Minutes:
News round-up and current consultations
Concern was expressed that residents were reporting that they had not received the consultation documents on the St Ann’s development, and Cllr Alexander reported that, as a local resident, she personally had not received them. It was agreed that the Chair would write to the Mental Health Trust to follow this issue up, as a commitment had been made that the document would be sent to every household in the borough. It was further agreed that the Chair would contact the Mental Health Trust regarding the suggestion that the commissioning group should attend a meeting of the Community Reference Group to discuss health provision at St Ann’s.
Cllr Adamou advised that the St Ann’s development would be a subject for discussion by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
It was suggested that the number of items for discussion under the ‘news round-up’ segment be reduced for future meetings, in order to allow more time for questions from residents; it was suggested that presenting these items in the form of stands may be a better way of handling these items. Members felt, however, that the information presented had been useful, particularly for the items on the proposals around the artwork element of the West Green Road improvements, which not everyone had been aware of, and the Alexandra Palace consultation.
Some concern was expressed that not all ward councillors had been aware of the West Green Road artwork issue before it had been raised at this meeting. Officers would be advised in future to use as clear language as possible in addressing the Area Forum, and to avoid jargon.
It was suggested that the Article 4 Direction should be a standing item on the agenda; while some concern was expressed regarding the timescale for progressing this, it was noted that the time-frame was set out in law and it was recognised that it was positive that this was being taken forward. It was suggested that a specific enforcement strategy needed to be developed to support the Article 4 Direction.
It was suggested that Planning and Licensing issues, and how people could engage with applications and consultations could be an item at the next meeting. The Committee discussed the issues around Certificates of Lawfulness, and the need to rigorously check the documentation associated with these. It had been suggested that the Regulatory Committee could have a report on a random sample of Certificate of Lawfulness applications, to monitor whether documentation was being checked, and the Committee endorsed this suggestion. It was recognised that it was positive that the Planning and Licensing departments were working together more closely on issues around HMOs.
Waste and Recycling: the new arrangements
Some Committee members felt that the presentation on waste and recycling had given the impression that there were no positive aspects of the new arrangements, and that this was not an entirely balanced view of the situation. Others felt that it was useful to focus on the problems, in order to acknowledge where things could be improved. It was felt that it had been good for residents to have the opportunity to put their views forward. The tone of the discussion had been thought-provoking, a range of positive comments had been made as well as problems being raised, and officers had responded to the points raised very well.
Cllr Canver thanked Liz Ixer for the work she put into the presentation, and advised that they had always acknowledged that there would be challenges in moving to the new arrangements and that it would take time and people reporting problems for these to be resolved. All the specific properties that had been reported by residents and local councillors had been reported to Veolia, who were themselves noting any overflowing bins they saw and reporting these through for action by their engagement team. Cllr Canver was confident that the issues raised would all be resolved.
Cllr Schmitz noted that he had moved at the previous meeting that the roll-out be delayed, as he had felt that this would have prevented some of the problems that had occurred, however he acknowledged that the advice on the Council’s website with regard to recycling was useful and had been promoting this to local residents.