Agenda and minutes

            An apology for inability to attend was reported from Councillor F. Rodgers.

            The minutes of the meeting of 8th December were taken as read and signed as correct. It was reported that those minutes had been adopted by the Council at its meeting on 5th January.

            (Mrs J. Thompson, Director of Finance and Resources, attended in connection with this item.)

            The Committee considered a report, which had been prepared in conjunction with the Director of Finance and Resources, in relation to the establishment of the District Rate and the compilation of the estimates of revenue expenditure for the year 2011/2012.  A copy of that section of the report, insofar as it applied specifically to the Health and Environmental Services Committee, is set out hereunder:

      “A spending limit of £40,627,499 is recommended for the Health and Environmental Services Committee in 2011/2012. This represents a net increase of £1,747k or 4.49% from 2010/2011 and includes increased landfill tax and gate fee waste disposal costs of £1,338k, which are beyond the Council’s control. The Departmental increase in net expenditure, excluding the increased landfill tax and gate fee costs is £409k or 1.05%.

      In addition to the increase in waste disposal costs, the Department will also incur further uncontrollable cost increases totalling over £1.1m. These comprise of increased employers superannuation contributions of £187k, increased payroll costs of £311k, (made up of annual increments payable to some staff and the assumed £250 per annum pay rise for staff earning under £21,000 (subject to national negotiation)), and £607k of reduced building regulation and energy performance certificate regulatory income. It is important to note that the Building Control Service delivers many services over and above building regulation which cannot be offset by external income, such as Licensing, LPS work and support for BCC asset and major project management work. It should also be noted that in response to the falling income experienced by Building Control over the past two years, the Service has implemented a series of initiatives to realise significant cost reductions and generate alternative income sources including a right sizing exercise in 2010. The Service is also intending to make further savings of £218k during 2011/2012.

      The overall effect of the increased uncontrollable costs incurred by the Department has been partly offset by the inclusion in the Departmental estimates of £485k of savings generated through the council wide and Departmental efficiency programmes (plus the £218k of Building Control savings referred to above). The main areas of expenditure and changes from 2010/2011 are summarised in the attached appendix and a summary of some of the proposed priority actions for the Committee, which will be funded by the 2011/2012 estimates, has been forwarded to Members.

Environmental Health

      The Environmental Health Service’s budget is £6,886,776, which is £54,525 less than in 2010/2011 and represents a reduction of ?0.86% on the previous year. The reduction in net expenditure for the Service has been achieved through the generation of £209,000 of efficiency savings including reductions in employee and training costs and savings in external procurement costs generated through the corporate approach to advertising procurement and the joint dog kennelling arrangements which Belfast City Council now has in place with Carrickfergus Borough Council. Environmental Health Service expenditure for 2011/12 includes £330,000 for the continued provision of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

            The Committee considered under the undernoted report:

“1  Relevant Background Information

1.1 Clearance of Snow and Ice

1.1.1    A report was presented to the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee on 10th December, 2010 outlining the current agreed arrangements which the Council has in place with the Department for Regional Development (DRD) for the

clearance of snow and ice from defined city centre pavements). In addition to noting the current arrangements, the Committee agreed that the Council should enter into urgent negotiations with DRD Roads Service to assess, in the event of prolonged cold spells, the possibility of:

a)      identifying ‘hot spot’ sites across the city which need to be gritted to allow access to essential public services;

b)      gritting of some side streets to enable essential operational services such as refuse collection to be maintained;

c)      making grit/salt available to members of the public to allow local communities to help themselves via local action; and

d)      reviewing the list of city centre streets within the current agreement to assess if they are sufficient in periods of prolonged severe weather.

1.1.2    In respect of the situation with other Councils, the Roads Service wrote to all Councils on 22nd December 2010, informing them that the majority of Councils have now agreed to work with Roads Service to salt the main footpaths in their respective areas.

1.2       Severe Disruption to Water Supplies

1.2.1    On 23rd December, 2010, the Environment Minister called on all Councils to be prepared to activate their emergency plans and provide humanitarian assistance and rest centre support, if necessary, to relieve difficulties faced by local people from the ongoing severe cold weather.   Belfast City Council responded immediately by putting staff on standby over the Christmas holiday period and by putting in place arrangements for monitoring the situation.  From 28th December, a full response was put in place.

2.         Key Issues

2.1       Clearance of Snow and Ice

2.1.1    Since the meeting of the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee on 10th December the following has taken place:

·         A meeting was held on 16th December, 2010 between the Director of Health and Environmental Services, the Head of Cleansing and the DRD Divisional Road Manager and his team at which the points raised at the Strategic Policy and Resources meeting were discussed.  DRD agreed to consider each of the points in detail in respect of prolonged cold spells.  Additionally, in the short term, DRD agreed to:

o        work on a pilot approach to the provision of grit/salt for public distribution;

o        work with the Council on assessing the effectiveness of gritting some side streets in an attempt to enable access by refuse vehicles;

o        work with BCC staff to identify sites for specific focus in respect of gritting.

·         On 17th December, 2010 there was significant snow fall and, in response to requests from Councillors, Council staff agreed with DRD that a pilot approach to public grit/salt distribution would be enacted immediately, following assurances from the Council as to how this would be managed.  The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

            The Committee was advised that the draft Justice Bill, which was being considered currently by the Northern Ireland Assembly’s Justice Committee, had recommended the establishment of a single, integrated partnership to replace the existing structures within the Community Safety and the District Policing Partnerships.

            The Head of Environmental Health reported that the Belfast Community Partnership’s current Safer Belfast Plan would end in March, 2011.  She explained that, in view of the legal requirements within the draft Justice Bill, the Belfast Community Safety Partnership was unable to plan beyond 2011/2012 and had, therefore, formulated a Plan to cover only that period. She explained that the key priorities and proposed services contained within the draft Plan had been developed following consultation with, amongst others, Elected Representatives and partner organisations and, following a review of the existing 2009/2011 Plan. It had taken into consideration also other documents such as Local Policing and Good Relations Plans.

            She informed the Committee that the aim of the 2011/2012 Safer Belfast Plan was to help create safer, shared and confident communities by working in partnership to address crime, fear of crime and anti-social behaviour.  The strategic priorities and associated services for the Belfast Community Safety Partnership would, during the term of the Plan, be aimed at tackling alcohol and substance abuse, anti-social behaviour and fear of crime. The Plan would remain in draft form until the level of funding to be made available by the Department of Justice had been identified. However, the Department had indicated that it expected the level of funding to be allocated to service delivery and technical support to be comparable to that of 2010/2011.  She pointed out that the Council had, in 2010/2011, contributed £115,000 to support the delivery of the Safer Belfast Plan and that the Community Safety Partnership had additionally secured match funding from a number of external partners.

            After discussion, the Committee noted the contents of the draft Safer Belfast Plan for 2011/2012 and agreed that that element therein relating to tackling anti-social behaviour be strengthened to emphasise the central role played by the Council in facilitating and funding alleygating schemes in order to make communities feel safer and that the portion relating to tackling hate crime include a reference to attacks upon the gay community.

            The Committee was advised that the Council, in line with its commitment to creating a safer city, had in 2009 joined a European Union-led project entitled, “Training Local Stakeholders in the Prevention of Re-Offending”.  The project was co-ordinated by the European Forum for Urban Security and funded through the European Union’s Lifelong Learning GRUNDTVIG scheme.

            The Head of Environmental Health informed the Members that the initiative within Belfast was facilitated through the Reintegration of Offenders project.  The project was led by a multi-agency steering group which was chaired by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and included a number of partners, such as the Northern Ireland Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders, the Probation Board, Hydebank Prison, the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the Department of Justice and a range of stakeholders from the community and voluntary sectors.  She reported that the project sought to reduce instances of reoffending amongst young offenders who had received short-term sentences and for whom there was little support available upon their release. She pointed out that many young offenders had re?offended shortly after their release and were responsible for perpetrating crime and anti-social behaviour which, in turn, impacted upon local communities. However, the Reintegration of Offenders project had the effect of reducing these problems.

            She explained that funding of £32,830 had been awarded to Belfast in order to support the delivery of the aforementioned project and that match funding would be obtained from other sources, including the Belfast Community Safety Partnership. She informed the Committee that, as a pre-condition to joining the project, Belfast had been required to become a member of the European Forum for Urban Security, for which a fee of €4,255 was required.  A funding agreement was being put in place, led by the Council, which would lead to the project partners each contributing £595 towards this cost. Accordingly, she recommended that the Committee approve the Council’s ongoing participation in the Reintegration of Offenders project and authorise the payment of £595 for membership of the European Forum for Urban Security.

            The Committee adopted the recommendation.

            The Committee considered the undernoted report and agreed that the attached comments be forwarded to the Department of the Environment as the Council’s response to the consultation document:

“1  Relevant Background Information

1.1 The Pollution Prevention and Control (District Councils) Charging scheme (Northern Ireland) 2011 Consultation Paper, November 2010 relates to the regulation of emissions into the air from industrial sources.  Views on proposals for a revised charging scheme for Part C installations and mobile plant are invited from interested parties such as the Council as it has a regulatory role. 

1.2 Current fees and charges payable to district councils are based on the 2010 rates. The overall aim of the charging scheme is to provide full cost recovery for the regulation of prescribed installations in keeping with the Government’s polluter pays policy, thus preventing the burden falling on the taxpayer/ratepayer. Enforcement duties are carried out by Environmental Health Officers of district councils.

1.3 The charging scheme relates to Part C installations with potentially low emission levels into the air, such as petrol stations, dry cleaners and activities including, for example, ceramic production, coating, printing and textile treatments.

1.4 In March, 2010 there were 630 council controlled processes in the whole of Northern Ireland, 39% of which were petrol stations, 16% relating to cement and 21% relating to activities using solvents such as dry cleaners.  In Belfast, there are 84 Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) installations. In 2009/2010, the Council received £31,665 in fees.

2    Key Issues

2.1 The Department proposes to increase fees by 4.86% for 2011/2012 and to instigate an annual uplift of fees in line with the GDP deflator for years where the charging scheme is not reviewed. This will reduce the number of charging scheme reviews and allow the income generated from fees to keep pace with inflation.

2.2 The Department proposes to increase the fee for Vehicle Refinishers. District Councils have found that this sector requires significantly more regulation and pose a higher risk to the environment than other reduced fee activities. The equivalent fee in England and Wales was increased in 2008.

2.3 The Department proposes to reorganise the charging for standard fee activities and move to a risk based charging scheme as discussed in last years charging scheme consultation. Reduced fee activities are to remain under a single annual fee.

2.4 The Department proposes to introduce a late payment charge to cover administration costs borne by district councils in chasing operators for fees. The proposed fee is £50 and will apply when an invoice remains unpaid 8 weeks from the date the invoice was issued.

2.5 The Department proposes to introduce a ‘mothballing scheme’ whereby operators can pay a reduced fee for up to 3 years for installations which, due to the downturn in the economy, have mothballed plant or they are operating below the threshold for which a permit is required, but do not wish to surrender their permit.

2.6 It is intended that the proposed fees and charges will  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5c