Agenda and draft minutes

1.1  Apologies for absence from: Cllr Patrick, Cllr Etti, Cllr Billington and Cllr Gordon.

2.1  Due to the absence of the elected Chair for the Scrutiny Panel (SP).  The first order of business was the election of a Chair from the Scrutiny Panel membership at the meeting. 

2.2  Cllr Conway nominated Cllr Hayhurst and Cllr Coban seconded the nomination.

2.3  Cllr Hayhurst was elected as the Chair for the Scrutiny Panel meeting.

2.4  The remainder of the discussion items at the meeting were as per the agenda.

3.1  None.

Call-in of a decision taken at Cabinet on 18^th May 2020 regarding “Proposal to Restrict Residual Waste”.

4.1  The Chair opened the discussion item and explained this was a special meeting of the Scrutiny Panel to hear the Call-in of a decision by the Executive of Hackney Council. 

4.2  The Call-in request was made on 26th May 2020, by Councillor Odze and supported by – Councillors: Levy, Klein, Papier and Steinberger. 

4.3  The call-in relates to the Cabinet decision on 18 May 2020 in respect of Restricting Residual Waste (Key Decision No. NH Q47) to introduce fortnightly collections for residual waste to street level properties, using black 180i wheeled bins.

4.4  The grounds for the call-in request covered the following areas:

·  in making its decision Cabinet failed to consider relevant evidence; and

·  that the decision taken was not in the interests of the Borough’s  residents and a preferable alternative decision could be adopted.

Timecode in recording 07.34

4.5  The Chair outlined the format of the meeting to all meeting participants.

Timecode in recording 08.46

4.6  Chair outlined the decision options available to the Scrutiny Panel Membership.  These were:

a.  to take no further action, in which case the decision will take effect immediately; or,

b.  to refer the decision back to Cabinet for reconsideration, setting out the nature of the Scrutiny Panel's concerns; Cabinet must then re-consider the matter, taking into account the concerns of the Scrutiny Panel, before making a final decision; or

c.  to refer the matter to Full Council if the Scrutiny Panel considers that its recommendations would have an impact on the Council’s budget or policy framework.

4.7  The Chair welcomed to the meeting Call-in Members: Cllr Odze, Cllr Levy and Cllr Steinberger. 

4.8  From London Borough of Hackney Council the Chair welcomed to the meeting Cllr Burke, Cabinet Member for Energy, Waste, Transport and Public Realm, Ajman Ali, Interim Group Director Neighbourhoods and Housing, Aled Richards, Director of Public Realm and Sam Kirk, Environmental Services Strategy Manager.

Timecode in recording 09.20

4.9  Cllr Odze presented the objections to the decision.  The main points were as follows:

a)  The Cabinet decision ignored the consultation response.  If people do not want this it should not be implemented.

b)  This decision is not in the best interest of residents.  The Councillor made reference to the number of objections to the proposed changes.

c)  There is no local evidence to support the decision only statistics.

d)  There is no information in the report of the alterative options considered.  An alternative option for the Council would be to incentivise recycling instead of punishing residents.

e)  The Call-in Member made reference to Bury and Salford councils who have moved to 3 weekly collections.  The Cllr claimed although recycling rates had increased a large volume of it is contaminated. 

The Call-in Member pointed out when Haringey Council introduced fortnightly collection there was problems with fly tipping particularly on the borough boundary.  This should be taken into account by Cabinet.

f)  The equality impact assessment only considers some communities in Hackney.  It does not mention other larger communities like  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.1  None.