Agenda and minutes

Members of the Executive, the Corporate Management Team and other Councillors present introduced themselves, and County Councillor Carl Les welcomed the other officers present at the meeting.

Resolved –

Thatthe public Minutesof themeeting heldon 9 March 2021,having been printedand circulated,betakenas readand confirmedby theChairmanas acorrect record.

There were no declarations of interest.

Members of the public may ask questions or make statements at this meeting if they have given notice to Melanie Carr of Democratic and Scrutiny Services and supplied the text (contact details below) by midday on Thursday 18^th March 2021, three working days before the day of the meeting.  Each speaker should limit themselves to 3 minutes on any item.  Members of the public who have given notice will be invited to speak:-

·            at this point in the meeting if their questions/statements relate to matters which are not otherwise on the Agenda (subject to an overall time limit of 30 minutes);

·            when the relevant Agenda item is being considered if they wish to speak on a matter which is on the Agenda for this meeting.

If you are exercising your right to speak at this meeting, but do not wish to be recorded, please inform the Chairman who will instruct anyone who may be taking a recording to cease while you speak.

There were no public questions or statements.

This report outlines the updated North Yorkshire Plan for Economic Growth for 2021 – 2024

County Councillor Andrew Lee introduced the revised Plan for Economic Growth.  He confirmed the revised Plan would replace the previous Plan approved in 2018.  He drew attention to the list of the Council’s successes since that time as highlighted in the revised Plan

County Councillor Andrew Lee also confirmed the revised Plan introduced some new themes alongside the traditional economic drivers, which included attracting new businesses and investment.  It also picked up on the ‘Living Well’ theme, aimed at ensuring young people in particular had the skills they needed to play a full part in society and the local economy.

The ongoing work with the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) was noted, together with the opportunities to develop new economic activity linked to the low carbon economy which reflected the Council’s ambition to becoming net carbon zero by 2030.

County Councillor Andrew Lee reiterated the Council’s commitment to supporting businesses as they emerged from the pandemic, which included seeking investment from Government funding programmes such as the Levelling Up Fund.

Matt O’Neill, Assistant Director for Growth, Planning and Trading Standards confirmed that the LEP, District Councils had been consulted, and that the revised Plan had been informed by feedback from the Transport & Economy Overview & Scrutiny Committee.

County Councillor Don Mackenzie drew attention to two significant schemes in the A59 corridor not listed in the report that had been supported by the LEP i.e. the £10m investment to improve train services between York & Harrogate, and the ongoing extensive improvement works to Junction 47 of the A1M, to cater for large scale commercial and housing development along the A59 corridor.

County Councillor Paul Haslem drew attention to the significant work of the Council to reduce its carbon footprint and questioned why it was not reflected in the Climate Change Impact Assessment attached to the report, which showed as neutral. He also suggested carbon footprint should be a key performance indicator for the Council.

County Councillor Don Mackenzie highlighted the carbon reduction benefits associated with home working, and the commencement of consultation on a number of Active Travel Fund Schemes across the county, aimed at improving facilities for walking and cycling and reducing the space for motor vehicles.

All members voted in favour of the recommendations in the report, and it was

Resolved – That the revised Plan for Economic Growth be approved.

This report presents the findings and recommendations arising from the Transport, Economy and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s review of Single Use Plastics.

County Councillor David Goode introduced the report, and thanked all those who gave evidence in support of the review, the officers who supported the review and the members of the Task & Finish Group.

He acknowledged that climate change was a critical global problem affecting many of the Council’s services.  He suggested that the adoption of a revised Single Use Plastic programme as part of the Council’s comprehensive carbon reduction strategy would provide the Council with another opportunity to demonstrate its commitment and leadership in carbon reduction.

It was noted that the aim of the review had been to identify additional ways in which the County Council could reduce its use and reliance on singe use plastic, and what more it could do to influence behavioural change within the organisation, and to work in partnership with others to do the same. 

It was recognised that the Covid-19 had led to an unavoidable increase in the use of single use plastic but it was not expected to continue once the pandemic had passed, and should not delay action from being taken.

County Councillor David Goode went on to provide an overview of the work undertaken as part of the review and drew attention to the best practice progress made by other Councils and the progress made in the County Council’s procurement activities.  Finally, he drew attention to the conclusions and recommendations in the Review final report.

County Councillor Carl Les gave his thanks for the work on the review and for the presentation of a comprehensive report to the Executive.

Those thanks were reiterated by County Councillor Andrew Lee, who acknowledged the efforts and thoughts that had gone into the work.  He agreed to identify the best strategy to enable implementation of all of the 16 inventions recommended in the Review final report, and gave assurance that it would be possible to implement some of them in the next 12 months.  Finally he offered to provide updates on the implementation.

All members voted in favour of the recommendations in the report, and it was

Resolved – That:

i)     The findings of the Review be noted

ii)    The Executive Member for Open to Business take forward the recommendations in the Review final report.

This report seeks approval to update the Joint Waste Management Agreement with City of York Council

County Councillor Andrew Lee introduced the report seeking approval to update the Joint Waste Management Agreement with City of York Council.  He provided an overview of the background to the current agreement and confirmed the collaboration with York brought together the long-term management for waste with AWRP, AmeyCespa and Yorwaste.

It was noted that every year the County Council charged York for the services it provided, and that the charge going forward would be increasing to an annual fee of £200k.

All members voted in favour of the recommendations in the report, and it was

Resolved – That:

i)     The County Council enter into the ‘Collaboration Agreement. Relating to: Shared Waste Arrangements’ with City of York Council.

ii)    The Corporate Director for Business and Environmental Services in consultation with Assistant Chief Executive (Legal and Democratic Services), be delegated to take such steps as are necessary to complete the agreement.

Members considered the Executive extract from the Forward Plan.  It was noted that the Strategy for Reduction in Carbon Emissions would be added to the Forward Plan in due course, for decision in June 2021.

Resolved – That the Forward Plan extract be noted.