Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the previous meeting of the Environment Scrutiny Panel held on 13 November 2023 were submitted and approved as a correct record.

Representatives from Boro Doughnut will be in attendance to present the Panel with an overview of the group’s work and how it is supporting the Green Strategy by collaborating with communities across Middlesbrough.

Recommendation:  That the information provided be noted.

Community Interest Company, Boro Doughnut, had been invited to attend the meeting to provide an overview of their work in Middlesbrough.  Accordingly, E Imai, Boro Doughnut, and S Duckin, Board Member, were in attendance, supported by K Collighan, Thirteen Housing and N Jellason, Teesside University.

The Panel heard that Boro Doughnut was a new community interest company, launched in November 2023, that built on positive collaborative movement towards a thriving Middlesbrough based on Doughnut Economics.

The Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL) Community was made up of like-minded people exploring the ideas of Doughnut Economics and pioneering ways to put ideas into practice.  It included educators, policy makers, community members, businesses, artists, academics, designers and economists.  The DEAL community offered common sources of inspiration and tools to apply to each individual’s context, some created by the DEAL team but mostly created by members of the DEAL community.

Boro Doughnut applied Doughnut Economics in Middlesbrough as part of the wider network and shared solutions around the globe with its partners.

Boro Doughnut’s mission was to build a thriving Middlesbrough by connecting people to take urgent action to meet the needs of all people within the means of one planet living by protecting the environment.  To date, it had connected with local communities to create an edible forest garden in Berwick Hills and an NHS allotment site, in addition to hosting various arts and community events to promote its message.

Research had been undertaken with Teesside University to ascertain the current environmental state of Middlesbrough.  The research looked at whether the people of Middlesbrough had a safe life and how they thrived across areas such as education, work, health, community, political voice and culture. 

In the context of waste management, Boro Doughnut had commenced litter picking within communities with Boro Champions who were doing excellent work.  It had also undertaken research in the TS1 areas, speaking to residents, waste collectors, officers from thirteen housing, Council officers to find out what was actually happening on the ground.  It was a joint responsibility for everyone to work together to improve the area.

The Panel heard that Boro Doughnut aimed to use continuous improvement methodology and root cause analysis to learn lessons from past initiatives in which the same problems kept reoccurring; to learn from other towns as to how to take out the root cause of the problem and start enabling sustainable initiatives and to ensure all people and the environment benefitted from collecting actual outcome evidence.

Several root causes of littering and fly-tipping in TS1 had been identified through root cause analysis and possible solutions had been proposed, as follows:-

·        Lack of integration and inclusion efforts – increase spaces and opportunities for integration.

·        Language barrier/poor literacy level of residents not taken into consideration – improve communication that takes into account language barrier and literacy levels.

·        Population density increase not considered in design – implement long term plan for provision that was fit for purpose.

·        Lack of monitoring actual outcomes and implications of rules –  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23/25

Officers from Environment Services and Community Protection will be in attendance to provide the Panel with information in relation to:-

·        Current education programmes on recycling, litter and fly-tipping.

·        Environmental enforcement, including the activity undertaken by the Council and the legal framework it must operate within; penalties and interventions available particularly linked to recycling, littering and fly-tipping.

Recommendation: That the information provided be noted.

S Garside, Environmental Sustainability Manager, and C Coverdale, Environment Services Manager, were in attendance to provide Members with further information in relation to current environmental education programmes, particularly in relation to recycling.

In previous meetings reference had been made to behavioural change with a view to implementing fresh ideas and discussions were ongoing with experts in this field to develop a plan to be rolled out throughout 2024 to engage with residents to increase recycling and minimise waste.

The Panel was informed that the Environmental Sustainability Manager worked with a range of services, groups and individuals in order to encourage as many people as possible to target areas with low recycling rates and/or high levels of contaminated recycling, including:-

·        Cumbria Waste Recycling Plant – weekly sampling was undertaken to see the recycling materials being deposited and establishing which areas or wards within Middlesbrough needed to be targeted by letter drops providing advice on recycling. 

·        Marketing and Communications Team - posting on social media to promote recycling and providing advice on the materials that should not be recycled.  This had gathered momentum more recently.

·        Refuse Crews – checking bins, etc, engaging with residents and explaining why bins were being checked and providing advice on recycling.

·        Eco groups and Schools – attending assemblies to engage children in how to help recycle and around not dropping litter.

·        ‘Wash and squash’ roadshows delivered in community hubs, bus station, local shopping centres.

It was essential to engage with as many people as possible to have conversations and answer questions around what could and could not be recycled to encourage recycling and cut down on contamination rates.

Part of the conversation that had been taking place with Nudge was around how best to communicate with residents and how to ensure everyone was clear as to what could be placed in each bin at home for kerbside collection.  In the near future the Environmental Services Manager would be going out in a van to spread the message.  This would enable greater flexibility to speak to more people in multiple locations on a regular basis and would also target areas with low recycling rates.  The overall aim was to make recycling the ‘social norm’.

A Panel Member queried whether recycling rates were available for each ward in order to know which wards needed to improve.  It was highlighted that some wards did not have the ability to achieve high recycling rates as some did not have gardens and some had back alleys which operated on a different system.  In addition, some wards with low recycling rates could have particular areas/streets with good recycling rates.  For example, there had been an issue recently with high contamination rates in one particular area but refuse crews had worked with environmental enforcement and the Environmental Sustainability Manager who had gone out into the community to resolve the issue and this had been achieved through collaborative working.

In response to a query the Environmental Sustainability Manager stated that she would welcome additional support  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23/26

Feedback will be provided from the site visit to Middlesbrough’s recycling facility on 8^th December 2023.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the site visit scheduled for 8 December 2023 to Cumbria Waste Recycling Facility had been rescheduled to Tuesday, 19 December 2023.  Panel Members were asked to meet at Resolution House at approximately 1.00pm for a 1.30pm visit to the plant.

The Chair will provide a verbal update to the Panel on business conducted at the Overview and Scrutiny Board meeting held on 15 November 2023.

The Chair provided a verbal update in relation to the business conducted at the Overview and Scrutiny Board meeting held on 15 November 2023, namely:

·        Executive Member Update – Executive Member for Finance and Governance, Councillor Nicky Walker.

·        Executive Forward Work Programme

·        Scrutiny Panels’ Chairs’ Updates.

·        Next meeting of OSB – Wednesday, 20^th December 2023, 4.30pm.

Any other urgent items which in the opinion of the Chair, may be considered.

Crustacean Deaths Collaborative Working Group - Update

The Chair advised that the above group had met on 7 December 2023.  The Chair of the North East Fishing Collective, accompanied by two fishermen, had been in attendance.  They had reported that die-off was continuing and had evidence that crustaceans were not growing any bigger and catches were down.  This was resulting in fishermen having to go further out to sea to achieve a bigger catch.

It was anticipated that a recommendation would be made for a complete modification of the current testing/dredging regime.

NOTED

The next meeting of the Environment Scrutiny Panel was scheduled to take place on Monday, 15 January 2024 at 10.00am.