x Neighbourhood 2 x Community 2 x Administrative Environment Officers Safety Officers Officers

7 x Enforcement Officers

The charts below show where the services sit within the Council structure and Environment Directorate.

Council Structure

Environment Directorate Structure

1.2 Why do we deliver the service?

The council has a statutory obligation to deliver a range of regulatory functions, many of which fall within the remit of the three services. The delivery of these services contributes significantly to both the Council’s vision of ensuring that “Ards and North Down will be a place to be proud of which is more prosperous, vibrant, healthy, sustainable and where people enjoy an excellent quality of life” and to the Community Plan’s vision of “Ards and North Down as a vibrant, connected healthy, safe and prosperous place to be.”

1.3 What is the purpose of the service?

The service aims to deliver an efficient, effective and customer focussed regulatory service to the residents, businesses and visitors to the Borough by helping promote a clean, green healthy, safe and sustainable environment.

A summary of the key functions and roles of the three Service units are provided below.

Building Control is responsible for the following, namely:

• Processing and where appropriate, approving applications made under the Building Regulations. • Processing, collating and subsequently issuing property certificates. • Investigating reports of dangerous buildings that pose a risk to the public using a road, street or footpath. • The naming of new streets and roads following consultation with the relevant developer.

• Through a service level agreement with Belfast City Council, enforce the Energy Performance of Buildings Regulations which requires, along with other issues, those selling, renting or constructing a building to obtain an energy performance certificate.

Licensing and Regulatory Service is responsible for the following, namely:

• Processing and where appropriate, issuing a range of licenses, permits and approvals including entertainment, cinematographic, amusement, street trading, pavement café licenses and marriage/civil place approvals. • Managing the running of off street car parks, including pay and display car parks • Responding to complaints relating to high hedges. • Managing the effective use of the eighteen cameras that form the town centre CCTV network in Bangor, Holywood and Newtownards. • Administering the road restriction/closing process for special events held on a road in the Borough • Oversee the running of the weekly markets at Bangor and Newtownards and the annual Newtownards Harvest Fair.

Neighbourhood Environment Team is responsible for the following, namely:

• The licensing of dogs and the promotion of responsible dog ownership. • The investigation and enforcement of environmental crimes including littering, dog fouling, fly tipping, abandoned vehicles and the promotion of responsible environmental stewardship, awareness, respect and civic pride. • Responding to and where possible, addressing anti-social behaviour occurring across the Borough. • Through a service level agreement with Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council investigate offences relating to the Welfare of Animal Act 2011.

2. Customers/Stakeholders

2.1 Who are your customers and what do you know about them?

Customers Profile / characteristics Interest Power Support How much does our work How much influence does What is this stakeholder’s and our plans impact upon this stakeholder have over current view of our work this stakeholder and vice the success or failure of and our plans? (Supporter, versa? (Low, Medium or our work and our plans? Neutral or Critic) High) (Low, Medium or High) Residents Population: 157,000 High High Neutral Employees 48 direct employees High High Supporter Community Schools, Residents Groups, Medium Medium Supporter Groups Sports groups and religious groups. Volunteering to environmental initiatives Elected Members 40 elected members High High Supporter Builders Over 275 High Medium Supporter Agents/ Over 450 High Low Supporter Developers Licensees 192 Licences Issued High Low Supporter Solicitors Over 100 High Low Supporter Dog Owners Over 11,000 dog licenses Medium Medium Neutral issued between April To December 2017 Vehicle Drivers Over 1,000,000 off street car High Medium Neutral parking tickets sold each year.

2.2 What are your customers’ needs/demand levels? Where does the majority of demand come from? Are there specific times?

Customers Needs / demands from the service Residents Over 3,000 requests for service to the Neighbourhood Environment Team between 1st January 2018 and 29th December 2018 relating to a range of environmental and dog related issues. Builders In 2018 there was over 13000 on-site inspections with over 3000 Completion Certificates being issued. Agent/Developers Over 800 full plan applications and over 3000 Completion Certificate per annum. Licensees An effective licensing service ensures the safety of patrons using licensed premises, including fire safety. It also protects residents from unacceptable disturbances through licenses such as, entertainment, street trading and pavement café Licences. Dog Owners An effective dog licensing service which helps and encourages responsible dog ownership and which facilitates and promotes the principle of shared space Vehicle drivers Need to provide available, convenient and safe parking Elected members To address constituent issues across a range of services that impact, in particular, on quality of life issues. The approach of local government elections will, from past experience, heighten the level of contact between members and constituents and will lead to greater demand on services Employees A flexible and rewarding job where all are treated with respect, fairness and where employees’ mental and physical wellbeing are protected and supported

2.3 Customer satisfaction / needs

The Neighbourhood Environment Team carries out ‘after service use’ satisfaction surveys. Below is a summary of the results obtained for 2018:

PERCENTAGE LEVEL OF SATISFACTION - 2018

80 79

78 76 76 76 74 74

72 71 70 70

64 Quality of Service Courteousness & Kept Informed Resolving The Meet Timeline of Professional Staff Issue Expectations Response

From 1st April 2019 Building Control, Licensing and NET have prepared similar customer satisfaction ‘after use surveys’. They enable us to review our service more accurately and every user will have the option to complete it, either electronically or on paper.

3. Context, Challenges and Assumptions

3.1 Context

In developing this Service Improvement Plan, consideration has been given to a number of external factors namely.

Political – The approach of the Local Government elections will influence and affect decision making within the Chamber, while also placing greater pressure on the need to deliver efficient, effective services that meet residents’ and voters’ expectations.

The continued absence of an Executive and Assembly may lead to a greater spotlight on local government, which will be the main forum for debate and political manoeuvring.

The impact of Brexit is not yet clearly understood but is likely to have an impact on future legislative change and delivery of services.

Economic – The level of commercial development within the Borough has slowed which is having a negative effect on income from Building Control. However, increasing housing stock is sustaining but is having a knock-on effect for other services including the Neighbourhood Environment Team, which responds to residents’ complaints over a range of quality of life issues such as noise, litter and anti-social behaviour.

A key action in 2018/19 for the Licensing and Regulatory Service was to develop an off street car parking strategy with a key aim of helping drive economic regeneration. The Strategy was expected to be in place by June 2018. However, members have several concerns with the proposed strategy. Work is ongoing to agree a strategy which will meet the economic outcomes for the council and businesses within the borough, whilst ensuring the strategy is palatable to the residents.

Social - Social changes are continuing to have an impact on Service Delivery. How people expect their services to be delivered and when is also changing, with an increasing expectation that services can be accessed seven days a week. Our service delivery will reflect this change while also ensuring value for money and staff welfare is protected.

Technology – Progress has been made in 2018/19 to deliver online services. The dog licensing service continues to be increasingly used, allowing dog owners to access the service 24/7, while also reducing the administrative burden in back office processes. Similarly, the online services for Building Control, which was introduced in 2017, has been well received, increasingly used thereby ensuring a greater uptake. NET and BC will continue to promote this and work is going ahead to align Licensing. This will be a KPI for 2019/20.

Legal – Legal changes continue to play an important role in the regulatory functions delivered by the three services. The recent introduction of Road Closure Orders and the Licensing of Pavement Café legislation has had impact on the existing services delivered by the Licensing & Regulatory Service. Road Closure Orders and the costs associated with them are restricting community events from happening.

The Grenfell Tower disaster and subsequent public enquiry and review of building and fire safety regulations has the potential to make a significant impact on Building Control and how the service approaches ensuring compliance with relevant standards and regulations.

Environment – The state of the Borough and its perceived level of cleanliness continues to be a priority for the Council and is a key issue within the Community Planning process. Its impact on people’s welfare, regeneration and tourism is recognised and has a clear impact on residents’ quality of life. Recent news stories around global warming and the link to extreme weather events raises concerns over use of plastics. The impact on ecosystems has raised the profile of environmental issues in the public consciousness and is likely to lead to further expectations that those who litter and pollute the Borough are held to account.

3.2 What changes are you expecting in the next few years? (PESTLE)

The delivery of this plan is predicated on a number of key assumptions, namely:

• The level of resources, particularly around staff requirements as detailed in the rates estimates 2019/20, is delivered • Corporate priorities and objectives do not change radically • Key personnel, both within and outside the service, are retained • The national and global financial situation is maintained and does not experience a significant downturn.

3.3 What are your future challenges?

There are key challenges facing the service that may prevent or hamper the delivery of this plan.

• Public expectations remain high and on occasions unrealistic. Managing these expectations continues to be difficult, particularly against the background of a greater range of legislative requirements and powers, and the volume of work.

• Building partnerships with other bodies and organisations has been an important element of the service’s work. Links with Land and Property Services, PSNI, NIHE, Transport NI have all been developed, helping deliver better, more efficient and coordinated services. Maintaining and developing these improvements, against a back drop of greater pressure on resources and changing personnel, can be difficult.

4. Opportunity for Improvement

4.1 Reflection of Service Performance

• Key successes High staff turn-over, increased statutory functions, Brexit and a re-structure are just a few factors which have contributed to an extremely challenging year. Despite this transition year, all functions have continued to be delivered and by and large, the targets identified have been met.

• Key Learning Many of the non-corporate KPI’s identified within 18/19 financial year were specific to individual service units. In the year ahead common links have been established across all regulatory services, which will be measured across the entire service. The specific unit KPI’s, which are not KPI’s within the service plan for 19/20, will continue to be measured but as part of the quarterly unit update reports that are provided to Committee. This will help merge Regulatory Services to create a more robust and collaborative service which can identify the strengths and weaknesses more accurately.

5. How will the contribute to corporate objectives?

Regulatory Services can be expected to have a direct impact on the following:

Outcome/Objective Service objectives Develop more Engaged, Encourage and support people to achieve common empowered and integrated sustainable, environmental outcomes. communities (People) Promote a clean, green, healthy, Improve the cleanliness and safety of the Borough safe and sustainable Environment in a sustainable way. (Place) Support Business start-up, Increase the ease with which residents can access development and growth shops/businesses in key commercial areas. (prosperity) Financial Responsibility Deliver service in budget whilst ensuring income (Performance) streams are maximised. Maximise the potential of our staff Ensure staff are engaged, involved and motivated to to deliver outcomes deliver high quality customer focused services. (performance) Deliver high quality customer Ensure residents receive a top quality service. focused services (Performance)

6. Key activities for 2019/20

SERVICE: Regulatory Services Community Plan Outcome: All people in AND feel pride from having access to a well-managed and sustainable environment Corporate Objective: Develop more Engaged, empowered and integrated communities Service Objective: Encourage and support people to achieve common sustainable, environmental outcomes. Underpinning strategies: The Game Plan (Community Development)

What are the Business as Usual What difference will it make How will we know Lead Officer(s) Who do we need to activities we will deliver (actions)? (outputs/outcomes)? (measures)? help us? (Internal/External partners) Through the Recycling Community Environmental improvements of the local By % of people Stephen Addy KNIB, Investment Fund (RCIF), continue to area and enhancement of civic pride. surveyed who believe Community support communities. Increasing community volunteering the project enhanced Development opportunities improves health and well- their area. Team, being. - Numbers directly Community Groups involved

SERVICE: Regulatory Services Community Plan Outcome: All people in AND feel pride from having access to a well-managed and sustainable environment Corporate Objective: Promote a clean, green, healthy, safe and sustainable Environment Service Objective: Improve the cleanliness and safety of the borough in a sustainable way. Underpinning strategies: The Sustainable Development Goals (United Cities and Local Government)

What service What difference will it make How will we know Lead Officer(s) Who do we need Is a development/improvement will we (outputs/outcomes)? (measures)? to help us? Business undertake in 2019/20? (Internal/External Case partners) required? Education delivery, advice and Improve the sharing of information % surveyed show Colin Reid Schools, No guidance on Regulatory Services will which keeps people safe and helps increased learning Richard Community be reviewed and streamlined. sustainability. McCracken Groups. David Brown Promote key safety, sustainability Prevent people from committing Litter Pollution Index Stephen Addy Corporate No and environmental messages to the offences which impact on residents’ Comms. public. safety and the environment. PSNI

Deter abuse of the environment through robust enforcement.

SERVICE: Regulatory Services Community Plan Outcome: All people in AND benefit from a prosperous economy Corporate Objective: Support Business start-up, development and growth Service Objective: Increase the ease in which residents can access shops in key business areas. Underpinning strategies: Integrated Strategy for Tourism Regeneration and Economic Development

What are the Business as Usual What difference will it make How will we know Lead Officer(s) Who do we need to activities we will deliver (actions)? (outputs/outcomes)? (measures)? help us? (Internal/External partners) Deliver the off-street parking strategy Increased economic benefits for the Agree and implement David Brown Members and action plan. businesses in the towns and villages. the strategy. AECOM

SERVICE: Regulatory Services Community Plan Outcome: All people in AND benefit from a prosperous economy Corporate Objective: Financial Responsibility Service Objective: Deliver service in budget whilst ensuring income streams are maximised. Underpinning strategies: Medium Term Financial Plan

What are the Business as Usual What difference will it make How will we know Lead Officer(s) Who do we need to activities we will deliver (actions)? (outputs/outcomes)? (measures)? help us? (Internal/External partners) Review budget reports on a monthly Operate within our financial means. % spend against SUM’s. Finance and basis. budget Performance, Corporate Comms.

What service What difference will it make How will we know Lead Officer(s) Who do we need Is a development/improvement will we (outputs/outcomes)? (measures)? to help us? Business undertake in 2019/20? (Internal/External Case partners) required? Review of income generation. Ensure income potential is maximised % self-sustained Stephen Addy SUM’s, No. Corporate Coms.

SERVICE: Regulatory Services Community Plan Outcome: Runs through the Community Plan Corporate Objective: Maximise the potential of our staff to deliver outcomes Service Objective: Ensure staff are engaged, involved and motivated to deliver high quality customer focussed services. Underpinning strategies: Organisation and Development Strategy

What are the Business as Usual What difference will it make How will we know Lead Officer(s) Who do we need to activities we will deliver (actions)? (outputs/outcomes)? (measures)? help us? (Internal/External partners) Hold monthly staff meetings to consult Improved level of staff attendance % Level of attendance SUM’s HR and involve all in service delivery and improvement.

Support the work of the staff and Health and Wellbeing group. Staff who feel engaged, as they are kept informed and feel that their development % number of Ensure PIP conversations are help. needs are being addressed. employees that have PIP conversations. Distribute Team briefs and seek feedback.

What service What difference will it make How will we know Lead Officer(s) Who do we need Is a development/improvement will we (outputs/outcomes)? (measures)? to help us? Business undertake in 2019/20? (Internal/External Case partners) required? Monthly staff 1 to 1’s Increase staff support and % line manager Stephen Addy All line No happiness! monthly 1 to 1’s managers and staff.

SERVICE: Regulatory Services Community Plan Outcome: Runs through the Community Plan Corporate Objective: Deliver high quality customer focused services Service Objective: Ensure residents receive a top quality service. Underpinning strategies: Customer Service Excellence

What service What difference will it make How will we know Lead Officer(s) Who do we need Is a development/improvement will we (outputs/outcomes)? (measures)? to help us? Business undertake in 2019/20? (Internal/External Case partners) required? Increase all regulatory service Increase efficiency % of all applications SUM’s. Performance, T-care. applications made on-line. made on-line Ensure regulatory services are easily % target met on No accessed customer satisfaction Ensure regulatory service survey processes satisfactory Staff courtesy and helpful Ensure satisfaction of regulatory services outcome

Actions Performance Measures Is the measure 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 (should include those Statutory, Actual Actual Actual Actual to Target / outlined above and relevant Corporate, date standard measures from Community, Existing or New? Corporate and Performance Improvement Plans plus those that are Statutory) Incentivise residents and Less waste going to New 36000 tons organisations to increase landfill. 9% less sustainable practice through than 18/19 RCIF projects Through the Recycling - Numbers directly New Report in 5000 Community Investment Fund involved June 19 (RCIF) continue to support communities. Education delivery, advice and % surveyed show New 70% guidance on Regulatory Services increased learning will be reviewed and streamlined. Promote key safety, sustainability % Litter Pollution Index New 11% (NI and environmental messages to Ave) the public whilst deterring abuse of the environment through robust enforcement. Deliver the off-street parking Agreed / Not agreed Existing Agreed strategy and action plan. and ratified Review budget reports on a % spend against budget Corporate 110% 184% Positive 100% monthly basis. Variance Review of income generation. % self-sustained New 101% 102% 92% Hold monthly staff meetings and % Level of attendance Corporate, 95.94% 93% 96% 95% consult and involve all in service Existing delivery and improvement.

Ensure PIP conversations are held.

Resources:

Are all actions resourced within the current (2018/19) budget plan? Yes No

Will additional resources be required? Yes No (If no please comment in Section A below how the actions will be funded, ie Staff Resources, Equipment, Revenue Budget, Capital Budget.) (If yes please detail additional resources in Section B below.)

Section A: The service will be funded through the agreed budget.

Section B:

Resources:

If the required additional resources are not available please state: What is the likely impact on performance?

What is the likely impact on the public?

What is the likely impact on staffing?

7. Risks

Risk Gross Risk Residual Risk Notes to Status Further Action Action Due Risk explain Ref: Risk Description Current controls Required by Owner rationale for Tolerate I L R I L R scoring, etc / Action Failure to ensure 5 3 15 • Procedures in place 5 2 10 Action • Continue to Ongoing HOS and Potential major compliance with • Training provided converge review at SUMs impact on regulations, • Monitoring undertaken and/or develop monthly individuals and Council policies • Internal audits carried out new policies team services but and procedures • Complaints system in place and procedures meetings through existing potentially leading • Review and processes can to significant update be mitigated. health and safety complaints Ongoing work concerns, poor process required service delivery and loss of reputation Failure to have 5 3 15 • Health and Safety Policy in 5 2 10 Action • Continue to Monthly HOS and Potential major appropriate health place review and review at SUMs impact on and safety • Health and Safety Advice update risk Team individuals and arrangements for available assessments meetings services but staff leading to • Legacy Council Risk • Develop action through existing loss of life, serious Assessments in place and plans to further Quarterly processes can injury etc. resulting new assessments being address health review at be mitigated. in failure to meet developed and safety Directorate Ongoing work moral and legal • Environment Directorate • Annually review quarterly required obligations, loss of Health and Safety assessment meetings reputation and Committee established and update investigation • Corporate Health and Safety were required Directorate established • Trained experienced staff in place • Monitoring arrangements in place

Poor customer 3 3 9 • Policies and procedures 2 2 4 Action • Continue to Ongoing HOS and Front line service leading to including customer converge SUMs operations loss of reputation complaints policy in place and/or develop services dealing and challenge by • CRM systems in place to new policies with customers ombudsman, manage service requests and procedure on daily basis. press, members • Monitoring of performance • Review and Ongoing work and service users undertaken update required to • Customer feedback complaints ensure processes in place process processes and • Complaints system in place • Update process services are for obtaining operating customer effectively feedback and satisfaction levels • Provide customer care training Loss of business 5 1 5 • Web based systems utilised 2 1 2 Action • Review and Ongoing HOS and Impact on continuity – allowing remote access to update SUMs service damage, loss or key Council systems business potentially major reduction in • Legacy Councils developed continuity plans but likelihood of physical resources plans for establishing office occurrence low. due to fire, flood, facilities at other sites if New/revised vandalism or other required. business occurrence continuity plan required with other Directorates

Unexpected 3 3 9 • Phased budgets developed 3 3 9 Tolerate HOS and Unlikely to have pressure on • Monthly budget reports SUMs major financial finances due to provided and reviewed underspend that either a reduction • Procurement policies in the Council of income or place and implemented corporately additional • Internal audit review cannot cover expenditure processes • Service Level Agreements in place with central government re provision of funding

Loss of key staff 3 3 9 • Staff welfare programmes 3 3 9 Action • Develop Ongoing HOS and Transformation and their implemented training and but review SUMs across knowledge, • Good pay and conditions in support on a 6 organisation has expertise and place programmes for monthly continued to experience leading • Health, Safety and Welfare staff basis lead to internal to poor standards arrangements in place • Keep staff changes in staff of service. • Absenteeism/attendance informed of position policy introduced changes and involve them in planning service improvements • Ensure welfare programmes are communicated to staff

8. Resources

8.1 Staffing

Details of the staff structure required to deliver this plan is laid out in the first section of this report under section profile. The key change compared to previous years is the introduction of the ‘Enforcement Team’ within NET. This team have been introduced to allow the core NET to focus on statutory requirements and to ensure environmental crime is prevented through the fear of detection. This service was previously outsourced. The new team established ‘in-house’ will allow greater control, increased flexibility and is cheaper.

8.2 Financial

A new financial KPI has been introduced as a ‘health check’ given income fears over Brexit. Regulatory Services is approximately 100% self sufficient due to a large amount of income generated. However, Brexit and the lack of a car park strategy will have an impact on income.

% Actual 18/19 18/19 % Budget 18/19 Actual 18/19 Actual Self 19/20 19/20 Service Budget Budget Self Outgoings (to Income (to Sustained (to Budget Budget % Self Unit Outgoings Income Sustained 31 Dec 18) 31 Dec 18) 31 Dec 18 Outgoings Income Sustained

NET 799,300 160,000 20.0% 519,695 115,746 22.3% 826,800 171,500 20.7% BC 944,500 1,068,000 113.1% 675,666 768,472 113.7% 971,100 948,000 97.6% Lic 593,200 1,132,300 190.9% 482,450 832,474 172.6% 635,000 1,132,300 178.3% Total 2,337,000 2,360,300 101.0% 1,677,811 1,716,692 102.3% 2,432,900 2,251,800 92.6%

8.3 Other

At time of writing the Council in association with AECOM are developing an off-street car parking strategy. It is expected that this strategy will not only include a review of the pricing structure of existing off-street car parks but also consider the introduction of fees for a number of car parks that are presently operated for free. In the 2019/20 estimates a budget has been established to allow capital work to be carried out to ensure the necessary infrastructure is in place, while also update existing infrastructure with the view of reducing fraudulent appeals to issued PCNs.

9. Monitoring and Review

Parts of this plan will be reviewed on a monthly basis and the whole plan reviewed on a three monthly basis with details reported to the Director of Environment, Corporate Leadership Team and the Environment Committee. The plan will be reviewed and will help formulate the new plan and objectives for 2020 - 2021.

10. Conclusions

2018-19 was a year of transition. This plan outlines the delivery of that transition and enables us to measure its progress. The main feature and difference in the service plan, compared to previous years, is its attempt to merge Regulatory Services to a collaborative team that achieves common outcomes together.

Assets & Property Services

April 2019 – March 2020

Head of Service signature

Date

Peer Review signature

Date

Director signature

Date

CONTENTS

CONTENTS ...... 2 1. Introduction...... 6 2. Customers/Stakeholders ...... 8 3. Context, Challenges and Assumptions ...... 10 4. Opportunity for Improvement ...... 11 5. How will Assets & Property Services contribute to corporate objectives? ...... 12 6. Key activities for 2019/20 ...... 13 7. Risks ...... 19 8. Resources ...... 21 9. Monitoring and Review ...... 21

Guidance Notes

Section: 1,2,3,4,5,7,8,9,10 and 11 please follow the notes included at the beginning of each section.

Section 6 notes:

Community Plan Outcome and Corporate Objectives

Service Objectives

There is no defined set number of objectives that you must complete in this section however you should ensure to complete those appropriate to your service, think quality instead of quantity.

Please reflect on the previous year’s objectives and measures to determine if they are still applicable and if not please outline why in Section 4.

When you are drafting an objective the ‘SMARTER’ acronym should be used. Objectives should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timely, Engaging and Reviewed i.e.

Below are some examples of objectives which are SMARTER and some which are not.

When completing this section please ensure there is a clear demonstrable link between the Service Objective, the actions and the outputs/outcomes. For example:

What are the Business as Usual What difference will it make How will we know Lead Officer(s) Who do we need activities we will deliver (actions)? (outputs/outcomes)? (measures)? to help us? (Internal/External partners) Review policies, processes and ways Increase confidence and % handbooks SUMs of working and as a result, update knowledge of staff, therefore reviewed handbooks/guidance improving compliance, efficiency % satisfactory audit and performance reports

Target(s) You will need to state the expected target figure/standard you want to achieve in this section, for example; 80%, <£7.2 million and 1st October 2018.

1. Introduction.

1.1 Section Profile:

The Assets & Property Services Service Area comprises of:

Service Unit Service Unit Reportees Manager Property Operations Peter McCoy Jim Atkinson- Maintenance Supervisor Karl Bailie- Maintenance Supervisor Colin Atkins- Maintenance Officer Michael Wolff- Store Person John Massey- Assistant Store person William Angus- Harbour Master John Patterson- Assistant Harbour Master Technical Geoff Allen Martin Henderson- Senior Technical officer Glenn Speers- Technical Officer Alan Sloan- Surveyor Brian Marshall- Senior Technical Officer (Compliance) Colin Laird- Technical Compliance Officer Jim Adams- Technical Compliance Officer Transport Jeff Shaw James Mannis – Transport Operations Supervisor Dean Gilmore- Senior Fitter (North Road) Geoff Jennings- Senior Fitter (Balloo) Mark Blackwood- Stores controller Admin Support Shirley Rowley Julie McAleenan Chrissy Henderson

The chart below shows where Assets & Property Services sits within the organisation.

1.2 Why do we deliver the service?

The Council has a statutory obligation to maintain its assets in compliance with the relevant standards and to ensure they are fit for use by members of the public and staff.

1.3 What is the purpose of the service?

The role of Assets & Property services is to:

Proactively manage our estate in collaboration with service managers, to ensure it is ‘fit for purpose’;

Maintain our assets in line with statutory regulations and industry best practice;

Seek out opportunities to improve the condition and energy efficiency of our assets; and

Provide a quality service to berth holders at our Harbours.

2. Customers/Stakeholders Assets & Property Services is predominantly an internal facing Service, supplying a maintenance, repair and technical advisory service to all areas of the organisation. However, having responsibility for the Harbours service means that we must also seek to engage with and meet the needs of external customers who use our Harbours.

2.1 Who are your customers and what do you know about them?

Customers Profile / characteristics Interest Power Support How much does our work and How much influence does What is this stakeholder’s our plans impact upon this this stakeholder have over current view of our work stakeholder and vice versa? the success or failure of and our plans? (Supporter, (Low, Medium or High) our work and our plans? Neutral or Critic) (Low, Medium or High) Elected Members 40 members High High Supporter Facility users High Low Neutral

Internal customers High Medium Supporter

Health & Safety Low Medium Neutral Executive

22.2 What are your customers’ needs/demand levels?

Customers Needs / demands from the service Elected Members Occasional contact about specific maintenance issues. Facility users Occasional contact about specific maintenance issues. Internal customers Frequent contact to request repairs or advice.

Health & Safety Executive Very infrequent contact about specific concerns or incidents.

2.3 Customer satisfaction / needs

Annual surveys are issued to all internal customers to help us improve the way we deal with their maintenance/technical requests.

This year, we intend to issue surveys to all berth holders in order to establish a baseline and drive further improvements in the harbours service area.

3. Context, Challenges and Assumptions

3.1 Context We are faced with an aging estate that requires a strategic approach to implement a series of improvements in order to ensure its continued safe operation. In addition, the Corporate Plan has as its purpose and vision attraction of visitors to the borough and engendering pride amongst residents. Much progress has been achieved in the past 12 months however we are aware of the need for further improvement and we will strive for excellence in everything we do. We believe that we can assist with the delivery of our corporate objectives by actively improving the condition of our estate and assets and ensuring they are fit for purpose.

Current external factors potentially influencing this service include:

Political Economic Brexit Loss of EU grants No operational NI Executive Loss of NI grants due to budget City Deals and Confidence and Supply uncertainty Deal Rate increases Public negativity on local politics 2019 LG elections Social Technological Lower disposable income Threat of cyber crime Increasingly older local population Connectivity Channel shift to online usage Mobile working Cloud-based computing Legal Environmental GDPR Zero Carbon regulations Social value clauses Sustainability issues Rural proofing Procurement regulations Legislative changes due to Brexit

3.2 What changes are you expecting in the next few years? The Service will need to continually evolve to address the issues highlighted above and grasp opportunities presented. It is assumed that any identified resources will be available to enable this.

3.3 What are your future challenges? Challenges include legislative compliance in a changing environment, responding to technological threats and opportunities presented by cloud-based computing and mobile working, and delivering excellence in our Services in the context of finite financial resources.

4. Opportunity for Improvement

4.1 Reflection of Service Performance

• Last year we struggled to complete all of our planned refurbishment projects on time due to juggling surveys and projects simultaneously. This year we have employed a building surveyor who has assessed all properties a year in advance of the projects being scheduled for completion. This should help greatly with the programming and timely completion of projects.

• Historically the harbours at Ballywalter, Ballyhalbert and Cook St Portaferry have not been actively managed by Council. This year we have employed a Harbour team to expand the management arrangements in place at Donaghadee to encompass all harbours- thereby improving service provision.

5. How will Assets & Property Services contribute to corporate objectives?

Assets & Property Services can be expected to have a direct impact on the following:

Outcome/Objective Service objectives Promote a clean, healthy, safe and We will contribute to a safer, more sustainable sustainable environment Borough through our Service Delivery within (Corporate Plan Objective) Property Operations, Technical and Transport Service Units Deliver high quality customer We will provide excellence in our service delivery focussed services (Corporate Plan across Property Operations, Technical and Objective PF 04) Transport Service Units. Be financially responsible We will be efficient and effective (Corporate Plan Objective PF 02) Maximise the potential of our staff We will be engaged, positive and will invest in our to deliver outcomes Corporate Plan skills Objective)

6. Key activities for 2019/20

SERVICE: Assets & Property Services Community Plan Outcome: All people in ANDBC feel pride from having access to a well managed sustainable environment. Corporate Objective: Promote a clean, healthy, safe and sustainable environment Service Objective: We will contribute to a safer, more sustainable Borough through our Service Delivery within Property Operations, Technical and Transport Service Units Underpinning strategies:

What are the Business as Usual What difference will it make How will we know Lead Officer(s) Who do we need activities we will deliver (actions)? (outputs/outcomes)? (measures)? to help us? (Internal/External partners) Run a the “Truck Safety Campaign” in local Promote Road safety and educate local children Number of Schools Jeff Shaw Enviro Health, schools in the dangers associated with HGVs. giving positive Local Schools feedback. Carry out monthly roadside audits of the Ensuring ensure compliance with vehicle safety Number of roadside Jeff Shaw N/A fleet. checks- leading to a safer fleet on the road. audits of the fleet completed. Carry out quarterly audits of vehicle Ensuring our office systems are being Number of audits of Jeff Shaw N/A maintenance and safety check records implemented and are working effectively. vehicle maintenance and safety check records completed. Undertake condition surveys across our This will ensure continued refurbishment Number of condition Geoff Allen Facility Managers- estate. projects are carried out in the most appropriate surveys carried out for access. locations according to schedule Carry out regular refurbishment projects We will ensure our facilities are maintained to Number of Geoff Allen Facility Managers- across the estate. an acceptable standard. refurbishments carried for access. out according to the schedule. Achieve an E rating or better in Display This will ensure that our buildings are energy Number of DEC’s Geoff Allen N/A Energy Certificates (DECs) efficient. indicating a rating of E or better.

What are the Business as Usual What difference will it make How will we know Lead Officer(s) Who do we need activities we will deliver (actions)? (outputs/outcomes)? (measures)? to help us? (Internal/External partners) Carry out weekly inspections of playgrounds Ensuring that our playgrounds are safe to use % Playground Peter McCoy N/A inspections are carried out as per schedule Ensure our lifebelts are serviceable. This will help ensure our coastline is safe. % of time that life Peter McCoy N/A belts are serviceable. Expand the schedule for planned Public areas will be safer and more attractive. % of planned visits Peter McCoy N/A maintenance of public areas. carried out according to schedule.

SERVICE: Assets & Property Services Community Plan Outcome: N/A Corporate Objective: Deliver high quality customer focussed services Service Objective: We will provide excellence in our service delivery across Property Operations, Technical and Transport Service Units. Underpinning strategies:

What are the Business as Usual What difference will it make How will we know Lead Officer(s) Who do we need activities we will deliver (actions)? (outputs/outcomes)? (measures)? to help us? (Internal/External partners) Achieve a high first time pass rate for Reduce down-time of vehicles which may % first time pass rate Jeff Shaw N/A PSV. affect service delivery for PSV. Monitor the timely completion of reactive Ensure customer needs are met by % Reactive Peter McCoy N/A maintenance jobs. ensuring that reactive maintenance jobs are maintenance jobs completed within assigned timescales completed within allocated timescales. Monitor the quality of repairs being Ensure Council buildings are maintained to % of jobs quality Peter McCoy N/A made. a high quality. assured.

What are the Business as Usual What difference will it make How will we know Lead Officer(s) Who do we need activities we will deliver (actions)? (outputs/outcomes)? (measures)? to help us? (Internal/External partners) Engage with stakeholders and users of Harbour users are actively involved in the Annual questionnaire Peter McCoy Performance our harbours by issuing annual development of the harbours service and issued to all berth Improvement questionnaires to berth holders. assist the Council in effective delivery. holders. Service Unit.

SERVICE: Assets & Property Services Community Plan Outcome: N/A Corporate Objective: Be financially responsible Service Objective: We will be efficient and effective in delivery of all our services Underpinning strategies: What are the Business as Usual What difference will it make How will we know Lead Officer(s) Who do we need activities we will deliver (actions)? (outputs/outcomes)? (measures)? to help us? (Internal/External partners) Establish, manage and report on budgets, Aid effective resource planning % spend against budget Peter Caldwell Finance Service. being conscious of the need to deliver value for money for our ratepayers

SERVICE: Assets & Property Services Community Plan Outcome: N/A Corporate Objective: Maximise the potential of our staff to deliver outcomes Service Objective: We will be engaged, positive and will invest in our skills Underpinning strategies: What are the Business as Usual What difference will it make How will we know Lead Officer(s) Who do we need activities we will deliver (actions)? (outputs/outcomes)? (measures)? to help us? (Internal/External partners) Complete staff H&S refresher training in Having knowledgeable staff with safe % adherence to Peter McCoy Human accordance with schedule working practices; helping us to deliver training matrix. Resources, outcomes. Health & Safety Officer. 15

What service What difference will it make How will we know Lead Officer(s) Who do we Is a development/improvement will we (outputs/outcomes)? (measures)? need to help Busin undertake in 2019/20? us? ess (Internal/Extern Case al partners) requir ed? We hope to employ a small but This team will work from Thursday to Overtime costs will Peter McCoy Events team Yes dedicated event support team to Monday, largely eliminating overtime reduce. carry out the event support work and freeing up the maintenance squad More maintenance jobs currently carried out by the to do their core duties. will be completed on maintenance staff. time.

What service / activities will we Reason for stopping / Savings Impact on Impact on the Public Impact on be stopping / changing in 2019/20 changing activity Performance staffing

Performance Measures Is the measure 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 (should include those outlined above and relevant Statutory, Actual Actual Actual Actual to Target / measures from Community, Corporate and Performance Corporate, Existing or date standard Improvement Plans plus those that are Statutory) New? Number of refurbishments carried out according to Existing 8 8 8 6 100% the schedule. Number of DEC’s indicating a rating of E or better. Existing 80% % Playground inspections are carried out as per Existing 95% schedule % of time that life belts are serviceable. New n/a n/a n/a n/a 95% % Planned maintenance of public areas carried out New n/a n/a n/a n/a 90% according to schedule. % first time pass rate for PSV. Existing 95% % Reactive maintenance jobs completed within Existing 80% allocated timescales. % of jobs quality assured. Existing 10% Annual questionnaire issued to all berth holders. Existing 100% % spend against budget Existing N/A 85% 100% TBC 100% % adherence to training matrix. Existing

Resources:

Are all actions resourced within the current (2018/19) budget plan? Yes No X

Will additional resources be required? Yes X No (If no please comment in Section A below how the actions will be funded, ie Staff Resources, Equipment, Revenue Budget, Capital Budget.) (If yes please detail additional resources in Section B below.)

Resources:

Section A: The overtime budget will be reduced by approximately £90k. The total staff costs for the events support team will be in the region of £110k. The deficit will be sought from 19/20 revenue budgets.

Section B:

If the required additional resources are not available please state: What is the likely impact on performance?

More maintenance jobs will be completed on time (existing KPI) due to free up the maintenance squad and having the events team work on maintenance jobs whilst no events are taking place.

What is the likely impact on the public?

Minimal

What is the likely impact on staffing?

4 additional posts within the section to be filled.

7. Risks Notes to Gross Residual Risk explain Risk Risk Status Further Action Action Due Risk rationale Ref: Risk Description Current controls Required by Owner for Tolerate I L R I L R scoring, / Action etc

Risk of injury to users through Inspect playgrounds and lifebelts on Monitor completion 1 defective/missing equipment 5 2 10 a weekly basis 5 1 5 Tolerate of inspections Ongoing P McCoy Risk of jobs not completed within the timescales resulting in users losing confidence in the ability of the service to meet their needs, reputation of Computer Programme will flag up Monitor system 2 Council damaged 3 3 9 overdue 3 2 6 Tolerate reports Ongoing P McCoy Check contractors are Incorrect disposal of waste Checking all contractors dispose of on register of resulting in litigation, breach of waste in accordance with legislation. Licenced regs, loss of ISO 14001, poor Meetings, extend internal audits waste carrier 3 image of service 4 3 12 training and risk assessments 4 1 4 Tolerate Monitor as per D.E.N.I P McCoy Accident or incident occurring at one of our harbours, resulting in loss of life, damage Implementation of a port marine to assets or environment and/or safety system addressing all risks reputational damage to and demonstrating compliance with Monitor and audit 4 Council. 5 3 15 the PMSC. 5 1 5 Tolerate safety system Ongoing P McCoy Training, inspections and visual Damage to property or persons checks, response maintenance, resulting in accident claims, accidents and ‘near miss’ reporting , P McCoy, increased costs and insurance use of signage, and risk Geoff Allen, 5 premiums 2 2 4 assessment. 2 1 2 Tolerate Monitor Ongoing Jeff Shaw Ensure vehicles are maintained in accordance with schedule. Carry out quarterly audits of vehicle Risk of reputational damage maintenance and safety check caused by loss of Operator’s records to ensure compliance; license and vehicles prohibited Carry out driver CPC training & from road use tachograph analysis 6 5 4 20 5 1 5 Tolerate Monitor Ongoing Jeff Shaw

Notes to explain Gross Residual Risk Further Action Action Due Risk rationale Ref: Risk Description Current controls Risk Risk Status Required by Owner for scoring, etc Failure to comply with statutory safety requirements – prosecution/reputational loss etc. Risk of injury to users Implement a robust planned through lack of planned maintenance schedule, fully maintenance on regulated compliant with all relevant 7 services 5 4 20 regulations 5 1 5 Tolerate Monitor Ongoing Geoff Allen Risk of injury to users from inadequate Contractor competency workmanship/practices of assessments at procurement stage. Monitor- regular 8 contractors 4 4 16 Ongoing audits 4 2 8 Tolerate audits ongoing Geoff Allen

8. Resources 8.1 Staffing The successful delivery of this plan will depend upon a number of currently vacant positions being filled. All positions are budgeted for and agreed by Council/Corporate Leadership Team.

8.2 Financial This year the Council has moved to a needs-based budgeting model for our refurbishment projects and agreed a default benchmark of acceptability of 70% for condition. This will greatly help deliver on our aspiration to significantly improve the condition of our estate- provided the appropriate funds are secured during the budget setting process.

9. Monitoring and Review This plan will be monitored every quarter, with a report going to Environment Committee in March, June, September and December.

Unclassified

ITEM 5

Ards and North Down Borough Council

Report Classification Unclassified

Council/Committee Environment

Date of Meeting 06 March 2019

Responsible Director Director of Environment

Responsible Head of Head of Assets & Property Services Service

Date of Report 18 February 2019

File Reference 79001

Legislation Health and Safety at Work Order 1978

Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Other ☐ If other, please add comment below:

Subject Policy for Use of Council Vehicles

Attachments Appendix 1 - Policy Document

Ards and North Down Borough Council is committed to providing a safe working environment for all of its employees by ensuring its vehicles are in good condition, appropriately insured and used in an appropriate manner.

In addition, we must comply with the specific requirements of the Goods Vehicle Operator’s License (O licence) in order to keep our fleet on the road. Failure to demonstrate compliance to the Transport Regulation Unit may result in our O license being curtailed, suspended or revoked. A key part in compliance, is demonstrating that we have suitable and sufficient processes in place to ensure the roadworthiness of the fleet. To do this requires each driver to fulfil basic responsibilities to ensure their vehicle is safe and ready for use on the road.

Page 1 of 2

Unclassified

The attached policy aims to ensure that employees are aware of: • The restrictions that are in place in relation to the use of Council vehicles, • The possibility that vehicle tracking devices, cameras and other telematics may be installed into any vehicle provided by the Council, and • The data gathered by these devices and to explain how this data will be used. • Sanctions that may be imposed for non-conformance with specified responsibilities.

RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended that the attached policy for the use of council vehicles is agreed, subject to completion of the normal equality screening process.

Page 2 of 2

POLICY COVER SHEET

Policy Title Policy for the Use of Council Vehicles

Policy/File Reference

Version 1

Policy Summary The purpose of this policy is to provide a set of terms & conditions for the use of Council of vehicles

Responsible Officer(s) Director of Environment

Date of Equality Screening To follow

Date of consultation with 14/1/19 Consultative Panel

Date of consultation with 31/7/18 and 13/11/18 Unions

Date of Council approval

Implementation date 1st April 2019

Appendices attached

Next review date 1st October 2019

Revision History: Version Changes made by Date Reason for change 1 Policy March established 19

Policy for the Use of Council Vehicles

Introduction Ards and North Down Borough Council recognises its duties under the Health and Safety at Work Order 1978 to take steps so far as is reasonably practicable; to ensure the health, safety and welfare of those who need to drive company vehicles as part of their job. In order to comply with these duties, the Council will take steps to set up safe systems of work in order to control and manage any risks which cannot be eliminated. These will be identified by the carrying out of a suitable and sufficient risk assessment as required by the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. Ards and North Down Borough Council is committed to providing a safe working environment for all of its employees by ensuring all vehicles in daily operations are in good condition, appropriately insured and used in an appropriate manner.

Policy scope This policy applies to all employees who are required as part of their employment to drive, or be a passenger in, vehicles provided by Ards and North Down Borough Council.

Purpose The policy aims to ensure that employees are aware of:

• The restrictions that are in place in relation to the use of Council vehicles, • The possibility that vehicle tracking devices, cameras and other telematics may be installed into any vehicle provided by the Council, and • To identify the data gathered by these devices and to explain how this data will be used.

Driving Permits Before any member of staff can drive a Council vehicle, they must be issued with a “Driving Permit”. In order to receive a permit, Drivers must;

• Complete the Driver Declaration Form given in Appendix 2; and • Complete a driving assessment where appropriate*

* See separate section on Driver Assessments

The permit is an essential requirement in order to drive any Council vehicle and must be kept on the driver’s person when using a Council vehicle. The permit remains the property of the Council and the Council reserves the right to revoke or suspend the permit (in accordance with the disciplinary policy) should the need arise. Similar to the DVA NI licensing system, penalty points will be issued for non-compliance with the requirements and safe working practices outlined in the Driver’s handbook. (See Appendix 1 for further info) 3 penalty points will be issued for each occurrence of non-compliance. The penalty points will only be issued where there is clear evidence of non-compliance, e.g. through road side stops or eye witness accounts by supervisory staff. The points will remain on a driver’s permit for a period of 2 years. If a driver receives 9 penalty points within 2 years, the driving permit will be suspended and the matter passed to the Driver’s line management to begin a formal investigation under the Council’s disciplinary policy. In this case, the driver will be prohibited from driving Council vehicles until the investigatory/disciplinary process has been completed. It should be noted that the penalty point system is intended to improve road safety throughout the organisation and give management a clear and objective way of ensuring safe working practices are being followed. Where there are cases of more serious driver infringements (such as negligence causing a severe health & safety risk), the Council may revert directly to the disciplinary policy and the penalty points system will not necessarily be invoked. Further information on the issuing of penalty points is included in Appendix 1.

Driver A driving assessment will be carried out; Assessment • Where the driver has previously had their Driving Permit revoked, • Where the individual’s driving record indicates poor driving (e.g. following an incident or having six or more points on their licence) • Where it is recommended by the DVLA or the Council’s occupational health advisor on grounds of illness/injury • Where a new member of staff is required to drive as part of their job

Where deemed appropriate by the Transport Manager, the Driver’s vehicle may be fitted with telematics to ascertain the driving style of any driver. The telematics will monitor the Driver’s adherence to speed limits, separation distances etc. and produce empirical data that can be used to inform training needs or identify areas of concern. As with all on-vehicle technology, it will not be fitted without the driver’s knowledge.

Drivers The driver’s handbook sets out the duties placed upon both drivers and Handbook management with regard to the operation of vehicles, and must be complied with at all times. Failure to comply with the Driver’s handbook may jeopardise the safety of the driver, their colleagues and the general public. Drivers should be aware that the handbook is designed to protect both the driver and the organisation and therefore adherence to it should be considered of utmost importance.

Acceptable Use To comply with the Council’s vehicle insurance cover, employees must of Council only use a vehicle provided to them by the Council for business purposes. Vehicles Employees may be permitted to take a vehicle home overnight where there is a valid business case (e.g. if it makes business sense for the employee to travel to/from a site to their home rather than going into their normal workplace first to collect/return the vehicle). Such arrangements should be kept to a minimum and must be authorised in advance by the employee’s manager. If approval is given, the employee must only use the vehicle to travel between their home and the work location. It must not be used to undertake personal commitments (e.g. shopping, transporting children to/from school) and/or to transport passengers (e.g. friends or family).

Installation of Vehicle tracking devices (‘trackers’), on-vehicle cameras and other such On Vehicle technology will not be installed in any Council vehicle without the driver’s Technology knowledge and are utilised for the following benefits. These systems will: SAFETY & SECURITY

• Provide reassurance that drivers are adhering to speed limits, driving time restrictions as well as general safety on the roads.

• Provide drivers with route Health & Safety alerts and road restrictions information.

• Provide information as a defence for staff and the organisation in contentious situations such as third party claims or disputable vehicle incidents.

• Permit 24-hour visibility of the fleet and could be used to locate vehicles which due to unexpected movement, would be under suspicion of being stolen.

• Enable the organisation to locate employees in the case of lone working concerns. This applies particularly to employees on call and those working in emergency situations.

• Aid the swift locating of a breakdown or accident.

EFFICIENCY

• Provide information of operational time of each vehicle and driver working rotations.

• Permit visibility of fuel consumption and driving behaviours of each vehicle.

• Provide information on route optimisation. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

• Provide information on vehicle usage which will assist in monitoring CO2 emissions and aid in minimising damage to the environment.

• Provide valuable telematics data to the Transport Service Unit on vehicle performance and can be used to aid decisions on vehicle specifications.

Data Recorded Trackers used by the Council will be linked to the vehicle’s on-board By Vehicle systems and so will routinely capture the following information: Tracking Devices • Location;

• Speed; • Fuel consumption; • Acceleration; • Braking; • Idle time. This information is not stored within the tracker unit itself but will be transmitted to the equipment supplier and made available to relevant authorised Council managers and supervisors via the supplier’s website.

Data Recorded Camera systems may be installed to monitor the exterior of any Council by On-Vehicle vehicle. Their main purpose is road safety- to assist the driver when Camera Systems manoeuvring. However they also assist with many of the benefits listed in the “Installation of On-Vehicle Technology” section, particularly to provide information as a defence for staff and the organisation in contentious situations such as third party claims or disputable vehicle incidents.

Access to the The information obtained will remain the property of the Council and will data gathered be subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. Any data collected may be disclosed where a request is received under that Act however any personal information which is subject to the Data Protection Act will usually be excluded from disclosure.

Links between Where there is a suspicion of misconduct the provisions of the Council’s on vehicle Disciplinary Policy will apply. In such instances evidence may be gathered Technology and from the device as part of a disciplinary investigation and may be used for the Disciplinary the purposes of a disciplinary hearing. Policy Employees should note that suspicions of misconduct may arise out of a

review of the information gathered for the reasons set out above in the “Installation of On Vehicle Technology section”.

Appendix 1.

Driving Permits and the Penalty Points System

Before any member of staff can drive a Council vehicle, they must be issued with a “Driving Permit”.

In order to receive a permit, Driver’s must;

• complete the Driver Declaration Form (Appendix 2); and • Complete a driving assessment where appropriate*

* See section within the Drivers Handbook on Driver Assessments

The permit is an essential requirement in order to drive any Council vehicle and must be kept on the driver’s person when using any Council vehicle. The permit will have colour coded boxes which will correspond with a sticker on each vehicle which will give drivers and managers a quick reference to assess their entitlement to drive that vehicle.

The permit remains the property of the Council and the Council reserves the right to revoke or suspend the permit (in accordance with disciplinary policy) should the need arise. Similar to the DVA NI licensing system, penalty points will be issued for non-compliance with the requirements and safe working practices outlined in this Driver’s Handbook.

3 penalty points will be issued for each occurrence of non-compliance. The penalty points will only be issued where there is clear evidence of non-compliance. e.g. through routine stops or eye witness accounts by supervisory staff.

The points will remain on a driver’s permit for a period of 2 years.

If a driver receives 9 penalty points within 2 years, their driver’s permit will be suspended and the matter passed to the driver’s line management to begin a formal investigation under the Council’s disciplinary process.

In this case, the driver will be prohibited from driving Council vehicles until the disciplinary process has been completed. A table of the circumstances when penalty points will be issued is included below:

1 Failure to satisfactorily complete a “Daily walk round check sheet”

2 Failure to present a valid driving license and complete the driver’s declaration

3 Breach of rules on carrying passengers or personal use of vehicle

4 Failure to report an accident/incident

Table 1

It should be noted that the penalty point system is intended to improve road safety throughout the organisation and give management a clear and objective way of ensuring safe working practices are being followed.

Where there are cases of more serious driver infringements (such as negligence causing a severe health & safety risk), the Council may revert directly to the disciplinary policy and the penalty points system will not necessarily be invoked.

Drivers may appeal the decision to issue penalty points at which stage the line manager may begin a formal investigation into the alleged offence. Drivers should therefore be aware that if the investigation finds that the driver was at fault; this process may result in disciplinary action under the Council’s disciplinary policy.

Appendix 2 Drivers Driving Licence Declaration

It is an offence for a person to drive on a road any vehicle otherwise than in accordance with a licence authorising him to drive it. It is also an offence for a person to cause or permit another person to drive it.

This is a declaration that I ______

have produced my latest licence, and that I have no pending convictions, endorsements or disqualifications.

I have had no change in my health which could affect my entitlement to drive, in particular, for ALL licences:

• An epileptic event (seizure or fit) • Sudden attacks of disabling giddiness, fainting or blackouts • Severe mental handicap • A pacemaker, defibrillator or anti-ventricular tachycardia device fitted • Diabetes controlled by insulin or tablets • Angina (heart pain) while driving • Parkinson’s disease • Any other chronic neurological condition • A serious problem with memory • A major or minor stroke • Any type of brain surgery or tumour • Severe head injury involving in-patient treatment at hospital • Any severe psychiatric illness or mental disorder • Continuing/permanent difficulty in the use of arms or legs • Dependence on or misuse of alcohol, illicit drugs or chemical substances in the past three years (do not include drink/driving offences) • Any visual disability that affects both eyes (do not declare short/long sight or colour blindness) Also, for vocational licences:

• Any heart condition or heart operation • Any visual problem affecting either eye

If any of the above affects me I will inform my employer as soon as possible. I understand that I must also inform DVLNI by writing to the: Driver Licensing Medical section, DVLNI County Hall, Castlerock Road, Coleraine, BT51 3TB. Failure to do so is a criminal offence punishable by a fine of up to £1,000. I will inform my employer of any convictions, endorsements or disqualifications that occur, including penalty points for any offence, as soon as possible as these may have an implication on the Council insurance policy. I will also inform my employer if I am receiving prescription medication.

I have read and fully understand the above and will comply with what is requested of me.

Signed ______Date ______

Print Name ______Job Title ______Unclassified

ITEM 6

Ards and North Down Borough Council

Report Classification Unclassified

Council/Committee Environment

Date of Meeting 06 March 2019

Responsible Director Director of Environment

Responsible Head of Head of Assets & Property Services Service

Date of Report 30 January 2019

File Reference 65201

Legislation

Section 75 Compliant Yes ☐ No ☐ Other ☐ If other, please add comment below:

Subject Donation of a lifebelt to Council

Attachments

Officers have been approached by a lady in Groomsport who wishes to donate a lifebelt at Groomsport Harbour in memory of a late friend, Mr John McElroy.

The gentleman had a long-standing service record locally with HM Coastguard and also worked closely with RLNI; his family & friends therefore feel that a lifebelt would be an appropriate and fitting tribute.

The lifebelt and enclosure would be of our standard type used throughout the Borough. A small brass plaque (with dimensions and inscriptions as per the memorial bench policy) would be installed adjacent to it.

The memorial would be on a cost recovery basis (as are memorial benches) with all costs agreed in advance and recovered from the requester. Once donated, the lifebelt would become Council property and be subject to our normal maintenance checks for lifebelts.

The proposed location addresses a legitimate need in that there is risk that someone could conceivably fall off the wall and into the sea, and the nearest lifebelt at present is some 50 metres away.

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Whilst there is a policy in place for memorial benches, no such policy exists for the donation of other items such as this. Donations of this nature are rare and officers do not feel a separate policy is required, however, Council approval to receive such donation may be appropriate.

RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended that Council agree to the donation of a lifebelt and memorial plaque, to be sited within Groomsport Harbour.

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ITEM 7

Ards and North Down Borough Council

Report Classification Unclassified

Council/Committee Environment Committee

Date of Meeting 06 March 2019

Responsible Director Director of Environment

Responsible Head of Head of Waste and Cleansing Services Service

Date of Report 19 February 2019

File Reference 72010

Legislation UK Waste and Contaminated Land (NI) Order 1997

Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Other ☐ If other, please add comment below:

Subject Waste Management Consultations: 1. Reforming the UK Packaging Producer Responsibility System 2. Introducing a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland 3. Plastic Packaging Tax

Attachments Appendix 1 letter dated 3.12.18 to Sec of State for Environment Appendix 2 letter dated 8.1.19 from the office of Sec of State for Environment Appendix 3 correspondence dated 20.11.17 from DAERA

1.0 Consultation on Reforming the UK Packaging Producer Responsibility System

Members may recall that this Council recently wrote to the UK Secretary of State for the Environment as part of our campaign for action on packaging waste, in particular single use and difficult to recycle plastics (Appendices 1 and 2). We asked that

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Unclassified challenging and legally binding new targets be introduced for businesses that supply packaging to consumers, and specifically requested that any new regime should be introduced across the UK (including NI in the absence of an Assembly).

It is most pleasing to note that a major consultation exercise has just been launched by DEFRA relating to proposals for a UK wide reform of the packaging producer responsibility system. This sets out proposals for:

1. The definition of full net cost recovery and approaches to recovering full net costs from producers. 2. Incentives to encourage producers to design and use packaging that can be recycled 3. The businesses that would be obligated under a packaging extended producer responsibility system. 4. Producer funding is used to pay local authorities for the collection and management of household packaging waste and to support the collection for recycling of household-like packaging arising in the commercial waste. 5. Mandatory labelling on all packaging to indicate if it is recyclable or not. 6. New packaging waste recycling targets for 2025 and 2030, and interim targets for 2021 and 2022. 7. Alternative models for the organisation and governance of a future packaging extended producer responsibility system. 8. Measures to strengthen compliance monitoring and enforcement including for packaging waste that is exported for recycling.

The full consultation document can be accessed using the following link: https://consult.defra.gov.uk/environmental-quality/consultation-on-reforming-the-uk- packaging-produce/supporting_documents/packagingeprconsultdoc.pdf

2.0 Introducing a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland

Again, Members may recall that following an agreed Notice of Motion on the subject, this Council wrote to the Permanent Secretary at DAERA in November 2017 calling for the introduction of a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) here in Northern Ireland. Whilst the matter was not able to be progressed by the NI Assembly, the Permanent Secretary at that time gave an undertaking that the DAERA would be working closely on a wider basis with UK colleagues on this and other related topics (Appendix 3). Council agreed that the matter be further reviewed in due course following assessment of progress in relation to container deposit scheme proposals for the rest of the UK, and lobbies in favour of legislation and such a scheme to be implemented should the occasion arise.

It is most pleasing to note that a consultation has just been released in relation to the introduction of a deposit return scheme covering England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The document notes that, “As the Northern Ireland Assembly is not currently sitting, the UK Government, in discussion with DAERA, is consulting on their behalf because of the historic UK-wide approach to packaging producer responsibility.

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Officials in DAERA have informed Defra that they have no evidence that Northern Ireland stakeholders or Ministers would not wish to participate in a consultation on options for a DRS”.

The consultation document sets out key principles for a DRS, agreed between the Environment Ministers in England, Scotland and Wales (NI officials have worked with UK colleagues to consider DRS in a UK context, and are content with these principles which maintain the historic direction of Ministerial travel for a UK wide producer responsibility regime).

1. Such schemes should seek to change behaviour of consumers, producers and retailers to deliver both a step change in the capture for recycling of empty drinks containers and reduce litter.

2. DRS should form part of a coherent system for improving recycling and reducing use of virgin materials, alongside producer responsibility obligations, kerbside collection and consideration of other appropriate fiscal measures. These measures should work effectively together in a way that is understandable and fair for consumers and industry.

3. Schemes should be underpinned by legislation in order to maximise their effectiveness.

4. The system should be clear and understandable for consumers, and provide convenient means of returning drinks containers and reclaiming deposits.

5. There should be a clear definition of materials to be included within the schemes.

6. The design of schemes should take into account the need to effectively serve different topographies such as urban and remote and rural communities, and disabled people, and should also address any other access challenges to make it as fair and equitable as possible.

7. Schemes should ensure producers and retailers of products take responsibility for the material they put onto the market, while not creating unfair or unreasonable costs of compliance.

8. Schemes should be underpinned by strong measures to promote compliance and limit the opportunities for fraud.

Other DRS principles which industry stakeholders have suggested and the UK and Welsh Governments and DAERA support:

• Schemes should be transparent in reporting on performance • Schemes should be incentivised to manage costs and efficiencies • The organisation managing the operation of the DRS should be not-for-profit • Schemes should be operationally workable for those running return points

Options for operating models are set out in the consultation, including the size of containers to be included, materials of manufacture, drinks types, scheme

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Unclassified management system, interaction with wider proposed packaging producer responsibility system etc.

The full consultation document can be accessed using the following link: https://consult.defra.gov.uk/environment/introducing-a-deposit-return- scheme/supporting_documents/depositreturnconsultdoc.pdf

3.0 Plastic Packaging Tax

The suite of consultations recently launched as part of the UK governments Resources and Waste Strategy, and which affect Northern Ireland, include proposals for a new tax on plastic packaging. This is again something which underpins and supports Ards and North Down’s well documented advocacy for sustainability development, and is a principle which is to be welcomed.

The consultation document highlights a number of key points to contextualise the proposal:

• In March 2018, the government launched a call for evidence on using the tax system or charges to tackle single-use plastic waste. This received a record 162,000 responses, highlighting the strong public interest in action in this area. • Plastic packaging is typically only used for a short period of time and then disposed of, and accounts for 44% of plastic used in the UK,1 but 67% of plastic waste. • Over 2 million tonnes of plastic packaging is used in the UK each year. The vast majority of this is made from new, rather than recycled plastic. Using new plastic typically has greater environmental impact: it requires unnecessary resource extraction and processing, with higher energy use and emissions than using recycled material. It also results in significant amounts of additional plastic waste on the market, which is generally sent to landfill or incinerated. The process of consuming recycled material drives the recycling market and helps to reduce the rate at which plastic is sent for waste treatment/disposal further down the waste hierarchy. • The government’s call for evidence highlighted that using recycled plastic is often more expensive than using new plastic, despite its lower environmental impacts. Significant variations in the price of new plastic over time can also discourage businesses from committing to using recycled plastic instead of new plastic in the long term. The government wants to encourage the sustained use of more recycled plastic in the production of plastic packaging to help tackle plastic waste. This will help to drive the treatment of plastic waste up the waste hierarchy so that more plastic is recycled rather than being sent to landfill or incineration, to improve resource productivity and make more plastic waste a useful and valued resource. • At Budget 2018, this government announced its intention to introduce a new tax on plastic packaging. The tax will apply to businesses that produce or import plastic packaging which uses insufficient recycled content, taking effect from April 2022. The tax will be set at a rate that provides a clear

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economic incentive for businesses to use recycled material in the production of plastic packaging, which will create greater demand for recycled plastic, and in turn stimulate increased levels of collection and recycling of plastic waste. • This tax will complement reformed Packaging Producer Responsibility regulations, discussed in this parallel consultation. The Packaging Producer Responsibility reforms will encourage businesses to design and use plastic packaging that is easier to recycle, and discourage them from creating plastic packaging which is difficult to recycle, which will increase supply of easier-to-recycle plastic. The government believes that the tax and Packaging Producer Responsibility regulations will provide business with the right incentives to recognise the impact of their plastic packaging decisions and drive the development of more sustainable packaging. • Proposals for consistent collection of waste, being consulted on in parallel to this, will help households to more easily separate recycling and set minimum standards for local authorities. This will help to increase supply of plastic waste for recycling. The government is also consulting on proposals to introduce a Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers, which would aim to boost recycling materials and reduce the amount of littering.

This consultation seeks views on the initial proposed design of the plastic packaging tax. The government is open to views on the best design options for the tax. It is proposed that the tax would apply to all plastic packaging manufactured in the UK and unfilled plastic packaging imported into the UK. It would only apply to plastic packaging (as defined by the tax) with less than 30% recycled content. The consultation seeks views on whether this is the most appropriate scope of the tax in comparison to other options.

The full consultation document can be accessed using the following link: https://consult.defra.gov.uk/environmental-quality/plastic-packaging- tax/supporting_documents/181213%20Plastic%20packaging%20tax%20condoc%20 template%20final%201.0.pdf

4.0 Consultation Responses

In general, this is a long awaited package of measures to improve the sustainability of our packaging waste management system. The consultation documents are quite lengthy/complex and contain a range of different proposals/options relating to the specifics of how the new measures might be implemented to best achieve the desired aims. It is proposed that this Council should welcome the planned new regimes in principal, particularly as they accord with our now well established lobbying position with regard to the need for a much more sustainable approach to municipal waste management. Given that the closing dates for response are 12/13th May, it is further proposed that officers would complete and submit the online consultation questionnaires on behalf of Council, in consultation with NILGA and professional colleagues in other relevant stakeholder groups/organisations.

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RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended that Council approves the proposals set out in this report.

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Our ref: EC 7/11/18 - 69001

Your ref: 3 December 2018

The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP Secretary of State for the Environment

Email: [email protected]

Dear Secretary of State for Environment,

Ards and North Down Borough Council has recently written to the main large supermarket retailers that operate in Northern Ireland (Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda, M&S, Lidl, Iceland and Co-Op) in a call for urgent action on single use plastics, as part of its efforts to provide strong civic leadership on sustainable development. A copy of our letters is attached.

The Council has also resolved to advise you of our petition to large supermarket retail companies, and to request that the measures requested of them be incorporated as part of any future UK wide legislation governing waste and recycling obligations for producers and retailers of consumer products. Furthermore, the Council would like to see specific legally binding targets being established for these plastics management controls as a matter of urgent priority.

Thank you for your attention in this matter and I look forward to your response.

Yours sincerely,

David Lindsay Director of Environment

Encs

Ards and North Down Borough Council 0300 013 3333 Stephen Reid Town Hall, The Castle [email protected] Chief Executive Bangor, BT20 4BT www.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk

From the Permanent Secretary Noel Lavery

Your reference: 69001 Our reference: SCORR-0309-2017

David Lindsay Permanent Secretary’s Office [email protected] Room 636, Dundonald House Upper Newtownards Road Ballymiscaw Belfast BT4 3SB Telephone: 028 9052 4608 Email: [email protected]

20 December 2017

Dear Mr Lindsay

CONTAINER DEPOSIT SCHEME FOR NORTHERN IRELAND

Thank you for your letter dated 11 November 2017 asking for the information and evidence base upon which former Minister Michelle McIlveen MLA based her decision not to pursue a container deposit legislation scheme, and your request for a study and public consultation on the introduction of effective packaging waste controls in Northern Ireland.

A framework of EU and national legislation is already in place to ensure that increasing amounts of packaging materials, including plastic and aluminium, are recycled or recovered. This is implemented through a Producer Responsibility Scheme, and statutory targets have been set for individual packaging materials to achieve an overall recyling rate of 72.7% and recovery rate of 79% by 2017. Northern Ireland has met this target.

The introduction of a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for drinks containers in Northern Ireland was considered previously at the request of the then Minister Mark H Durkan MLA, and it was concluded that it was not feasible to introduce a scheme on a Northern Ireland only basis. Minister McIlveen MLA adopted the same policy position. An options paper was prepared in 2015 to assist Minister Durkan MLA in making this decision. The paper itself is not publicly available as it was prepared for internal advice and Minister Durkan MLA did not authorise its publication. However, in the course of developing the paper a number of source documents were referenced, and these are listed on the attached Annex 1.

Officials are currently taking part in wider discussions with UK colleagues to consider options, including DRS, to improve recycling and reuse of packaging.

Yours Sincerely

NOEL LAVERY Permanent Secretary

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ITEM 8

Ards and North Down Borough Council

Report Classification Unclassified

Council/Committee Environment Committee

Date of Meeting 06 March 2019

Responsible Director Director of Environment

Responsible Head of Head of Waste and Cleansing Services Service

Date of Report 05 February 2019

File Reference 69001

Legislation Waste and Contaminated Land (NI) Order 1997

Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Other ☐ If other, please add comment below:

Subject Recycling of Soft Plastics

Attachments

1.0 Introduction

Members will be aware that the council’s household recycling collection systems do not allow for inclusion of soft plastics as target recyclable materials. These include a very wide range of plastic packaging products, such as:

• Shopping bags • Confectionary bags • Food/ingredients bags • Frozen food bags • Cereal box liners • Biscuit wrapping • Crisp packets • Bread bags • Film wrap/bubble wrap • Film ‘lids’ (peeled from convenience food trays, yogurt cartons etc.)

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The nature of these types of soft plastic packaging products is such that they are more difficult and expensive to recycle and are not generally accepted by recycling companies. Our longstanding and current advice to householders is therefore that these should be placed in the grey bins, destined for landfill with all the associated adverse environmental impacts. The major query we have from our constituents in terms of recycling engagement, is why these multiple types of soft plastic products can’t be placed in the blue bins; this leads to such items featuring as the main ‘contaminants’ of blue bins (for which we are penalised in terms of the ‘value’ of our blue bin materials, under the terms of the contract we hold with our recycling service provider).

2.0 Practice Elsewhere

Materials recycling is obviously a global market and the same challenges around recycling of soft plastics products, exist in countries worldwide. Most standard municipal waste collection and recycling systems do not cater for their inclusion amongst target recyclable materials, due to the relative difficulty and expense involved in reprocessing them and the lack of availability of suitable reprocessing companies. Officers are however aware of a nation-wide scheme in Australia whereby the two largest supermarket chains (Coles and Woolworths) provide free instore collection points for all types of soft plastic packaging.

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In recognition of the consumer demand for action on recycling of such packaging waste and their own environmental protection responsibilities, these supermarkets have partnered with the ‘REDcycle Program’ (https://www.redcycle.net.au/), a recovery initiative for post-consumer soft plastic. A specialist reprocessing company (Replas: www.replas.com.au/) recycles the soft plastic material collected through the program, turning it into products designed for outdoor use within the community. These include outdoor furniture, play equipment, signage etc.

The web links below provide access firstly to a short Coles Supermarkets promotional video which comprehensively explains how the scheme works, and secondly to the web site for Replas, the company that is used by the REDcycle programme to recycle the soft plastics collected: https://sustainability.wesfarmers.com.au/our-stories/coles/soft-plastic-recycling-in-all- coles-supermarkets/ https://www.replas.com.au/about-replas/

Australian householders have now become routinely accustomed to collecting all of the soft plastics that cannot go into their equivalent of our blue Council recycling bin, and dropping these off at the designated collection bins in supermarkets during their weekly shopping trips.

3.0 Practice in the UK

Whilst many supermarkets now provide a drop off point for waste plastic carrier bags, officers are not aware of a comprehensive collection arrangement for all post- consumer soft plastics such as that described in section 2 of this report for Coles and Woolworths in Australia. Marks and Spencer very recently announced plans for roll out of a scheme across eight stores in England on a trial basis by the end of 2019, however the ultimate scale or future of this is as yet unknown. https://ciwm-journal.co.uk/ms-take-back-scheme-to-turn-plastic-into-playground- equipment/

4.0 Proposed Petition for Action by Supermarkets on Soft Plastics Recycling

Members will be aware that this Council wrote to large supermarket retailers recently to call for action on single use plastics; this was the subject of a separate follow up report to the Committee last month.

Officers are now proposing that we make a further (associated) petition, for the introduction by these companies (either individually or collectively) of a comprehensive soft plastics recycling service to consumers, similar to that described for Coles and Woolworths Supermarkets in Australia – which is an already designed, tested and tried operating model. The latter scheme has been operational since 2011 in Australia and has apparently proven to be a sustainable, widely utilised service that adds significantly to the recovery and recycling of consumer waste across the country.

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Whilst it is acknowledged that most if not all of our supermarkets have committed to action on plastics packaging, it is beyond doubt that the type of soft plastics described in this report will continue to be a feature of the consumer offering for a significant period into the future; it is arguably not unreasonable to expect the companies that profit from their sale, to provide and fund arrangements that facilitate their easy and wide-scale recycling by householders.

Were supermarket retailers to introduce such a scheme, this would significantly complement our existing Council delivered recycling collection services - and utilisation by our residents could then be promoted as an integrated aspect of our household recycling communications programme.

RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended that Council agrees to the proposal set out in this report.

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ITEM 9

Ards and North Down Borough Council

Report Classification Unclassified

Council/Committee Environment Committee

Date of Meeting 06 March 2019

Responsible Director Director of Environment

Responsible Head of Head of Waste and Cleansing Services Service

Date of Report 05 February 2019

File Reference 69001

Legislation

Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Other ☒ If other, please add comment below:

Subject NoM Report - Walker's and TerraCycle Crisp Packet Recycling Scheme

Attachments

1.0 Introduction

Reference is made to a Notice of Motion agreed by Council in January, 2019 as follows:

“That this Council signs up to the Walker's and TerraCycle Crisp Packet Recycling Scheme and installs drop off boxes for public use in suitable Council buildings and recycling centres”.

A staggering 6 billion packets of crisps are consumed in the UK each year; this equates to an average of 100 waste crisp packets generated annually by every person in the country. Whilst crisp bags are technically recyclable, the fused plastic and aluminium that comprise the packaging makes it more difficult and expensive to process. Therefore they are not accepted by most recycling companies and are not permitted in the mix of materials collected through the Council’s recycling collection system. For this reason the standard advice to consumers has been that crisp packets should be discarded in our grey bins where they typically go off to be disposed of in landfill sites, with all the associated environmental impact. The

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Unclassified adverse impact of crisp packets on our environment is also routinely seen when it ends up as litter which enters our marine environment.

2.0 Walkers Crisp Packet Recycling Scheme

Following a public pressure campaign last year relating to the impact of waste crisp packets on the environment, Walkers demonstrated a lead in the issue by partnering with Terracycle, a company that promotes itself as eliminating the idea of ‘waste’ by recycling the ‘non-recyclable’. The Walkers/Terracycle scheme allows anyone to register as a collection point for any brand of waste crisp packets (not just Walkers brand) and to arrange for these to be sent free of charge for recycling. They are cleaned and shredded to turn them into plastic pellets, which are in turn used to manufacture items such as park benches, plant pots, watering cans and cool bags.

3.0 Ards and North Down BC Involvement in Scheme

We had already registered with the Walkers/Terracycle scheme, in the first instance identifying our Household Recycling Centre at Balloo as a designated collection point for use by the public. According to the web site for the scheme, we appear to be the first and only NI Council to have participated in the scheme. The process of establishing this arrangement is still in progress through the scheme and will be up and running as quickly as can be finalized.

There is a restriction on the minimum distance between designated collection points that can be registered under the scheme (5km), however within this parameter officers propose to identify a network of collection points located in its publicly accessible buildings. Officers will also work through the Eco schools programme to encourage registration by local schools to enhance the capture and recycling of this waste stream and also to serve as another means of raising the profile of recycling among our schoolchildren.

Officers will highlight its involvement and promotion of the Walkers/Terracycle scheme to the residents of the Borough as part of Council’s ongoing recycling communications programme, using various media channels.

4.0 Wider Application – Difficult to Recycle Soft Plastics

Members will be aware that it is not just waste crisp packets that are difficult to recycle and not accepted in mainstream household recycling collection systems. Attention is drawn to further separate report on this issue presented at this month’s Environment Committee meeting.

RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended that this report be noted.

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ITEM 10

Ards and North Down Borough Council

Report Classification Unclassified

Council/Committee Environment Committee

Date of Meeting 06 March 2019

Responsible Director Director of Environment

Responsible Head of Director of Environment Service

Date of Report 19 February 2019

File Reference 62704

Legislation

Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Other ☐ If other, please add comment below:

Subject Baseline Study and Gap Analysis of Coastal Erosion Risk Management NI

Attachments

1.0 Background

Members will be well aware of the issues around coastal change and the challenge this poses to our Borough. The absence of a coherent, statute based policy/strategy for proactive management of coastal change and its impacts in Northern Ireland, has long been a subject of significant concern – not least in Ards and North Down, where a very strong community based lobby group was established on the issue a number of years ago. The Ards Peninsula Coastal Erosion Group (APCEG) is made up of a range of local community representatives along with representatives (officers and elected members) from the Council, other statutory agencies (DAERA and DfI), the National Trust, and local MLAs. This group has been very proactive in lobbying for improvements in the way in which coastal change management is addressed in Northern Ireland, and has succeeded in moving the subject up the Departmental agenda. The most recent outworking of the latter was the commissioning of a ‘Baseline Study and Gap Analysis of Coastal Risk Management NI’ jointly by DAERA and DfI.

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The Gap Analysis project represented a very encouraging development at Departmental level, with both DAERA and DfI working collaboratively on this initiative. Such an integrated approach at NI Civil Service level has long been called for by the APCEG along with others, and there are strong indications at present that this development bodes well for further sustained progress on this very important subject.

2.0 Gap Analysis Report

The Gap Analysis report can be found using the following link: https://www.infrastructure-ni.gov.uk/publications/baseline-study-and-gap-analysis- coastal-erosion-risk-management-ni

As part of the project, a high-level preliminary vulnerability assessment of coastal erosion along the Northern Ireland coast was undertaken utilising the data which is currently available. However, the report importantly highlights a number of key observations and recommendations, including:

• Because of the lack of consistent and comprehensive coastal erosion baseline data in Northern Ireland, the risk ranking of assets is preliminary and by association the veracity and reliability of the vulnerability mapping is low and must be approached with a high degree of caution. • Consideration should be given to the establishment of a coastal erosion baseline for Northern Ireland encompassing the quantification of long-term coastal erosion through review of historic maps and photos. This baseline information can subsequently be utilised to prioritise more detailed, geographically specific data collation and assessment requirements. • There is a need for data on coastal erosion to inform local development planning and development control and allow for informed decisions with regard to the long- term management of coastal assets. • A number of further interconnected areas for consideration have been outlined as part of a Needs & Opportunities discussion. Within the discussion, it is recognised that coastal erosion risk management in Northern Ireland must be considered as a shared responsibility. To this end the Coastal Forum could play a key role in informing the development of policy and strategy in this area including the delivery of a prioritised and coordinated monitoring programme to empower local decision makers.

3.0 Further Steps

Officers of this Council have been actively working through the APCEG, and directly with the National Trust, with a view to facilitating further sustained progress and momentum on this agenda.

The DfI Permanent Secretary has indicated her intention to reconvene the Coastal Forum in the near future; this forum comprises a range of stakeholders (including representatives from relevant coastal Council’s such as our own), but had not met in the past couple of years since the suspension of the Stormont Assembly.

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In relation to the third of the above recommendations, regarding the need for information to inform local development planning and long term management of coastal assets, Council officers have recently met with representatives from the National Trust to explore the potential for development of a ‘Shoreline Management Plan’ (SMP) to be piloted in this Borough. SMPs are used in GB as a key instrument to facilitate decision making in coastal zones, on the basis of identified coastal change/erosion risk. Further reports will be brought back to Council on this subject, as and when appropriate. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/shoreline-management-plans-smps

It is proposed that officers should write to the Permanent Secretaries of both DfI and DAERA:

• Welcoming the ‘Baseline Study and Gap Analysis of Coastal Erosion Risk Management NI’, and recent publication of the report in relation to this project. • Noting that this report highlights the significant amount of further work that is now required to move NI into a position of sustainable management of its coastal assets. • Requesting a reconvening of the NI Coastal Forum at the earliest possible opportunity. • Requesting that steps are now taken to develop a firm action plan setting out all of the key pieces of work that must be undertaken (with timelines), to establish a comprehensive framework for sustainable managment of NI’s coastal assets.

RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended that the Council notes this report and approves the proposals set out.

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ITEM 11

Ards and North Down Borough Council

Report Classification Unclassified

Council/Committee Environment Committee

Date of Meeting 06 March 2019

Responsible Director Director of Environment

Responsible Head of Head of Regulatory Services Service

Date of Report 19 February 2019

File Reference 92017

Legislation

Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Other ☐ If other, please add comment below:

Subject RCIF 18/19 Slippage/Underspend Proposal

Attachments

1.0 Introduction

It was decided that RCIF 2018/19 proposals should involve community across the Borough to include unique projects that capture the imagination. With this brief in mind a diverse range of 15 projects were approved by Council and are currently being implemented across the Borough. The lead officer for each project reports the progress each month, including budgetary status. Projects are generally on target to deliver on budget but due to the fluency of each project (and the fact that they

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Unclassified involve ‘innovations’) it is not possible to give a precise projection of the final year end spend figure at this stage.

It is proposed that one of the approved projects, the Gum-Drop Bin scheme should not now proceed due to unforeseen difficulties. It was envisaged the gumdrop bins would complement the cigarette ballot bins and local businesses would engage on the same basis as they have with the cigarette bins. However, as the Gum-Drop Bin scheme involved different suppliers with more complex operating processes and costs, this proposal was much less attractive to local businesses and did not achieve the buy-in expected. The main sticking points were:

• Membership annual cost approx. £1,700 OR £169 per location. • Whilst the installation costs would have been covered by the allocation from the RCIF, organisations and businesses would need to find room in their budget annually to facilitate. • Overall, the total financial implications for both initial bin installation and ongoing support through the RCIF, were assessed by officers to unsustainable.

The allocated Gum-Drop Bin project budget was £8.5K and this sum could instead be re-allocated to alternative suitable projects which meet RCIF aims and objectives, details of which are now included in this report.

2.0 Restoration of Redburn House Historic Garden as a Community Asset (£4K).

2.1 Background

Representatives of a community group partnership in Holywood approached officers over recent months regarding this project, and in February Council agreed that potential for its support through RCIF slippage should be reported back for consideration.

This is an environmental project, conducted in partnership with local groups, to restore the historic former gardens at Redburn House in Holywood, as an asset for all the community.

The one and a half acre former Redburn House kitchen Garden (created in two phases, first around 1880 and then c. 1910) has long been abandoned and forgotten within Redburn Country Park – which is managed by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency. Building on two seasons of initial clearance, the Conservation Volunteers, in partnership with the NIEA and support from Holywood Shared Town and Holywood Men’s Shed (whose base is adjacent to the Garden), have applied for a substantial grant from Landfill Communities Fund administered by the Alpha Programme to enable a project in 2019 to complete the clearance and begin recreating the Garden as a community asset. Local volunteers will be engaged in the work, and the wider community will gain ownership through tours and events in the Garden and neighbouring area.

2.2 Alignment to RCIF Aims and Objectives

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• A £4,000 grant from the Borough Council (through or RCIF) will leverage a grant of £45,000 from the Alpha Fund. (The local community, through Holywood Shared Town, are committed to contribute £1,000.) • The lead partner is the Conservation Volunteers who have well-established credibility in delivering environmental projects, through engagement with the local community including young people, older volunteers and unemployed people seeking training and support towards employment. • This project builds on the free, environmental activities already facilitated by Holywood Men’s Shed, including Forest schools, foraging days, bug hunts etc. These events have already achieved excellent intergenerational attendance, bringing in residents from the neighbouring Loughview/Redburn NIHE estate. • Parts of the garden have been used in previous years for anti-social behaviour such as drinking and littering. The local community is gaining ownership of the area, and there is now widespread support for the project. Local groups such as the Scouts are returning to use the Country Park. • The project will directly benefit the mental and physical well-being of all who participate directly, and the restored Garden will give a sense of pride to the community. • Sustaining the garden will be carried out by the local community, managed by the constituted community groups – there will be no ongoing cost to the Council. • The restored Garden will be a teaching resource available to Holywood schools and youth groups; it will include traditional Irish apple trees and historic roses. • The project will include interpretation features and local history. It will attract new visitors to this part of Holywood and the wider Borough, bringing potential economic advantage to the locality.

3.0 Amy Carmichael Garden, Millisle (£4K)

3.1 Background

Members may recall that previously Council agreed a Notice of Motion in relation to a memorial garden commemorating the life of Amy Carmichael, a native of Millisle who is renowned for her missionary and charitable works with the poor.

Officers have since been exploring ways of delivering on this commitment, including means of financing it. Millisle and Ballycopeland Presbyterian Church applied for and have been allocated a Live Here Love Here Small Grant towards the scheme, to the value of £2K. Their proposal, involving a bench and planters positioned on a paved area to form a memorial seating area with open general public access, has been costed at £4K. This would be located at the front of the Church grounds and the local community would assume responsibility for care and maintenance of the memorial feature.

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It is proposed that in order to progress the matter, the £2K shortfall in funding to complete the scheme is provided from underspend/slippage from the RCIF 2018/19 budget, subject to a suitable Licence Agreement between the Council and Millisle and Ballycopeland Presbyterian Church.

3.2 Alignment With RCIF Aims and Objectives

• The garden would be open and accessible for enjoyment by the whole community in Millisle and to visitors, including those who purposefully visit the area as the birthplace of Amy Carmichael. • The initiative would help promote the attractiveness of the Borough as place to visit, by providing a specific visitor attraction for those wishing to commemorate Amy Carmichael and her contribution to society. • It would help promote positive engagement in civic society and support community ownership and responsibility for the local area. • Use of £4K from the RCIF would assist in supporting an aspect of local community life in Millisle for which it would otherwise be difficult to source funding.

Recommendation

It is recommended that approval is granted for allocation of £6K of currently identified underspend in the 2018/19 RCIF budget expenditure, to fund the two proposed projects as set out in this report. Further recommended that this allocated budget is carried forward where necessary and earmarked in the new financial year for the purposes outlined.

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ITEM 12

Ards and North Down Borough Council

Report Classification Unclassified

Council/Committee Environment Committee

Date of Meeting 06 March 2019

Responsible Director Director of Environment

Responsible Head of Head of Regulatory Services Service

Date of Report 19 February 2019

File Reference 92017

Legislation

Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Other ☐ If other, please add comment below:

Subject RCIF 19/20 Funding Allocation Proposal

Attachments

1.0 Introduction

Our planet is heating up from greenhouse gases and the oceans temperatures are expected to rise by 2 degrees by 2100. The everyday actions of the residents, from those in Ards and North Down Borough Council to those in Adelaide Plains Council (Australia), and every person in between, have an impact on this environmental emergency. If allowed to continue, global warming will have a devastating effect on our natural environment, upon which humanity relies to survive. The solution to this

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Unclassified global threat is through local solutions. It is imperative that our everyday behaviours are driven by a desire to protect our natural environment and thus protect and promote the wellbeing of humanity. The stakes couldn’t be higher!

Ards and North Down Borough Council understands how important the ‘local’ aspect is in this ‘global’ challenge and is committed to tackling this subject head on. Our Sustainable Waste Resource Management Strategy has enabled increased recycling by residents, through creating the necessary changes to infrastructure and educating the residents on good recycling practice. Between 2014 – 2018 the success of this strategy is clearly demonstrated by the fact that 151,000 tons of waste were recycled/diverted from landfill, equating to a £14.8 MILLION total reduction in our landfill bill. However, whilst this is a fantastic start, it is recognised that it is in fact just that, ‘the start’. Our ultimate goal is to change the mindset of everyone to instinctively conduct their daily lives in the most sustainable way possible. This is the purpose of the Recycling Community Investment Fund (RCIF). In the early days of the newly constituted Ards and North Down Borough Council, we resolved that £200,000 of the financial savings achieved by our householders would be ring-fenced and made available each year to help achieve this goal.

2.0 Recycling Community Investment Fund (RCIF)

2.1 RCIF Aims

The RCIF is all about enabling systemic change in the attitudes and behaviours of residents right across the Ards and North Down Borough and beyond, to instinctively protect and enhance our environment. There are three broad aims of the Recycling Community Investment Fund:

a. To incentivise positive recycling behaviours by communities across the Borough, through reinvestment of consequent landfill tax savings and put directly back into supporting those communities. b. To maximise the diversity of positive community impacts achieved by the fund, both in terms of geographic spread across the Borough and types of community support. c. To contribute to delivery of the target outcomes set out in the Borough’s Community Plan.

2.2 RCIF Objectives

The objectives of the Recycling Community Investment Fund are to:

a. Spread the benefits of the financial recycling dividend and therefore the incentive to further engage in positive recycling behaviours, as widely and equitably as possible across the entire Borough. b. Promote and support community ownership of and responsibility for specific local areas and the Borough as a whole. c. Promote and support positive engagement in civic society.

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d. Promote and support community safety and cohesion. e. Promote and support the health and well-being of local communities. f. Promote environmental education and environmental responsibility, particularly amongst the schoolchildren of the Borough. g. Promote and support the attractiveness of the Borough as a place in which to invest, work, visit and reside. h. Stimulate initiatives by communities to promote sustainability – economic, social and environmental well-being – of their own local areas and the Borough as a whole. i. Support important aspects of community life which suffer from a clear resourcing deficit, either generally or as a consequence of prevailing competing financial pressures. j. Support the development of services provided to the community directly by Council, over and above those provided for within the scope of normal agreed Council budgets.

2.3 RCIF Methodology

In order to operationalise the aims and objectives of the RCIF, the following approach to administering the fund has been agreed:

• Funded projects/initiatives should be as ‘tangible’ as possible and lend themselves to being readily and effectively communicated as significant benefits of the community’s recycling efforts. • Deployment of the RCIF should seek to ‘add value’ in terms of the Council’s ability to address issues of key community concern. • Benefits should be spread as widely as possible across the Borough. • Balance should be struck between ‘breadth’ and ‘depth’ of community benefit, accruing from the RCIF. • Any project or initiative should be clearly branded and marketed as being a direct benefit of the community’s recycling efforts, to promote and incentivise sustained improvement in recycling engagement.

3.0 Measuring RCIF Success

The aims and objectives of RCIF are ambitious. Like any project, it is vital we monitor and evaluate the progress. This will allow us to gauge how successful we have been in meeting RCIF aims and objectives, and help us to continuously learn to improve and build further success. The objectives listed are intentionally broad, which goes to the relevance and strength of the RCIF. However, this breadth of ambition means that many activities and projects across Council and indeed many outside organisations will also contribute to their success. Each individual project which comes directly under the RCIF banner, has its own unique measurable targets.

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1. Education - People will have a greater understanding of the environmental consequences of their daily waste management practices.

• Total number of people directly involved in education projects • % of increased learning

2. Tangible - Through RCIF funded initiatives there will be less litter in our Borough.

• Total litter collected/re-cycled from RCIF initiatives

3. Pride - People will demonstrate pride in the Borough through increased commitment to recycling.

• Increase on the current 69% of the population that claim to re-cycle

4. Wellbeing - Through increased pride in our environment, participation in community initiatives to promote sustainability.

• Total number of participants in all RCIF projects

4.0 Proposed RCIF Projects 2019/20

2018/19 RCIF projects have undoubtably caught the imagination of residents, communities, Elected Members and Council officers. The quality and diversity of initiatives delivered under the RCIF banner, continues to grow and the outcomes/successes will be outlined in a report to Council later this year. As we enter a new financial year and indeed a new term of Council in the near future, it is important that we build on this success. After cross departmental consultation, the RCIF project team proposes allocation of funding for the following projects in 2019/20.

4.1 ‘Live Here Love Here’ Small Grants Scheme (£100K)

The ‘Live Here, Love Here’ Small Grants Scheme is an existing environmental and community development small grant scheme that already has established and resourced mechanisms in place for operation; therefore, disbursing RCIF funding in this way does not create any significant additional administrative resource demands. Currently 23 environmental projects are being delivered by communities across the Borough, which has increased from 19 from the previous year. The Live Here Love Here Small Grants Scheme is undoubtedly growing in popularity and aligns perfectly with RCIF aims and objectives.

Officers plan expand the channeels of communication for the forthcoming year, to promote the availability and benefits of the scheme to an even wider and more diverse audience across the entire Borough. Resolution of the potential public liability barrier that non-constitited groups face, as outlined in a seaparte report to

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Unclassified this month’s Committee meeting, will also significnatly expand the eligibility and appeal of the LHLH Small Grants Scheme.

Officers are strongly of the opinion that this means of administering ‘payback’ to the communities of the Borough for their sustained (and improving) recycling engagment is invaluable, and offers significant potential to ‘mainstream’ direct community action on the protection and enhancement of local areas. Local communities know best the local issues that affect them and the improvements required, and the LHLH Small Grants Scheme helps to empower them to do something about those issues themselves.

4.2 ECO Champions (£5K)

Building on the success of last year, the ‘Eco Champions’ project is delivered by our Community Development Team throughout their play work groups; this project will see 150 children from Primary School learn about their local environment. Throughout the school year they will take part in a series of fun, educational and seasonal activities relevant to re-cycling and nature. The project will finish with a celebratory event where we will hear directly from the children about what they have learned over the year, presenting to their families within their communities. Each participant will receive an Eco-Champion T-shirt /reusable water bottle.

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4.3 Business Sustainability Support (£20K)

Under the banner ‘StAND for Sustainability’, great lengths have been made to promote this Council as ‘the most sustainable Council in Northern Ireland’. In that context, work is ongoing to support residents and organisations across the Borough to become more sustainable in all aspects of work and life. This project will tie in with our progressive trade waste management service plans, and will look at supporting businesses who endeavour to operate in a responsible sustainable way; i.e. promoting ‘sustainable local businesses’.

4.4 Refill Scheme (£5K)

Every minute, 1 million plastic bottles are bought around the world. In the UK alone we use 13 billion plastic bottles each year, of which 7.7 billion are of plastic water bottles, despite our nation having the best mains supply drinking water in the world. This plastic needlessly remains in our environment forever. A recent UK-wide survey showed 73% of people are concerned about this plastic problem and 64% stated they would stop buying plastic water bottles if they had easy access to tap water ‘on the go’. Working with NI Water, this project aims to solve this accessibility issue by working with local businesses and workplaces as the source for a reusable water bottle ‘refill’ solution across the Borough. As part of the project, there are plans to develop an app. to publicise and aid the public in locating mapped local businesses across our Borough that will offer the service free of charge.

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4.5 ‘Island Rescue’ (£3K)

More plastic in our water than fish by 2050 is a problem shared by us all; the dangers of which are made only too real by the photograph taken by an officer of a dead Guillemot washed up at Bangor in January, apparently drowned as a consequence of a plastic poo bag tangled round its legs. With 368 Islands and 115 miles of coastline, it is imperative that the Council takes a lead in the fight against litter.

As well as beach litter along the mainland coastline, litter on the beaches of the islands that are within the landscape of our beautiful Borough is a prevalent problem. Litter that enters the natural cycle also ends up, through tidal and wind courses, beached upon our islands. This project aims to broaden the focus of beach/coastline litter and its adverse ecological impact, to those islands. Working collaboratively with local beach cleaning groups, the plan is to organise at least one islands beach cleaning event with an associated major publicity campaign to not only make a significant effort to cleanse and reduce the amount of plastic waste on those islands involved, but even more importantly to elevate public awareness of this problem and help change every day public littering behaviours.

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4.6 Community/Voluntary Public Events Support (Road Closures) (£8K)

As detailed in a separate report to this month’s Committee meeting, it is proposed that where a community/voluntary event receives a Council grant for their event and which involves a road closure, funding towards the cost of this will be provided by the RCIF. Suitable publicity will be present at the event to highlight the RCIF contribution and further highlight that ‘recycling pays’.

4.7 Forest Schools (£10K)

‘Forest Schools’ is based on a Scandinavian idea that considers children’s contact with nature and their development, to be extremely important from an early age. A study trip from Somerset to Denmark in 1995 decided that the approach was appropriate for use in Britain. Since then Forest School has spread to many areas, as educationalists have witnessed the impact that it can have on children. Currently, our Borough only has 1 school despite the following benefits:

• Confidence • Social skills • Language and communication. Motivation and concentration • Physical skills • Knowledge and understanding • New perspectives • Ripple effects beyond Forest School

Working with Eco-Schools, this project would see 5 additional schools in our Borough become affiliated to NIFSA and receive a package of resources and support through the organization.

4.7 Summary of Proposed 2019/2020 Budget Allocations

Project Cost Live Here Love Here 100k Eco Champions 5K Business Sustainability 20K Support Refill Scheme 5K Island Rescue 2K Road Closure 8K Forest School 10K

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Total 150K

The total budget for RCIF 2019/20 is £200,000. The projects proposed in this report total 150K, leaving £50K as yet undecided. Cross departmental consultations are still ongoing to finalise recommendations for allocation of the remaining balance that that in way(s) that will further maximize achievement of the RCIF aims and objectives. It is proposed that officers will bring back a report as soon as possible.

5.0 C.L.E.A.R. Update

Members will recall that we have run our C.L.E.A.R. environmental education project for all year 8 pupils in the Borough for the past 2 years, during the Autumn term. The true key to success in protecting our planet from environmental catastrophe is to shift the mind-set of the next generation, so that (among other things) reducing, re-using, recycling becomes the norm.

Building on the success of the first 2 years, it is proposed that all year 8 pupils from 14 post primary schools will be continue to be invited to participate in this highly interactive and impactful education programme. No budget allocation is required from the forthcoming year’s RCIF budget as the CLEAR programme for current year 8 pupils has already been delivered from this year’s budget and going forward it is planned that its delivery will move to May/June (allowing outdoor elements to be utilised in the better weather thus bringing the lessons to life); this means that the next year 8 programme will be undertaken in 2020 and is proposed that a further RCIF allocation would be made in the 2020/21 financial year.

6.0 Conclusion

Ards and North Down Borough’s natural environment is arguably its most significant asset and the Council has established an over-arching key priority to take a ‘StAND for Sustainability’. The RCIF provides an innovative means of linking the financial rewards of household recycling engagement with wider environmental and

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Unclassified community benefits. Ongoing development and embedding of the RCIF concept and ‘brand’ will be used to help drive forward the Council’s aspiration to be renowned amongst public authorities as an exemplar for sustainability.

Recommendation

It is recommended that approval is granted for the proposals set out in this report.

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ITEM 13

Ards and North Down Borough Council

Report Classification Unclassified

Council/Committee Environment Committee

Date of Meeting 06 March 2019

Responsible Director Director of Environment

Responsible Head of Head of Regulatory Services Service

Date of Report 20 February 2019

File Reference 92017

Legislation

Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Other ☐ If other, please add comment below:

Subject LHLH Small Grants - Public Liability Insurance Issues

Attachments

1.0 Background

Our ‘Live Here, Love Here’ (LHLH) Small Grants Scheme for environmental and community development has been well established for several years now. This Council has embraced the scheme and its potential to facilitate community empowerment to take direct control of their own local areas, making them better places in which to live. Through our Recycling Community Investment Fund (RCIF), we have significantly boosted the total amount of funding available for distribution to

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Unclassified local groups in LHLH Small Grants. Currently 23 diverse environmental improvement projects are being delivered by groups in communities across the Borough, an increase from 19 the previous year. The LHLH Small Grants Scheme is growing in popularity and impact, and aligns perfectly with the aims and objectives of our RCIF.

2.0 Public Liability Insurance

One of the unique differences between this community grant scheme and others, is that it is open to any group that wants to make a difference to their local environment; as such, it is not limited to formally ‘constituted’ groups. This removes much of the bureaucracy that puts many potentially valuable community volunteers off applying for grants. It is this unique difference that is helping to grow the scheme’s popularity each year, as it helps to ‘mobilise the masses’ to community action - beyond the normal reach of the relatively small core of established constituted organisations that traditionally/routinely apply for and receive grant support. Indeed, this widening of accessibility/eligibility is a specific key feature that was purposefully incorporated into the LHLH Small Grants scheme right from its inception.

We are increasingly aware that public land owners such as the Department for Infrastructure are apprehensive over granting permission to groups to undertake environmental improvement schemes through the LHLH Small Grants scheme, without the necessary public liability insurance (which constituted groups would normally have in place, but non constituted groups would not).

3.0 Proposed Way Forward

Our officers have worked with key stakeholders and in particular with Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful (KNIB), which administers the LHLH Small Grants on our behalf, to agree a proposed way forward on this issue. This would involve KNIB obtaining group insurance for all these non-constituted groups/individuals who apply for and

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Unclassified are successful in obtaining grant funding to carry out local environmental enhancement projects. Public landowners have also been consulted, and they are happy with this development.

The proposal would mean that there will be an increased cost involved in administering the LHLH small grants, however, it is suggested that the proposed allocation from RCIF for 2019/20 would cover this. Consequently, the potential public liability insurance barrier would be overcome, thereby ensuring that any person or group that wants to improve their local area/environment are fully supported in their endeavours through our RCIF and the LHLH Small Grants scheme that it funds.

Recommendation

It is recommended that approval is granted for the proposal set out in this report.

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ITEM 14

Ards and North Down Borough Council

Report Classification Unclassified

Council/Committee Environment Committee

Date of Meeting 06 March 2019

Responsible Director Director of Environment

Responsible Head of Head of Regulatory Services Service

Date of Report 12 February 2019

File Reference LR/GEN/90100

Legislation

Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Other ☐ If other, please add comment below:

Subject Licensing and Regulatory Services Update

Attachments Appendix 1 : Car Parking Income Comparison

This report records the main activities in the Licensing and Regulatory Service Unit from the 1st November 2018 to 31st January 2019.

1. Entertainment / Cinema Licensing

The Service administers applications for the grant, renewal, transfer and variation of licences for places of entertainment and cinemas.

Number of entertainment licence applications received and processed: 46

During Performance Inspections

Licensing Officers have carried out a total of 91 ‘during performance’ inspections to ensure compliance with the licence conditions and in particular fire safety provisions. These inspections are carried out at night time when the premises are fully operational.

As a result of these inspections further action was taken against the licensee for minor fire safety matters in 4 cases. This took the form of written advice and warning.

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2. Amusement Permits

These are granted in respect of amusement centres providing gaming machines.

In total 6 premises hold permits in the Borough, of which 3 renewed their permits during this period.

3. Marriage and Civil Partnership Place approvals

Place Approvals are issued for up to 3 years and approve specific places as being suitable to be used for civil marriages or civil partnership registrations.

Number of premises currently holding a 3-year approval: 22

Number of new permits granted in the report period: 2

4. Pavement Café Licensing

Pavement café licences were processed and approved for 4 premises.

It should be noted that whilst licence applications are being processed and officers are consulting with DFI Roads Service, DFI Roads has not formally agreed its guidance as there have been strong objections from IMTAC to the proposal to permit clear pavement widths of less than 2 metres. Considering this, only pavement cafe licence application proposals which leave at least 2m of free pavement are being granted at this time.

5. Town Centre CCTV

During the period of this report 18 incidents were recorded and reported to the PSNI by the CCTV operator including:

Offence Bangor Holywood Newtownards Total Recorded Assaults 10 1 1 12 Traffic 1 1 0 2 accidents Hate Crime 0 0 1 1

Theft 1 0 0 1 Criminal 2 0 0 2 damage

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6. Off Street Car Parking

The following information is provided regarding the car parks for November 2018 to January 2019.

Please see Appendix 1

RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended that the report is noted.

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Appendix 1: Car Parking Income Comparison

November 2017 to January 2018 November 2018 to January 2019

PCN Fines Issued Bangor 415 Total Bangor 498 Total

Holywood 195 1073 Holywood 207 1125

Newtownards 463 Newtownards 420

Income from PCNs

£39,590 £36,308

Income from Total Total Parking Tickets £207,677 £224,745

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ITEM 15

Ards and North Down Borough Council

Report Classification Unclassified

Council/Committee Environment Committee

Date of Meeting 06 March 2019

Responsible Director Director of Environment

Responsible Head of Head of Regulatory Services Service

Date of Report 13 February 2019

File Reference 90101

Legislation Roads (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act (Northern Ireland) 2010

Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Other ☒ If other, please add comment below:

Subject Further Report - NoM on Impact of Roads Closure Legislation Upon Community/Voluntary Events

Attachments Appendix EC 07.11.18 Minute - Review of Road Closure Legislation Report

1.0 Background

Members may recall that a Notice of Motion was agreed by Council last year, as follows:

“That this Council requests that officers bring back a report on how the new legislation and arrangements concerning Special Events on Roads – road (Miscellaneous Provision) Act (NI) 2010 has been operating one year after enactment ton 4 September 2017 including costs charged compared to other Councils and with a specific focus concerning impact upon charitable / not for profit organisations and sporting events.”

Subsequent to this, officers brought a report on the subject to Committee in November 2018 (Appendix 1).

At the November meeting, it was further agreed that:

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1. Officers should bring back a further report looking at potential for Council financial assistance towards the costs incurred by community/voluntary groups in meeting the requirements of the road closures legislation.

2. DfI should be requested to send a representative to address the Committee and discuss the implications of the legislation.

2.0 Update – Impact on Voluntary/Community Groups

In relation to the second of the two actions agreed by the Council in November, officers have issued the request to DfI and will endeavour to arrange for a representative to attend a future Committee meeting.

In relation to the first action agreed, officers have now reviewed the situation in consultation with colleagues across other departments and services that are also involved in supporting voluntary/community events, which may involve the closure of roads. Licensing officers have ascertained that the situation remains substantially unchanged from that reported last year, and there remains significant potential for aspirations of local voluntary/community groups to be curbed due to the financial burden of complying with the statutory road closures requirements under the legislation introduced by the Assembly. Various grant scheme arrangements that are administered by departments across the Council, including Community, Tourism/Events, Sports Development, and Good Relations are modest in terms of their financial scale. Furthermore, it is understood that within the constraints of the estimates process for 2019/20, relevant Council departments have not been in a position to make extra provision to fund road closure elements of events that may feature as part of proposals brought forward by grant applicants.

Officers’ assessment is that there remains potential for some potentially very worthwhile voluntary/community events to either not take place at all, or be significantly restricted/impaired, due to the financial impact of the road closure legislation upon them.

2.0 Proposed Way Forward

Members have very understandably expressed frustration and anger at the imposition of the new roads closure legislation on Councils, and in particular the impact upon local community/voluntary groups seeking to organise events that ultimately serve to enhance and develop the health and wellbeing of our citizens across the Borough. Notwithstanding the fact that Council is unhappy about the current legislative situation, and we have resolved to further lobby the Department in that regard, officers have sought to identify way of militating against the adverse consequences for voluntary/community organised events.

Officers now propose two key measures to achieve the above objective:

1. The current £100 cost of advertising events proposed by community/voluntary groups will be waived, and council will bear this cost instead. The ultimate financial impact upon the Council can be minimised by implementing a

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protocol for advertising a number of proposed voluntary/community events together, where at all possible – which will involve the cost of one rather than a number of advertisements.

2. In planning for the allocation of the 2019/20 Recycling Community Investment Fund (refer to separate report before this month’s Committee), a sum of £5K will be identified for the purpose of drawing upon by various Council departments involved in the processing/awarding of grants for eligible events organised by voluntary/community organisations. This will allow ‘enhanced’ grant assistance by the Council towards the cost of complying with a road closure plan where that forms part of the event proposal. In this way, the additional cost of legally complying with that element of a community event (where applicable) will not be an impediment to the viability of scale of the proposal. The level of aid available to facilitate a road closure connected with an event would be determined in the same way (scale/proportion etc.) as grant for other eligible expenses is calculated by the sponsoring Council department.

Officers are satisfied that this type of proposed allocation from the RCIF is consistent with the stated aims and objectives of the Fund (as set out in the separate report on 2019/20 RCIF allocations).

It is proposed that where a community/voluntary event receives road closure funding support as part of its grant allocation from the Council, a commitment would be required from the organising group/body to recognise and promote the source of this support (i.e. the RCIF, which is supported solely as a consequence of enhanced engagement by householders in recycling), amongst its members/grant beneficiaries and across the wider community where the event is held. Permission would be required for the Council to erect banners and other RCIF promotional material aimed at further enhancing recognition among those attending the events, of the financial (among other) benefits of recycling.

RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended that Council approves the proposals set out in this report.

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ITEM 16

Ards and North Down Borough Council

Report Classification Unclassified

Council/Committee Environment Committee

Date of Meeting 06 March 2019

Responsible Director Director of Environment

Responsible Head of Head of Regulatory Services Service

Date of Report 13 February 2019

File Reference 92012

Legislation

Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Other ☐

If other, please add comment below:

Subject Provision of Holding Kennels

Attachments

The Neighbourhood Environment Team (NET) previously submitted a report in relation to a service delivery restructure, which included the proposal to provide a short-term holding kennel at North Road Depot. This proposal outlined the intention to install a facility supplied by G3 systems. The facility was one currently used by both the Ministry of Defence and US Dept of Defence to house dogs on overseas deployments such as Iraq and Afghanistan. As outlined in the previous report this system was chosen due to its “plug in and play” ease of installation and usage. Subsequently a ‘Single Tender Award’ report was agreed by council.

Since this proposal was approved a number of barriers have led to a proposed change of plan. The main reasons for this change are as follows:

• Cost: Since the original quotation was originally acquired there has been an increase in the proposed cost of the unit in the region of +£15k • Bespoke requirement as a result of DAERA regulations. Even though at no time do we intend to use the facility for a dog that may require quarantining,

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DAERA insist that such a facility is built into the system. This would lead to, as yet, an undisclosed increase in the cost further to that stated above. • Time: As a result of the above issues around the need for a quarantine facility these changes would lead to considerable delay in delivery of the unit. It has also become apparent that the more we have dealt with the supplier, the clearer it has become that due to the fact their core business is providing units in the tens and hundreds to military customers our request for a single unit understandably appears to be low on their priority list.

For the reasons outlined above NET would now propose to build our own 4 block holding kennel to meet both our own requirements and the unanticipated DAERA specifications. We are currently in contact with several different providers in order to advance this proposal and further reports will be brought back to Committee as and when appropriate.

A short-term solution for holding of stray dogs will be implemented in the interim so as to minimise disruption/inconvenience, pending the completion of the above proposal.

Recommendation

It is recommended that Council approves the above revision in the approach to provision of holding kennels.

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ITEM 17

Ards and North Down Borough Council

Report Classification Unclassified

Council/Committee Environment Committee

Date of Meeting 06 March 2019

Responsible Director Director of Environment

Responsible Head of Head of Regulatory Services Service

Date of Report 12 February 2019

File Reference LR 100/90101

Legislation The Local Governmnet (Miscellaneous Provisions) (NI) Order 1985

Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Other ☐ If other, please add comment below:

Subject Grant of Entertainment Licence

Attachments

The following application for the grant of licence has been received:

Cloughey Presbyterian Church, Main Road, Cloughey

Applicant: Leonard Brown, Quarry Road, Greyabbey

Day and hours of use: 14 unspecified days within the next 12 months.

Monday to Sunday:

Type of Entertainment:

• Theatrical performance • Dancing, singing or music or any other entertainment of a like kind

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No objections have been received to this application.

RECOMMENDATION

That the license is granted.

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ITEM 18

Ards and North Down Borough Council

Report Classification Unclassified

Council/Committee Environment Committee

Date of Meeting 06 March 2019

Responsible Director Director of Environment

Responsible Head of Head of Regulatory Services Service

Date of Report 12 February 2019

File Reference LR 100/90101

Legislation The Local Governmnet (Miscellaneous Provisions) (NI) Order 1985

Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Other ☐ If other, please add comment below:

Subject Street Café License

Attachments

The following application for the grant of a Pavement Café Licence has been received:

Premises: Loganberry, 18 Shore Road, Holywood

Applicant : Suzanne Logan

Hours of use : Monday to Sunday from 8am to 6pm.

The application has been publicly displayed on the relevant premises for 28 days as required in the legislation. No objections have been received.

DFI Roads and the Planning Service have been consulted and were necessary the PSNI. No objections have been raised to these applications.

Under the agreed conditions of license the pavement cafes will be required to:

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• only use the agreed area to be outlined in the licence, • provide only the approved furniture, • completely remove any furniture from the pavement at the end of each day’s trading • keep the area used for the café to be kept clean of litter and liquid spills

RECOMMENDATION

That the license is granted.

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ITEM 19

Ards and North Down Borough Council

Report Classification Unclassified

Council/Committee Environment Committee

Date of Meeting 06 March 2019

Responsible Director Director of Environment

Responsible Head of Head of Regulatory Services Service

Date of Report 28 January 2019

File Reference LROCP/40001/90303

Legislation

Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Other ☐ If other, please add comment below:

Subject Attendance at Parkex

Attachments

The annual British Parking Association (BPA) event, Parkex, is to be held in Birmingham from the 2nd to 4rth April 2019.

This is the largest dedicated car parking exhibition in Europe and visitors will be able to draw on the knowledge and experience of over 70 exhibitors and take advantage of an extensive programme of seminars and presentations.

It is proposed that the Licensing and Regulatory Services Manager attend the exhibition. Attendance is free of charge with cost being limited to flights and accommodation.

RECOMMENDATION

That permission is granted for the Licensing and Regulatory Services Manager to attend the exhibition and that his travel and subsistence expenses are met.

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ITEM 20

Ards and North Down Borough Council

Report Classification Unclassified

Council/Committee Environment

Date of Meeting 06 March 2019

Responsible Director Director of Environment

Responsible Head of Head of Waste and Cleansing Services Service

Date of Report 18 February 2019

File Reference 47001/47020/47042/80051

Legislation

Section 75 Compliant Yes ☐ No ☐ Not Applicable ☒

Subject Capital Pilot for HRC Optimisation

Attachments

Report

In 2018, Waste and Resources Action Programme Northern Ireland (WRAP NI) commissioned a project to conduct a comprehensive review of Northern Ireland’s Household Recycling Centre (HRC) network, in order to identify improvements that could be made to increase recycling performance. A desktop analysis was carried out to identify priority sites for assessment, with 46 sites being chosen in total across Northern Ireland. There were 8 sites chosen within Ards & North Down Borough.

A report detailed site specific recommendations, as well as associated costs and projected performance improvements. Recommendations included:

• Improvements to trade waste controls; • Introduction of black bag restrictions; • Tighter restrictions on cross authority border waste; • Improvements to current onsite signage; • Increase of different materials collected for recycling and efficiencies within containerisation of materials; and • Introduction of public awareness raising measures.

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Ards and North Down Borough Council had already identified the need for such improvements and officers have been engaged in ongoing implementation of many of the interventions listed. One significant aspect of site improvement detailed in the report for our HRC sites that remains outstanding, is the wider introduction of compaction skips to facilitate collection of larger amounts of waste using fewer skips. This has the effect of freeing up time that would for example be used by staff to bale up bulky cardboard (thus allowing more time for customer interaction/engagement), and frees up space for a greater total number of containers that can be used on sites for a wider range of recyclables - especially carpet, mattresses, hard plastics and furniture reuse storage.

Officers are pleased to report that we have recently applied for and been awarded a capital grant to the value of £199,500 by the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs. This will be used for deployment at new compactors as well as provision of new signage and containers for the collection and storage of items intended for ‘reuse’. The grant award is a further vote of confidence by the department in our ongoing programme of recycling service improvement, and will be of significant assistance in helping to raise our HRC recycling rates.

Recommendation

It is recommended that this report be noted.

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ITEM 20.1.

Ards and North Down Borough Council

Report Classification Unclassified

Council/Committee Environment Committee

Date of Meeting 06 March 2019

Responsible Director Director of Environment

Responsible Head of Director of Environment Service

Date of Report 04 March 2019

File Reference

Legislation

Section 75 Compliant Yes ☒ No ☐ Other ☐ If other, please add comment below:

Subject Geological Disposal Framework Consultation

Attachments Appendix 1 - Letter from Chief Executive ANDBC Appendix 2 - Letter from DAERA dated 19 January 2018 Appendix 3 - Letter from DAERA dated 27 February 2019

This report is in connection with a Notice of Motion being considered by the Committee.

Environmental Policy Division (EPD) of DAERA is responsible for devolved policy and legislation in relation to radioactivity in Northern Ireland. EPD co-operates with UK Government Departments in relation to policy on the management of radioactive waste, and is represented on several UK-wide radioactivity policy groups.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) jointly launched a consultation on 25 January 2018 entitled Working with Communities: Implementing Geological Disposal. The purpose of this consultation, led by BEIS, was to seek views on the Government’s proposed process for engaging with communities who

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Unclassified may be interested in hosting a geological disposal facility (GDF) for existing high activity radioactive waste and waste from new nuclear power stations. It was not a consultation on whether or not there should be a GDF in Northern Ireland.

The proposals build on commitments set out in the 2014 White Paper entitled Implementing Geological Disposal. BEIS and DAERA remain committed to an approach based on the willingness of communities to participate. The consultation proposals outline how communities may be represented, how investment funding could be provided to communities that participate in the siting process, how a right of withdrawal could operate throughout the process and how a test of public support could be carried out before construction and operation of a geological disposal facility.

Attached at Appendix 1 is a letter from our Chief Executive to the Department to raise concern about failure to notify this Council of the consultation exercise which was launched in January last year. The original letter from the department dated 19th January 2018 which was not received by the Council at Appendix 2 and the response from the Department dated 27th February 2019 is attached at Appendix 3. For the purpose of clarification, we have no record of any previous correspondence having been received from the Department as outlined in this letter.

Irrespective of the above, Members will note the unequivocal declaration in DAERA’s letter of 27th February 2019 that “there are no plans to site a GDF in Northern Ireland”.

RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended that this report be noted.

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CX 7/SR/sa

15 February 2019

Mr Owen Lyttle Environment Policy Division Klondyke Building Gasworks Business Park 1 Cromac Avenue Belfast BT7 2JA

Dear Mr Lyttle

Public Consultation : Working with Communities (Geological Disposal of Radioactive Waste)

I understand that you e mailed a letter with regard to the above (copy enclosed) to me dated 19 January 2018.

I did not receive the letter as it appears that an incorrect email address was used. I would ask you to correct your records to [email protected].

This matter has been brought to my attention recently by a number of Elected Members on the Council who had seen the correspondence as considered by other Councils. I would like to update the Council on the present situation with regard to the Consultation, on proposals, any results from it or potential decisions to be made on the matter.

Your prompt response would be appreciated given the extent of time since your letter and the public and political interest in the matter.

Yours sincerely

S K REID Chief Executive

Enc

Environmental Policy Division Klondyke Building Gasworks Business Park 1 Cromac Avenue Belfast BT7 2JA

19th January 2018

Dear Chief Executive

Public Consultation: Working with Communities (Geological Disposal of Radioactive Waste)

I am writing to give you advance notice that this Department, together with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, will next week publish a consultation on proposals for an engagement process with communities in relation to the siting process for geological disposal facilities for radioactive waste. It is not a consultation on whether there should or should not be a geological disposal facility (GDF) in Northern Ireland but instead is aimed at ensuring that the citizens of Northern Ireland, as part of the UK, have the right to have their say on this issue.

The consultation, which follows a 2014 White Paper entitled Implementing Geological Disposal1, will seek views on how communities, who may be interested in learning about hosting such a facility, might be engaged in the consent-based decision-making process on the potential siting of a GDF.

The proposed approach to Working with Communities is in addition to all the existing opportunities for the public to have a say in the development of a facility such as this, through the Planning, Health and Safety and environmental permitting processes.

Alongside these statutory processes to ensure that any GDF development is appropriate, safe and secure, the proposed policy will provide an additional layer of agreement by giving local communities, including all levels of local government, an opportunity to engage with the delivery body over time to influence the development; to find out more about the possibilities of a GDF; and, ultimately, to decide whether or not they support the development of a GDF in their area.

1 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/332890/GDF_White_Paper_FINAL.pdf

Accordingly, the purpose of this letter is to make initial contact to alert you to the forthcoming consultation.

Any queries in relation to this issue or, indeed, any responses to the consultation, when it is published, should not be directed towards this office but should be sent to the address that will be provided in the consultation document.

I am copying this letter to all Northern Ireland district councils, NILGA and SOLACE.

Yours sincerely

OWEN LYTTLE

Environment Policy Division Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs