Agenda and minutes
Venue: LB 31 - Loxley House, Station Street, Nottingham, NG2 3NG. View directions
Contact: Laura Wilson Senior Governance Officer
No. | Item |
---|---|
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE Minutes: Councillor Josh Cook – other Council business Councillor Mohammed Saghir - illness |
|
DECLARATIONS OF INTERESTS Minutes: None. |
|
To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 7 February 2018 Minutes: The minutes of the meeting held on 7 February 2018 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair. |
|
Report of Head of Legal and Governance Additional documents:
Minutes: Sara Ball, Environmental Health and Safer Places, delivered a presentation on air pollution and health, smoke control areas and clean air zones, highlighting the following:
(a)
natural and human activities emit gases
and particles into the air which affect our health and the
environment. The most damaging of these are nitrogen dioxide,
sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide and particulates; (b)
elevated levels or long term exposure to
air pollution can lead to serious symptoms and conditions affecting
human health such as cancer and heart disease. In the UK air
pollution is estimated to shorten life expectancy by an average of
7 months. Air pollution is often invisible and goes unnoticed by
most people, but is estimated to cause early death for 40,000
people worldwide annually; (c)
the UK consistently misses the EU objectives for air quality, which
were originally intended to be met in 2004/5 and then extended to
2010; (d)
the Clean Air Acts of 1956, 1968 and
1993 introduced smoke control areas, including Nottingham City.
This reduced levels of sulphur dioxide and made the air visibly
cleaner; (e)
the Environment Act 1995 identifies
areas where the nitrogen dioxide annual mean air quality objective
will not be met. Two of these were identified in Nottingham, one at
Lace Street and a larger one covering the city centre. These Air
Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) are contained in the Local
Transport Plan. Since 2012, the Lace Street AQMA has consistently
met the objectives and is likely to be revoked although there are
now other areas where levels are exceeded; (f)
the Nottinghamshire Air Quality Strategy
is being reviewed, and the new strategy will be launched in summer
2018. The Local Transport Plan includes the ‘Go Ultra
Low’ programme for promotion of electric vehicles, and the
Workplace Parking Levy which funds public transport
improvements; (g) DEFRA has identified two Clean Air Zones (CAZs) in Nottingham on the ring-road and Lower Parliament Street/London Road, where clean air targets will not be met by 2020 unless there is no intervention. In these areas consultants have been appointed, specialising in traffic and air quality, to model and inform the CAZ so that it can be formalised by the Secretary of State by Autumn 2018;
The following points were raised by Committee
members during the discussion which followed: (h)
air quality recommendations can be integrated into planning
applications for new developments, such as parking levels, chimneys
and air intake positions; (i)
citizens should not only use smokeless
fuel or approved appliances to heat their homes. Enforcement action
can be carried out where this does not happen; (j)
whilst it would be ideal for all new
taxis to be electric, this would be unreasonably expensive for taxi
operators and there is low levels of manufacture of electric taxis
currently in the UK. The current aim is for taxis to switch to Euro
6 standard engines; (k)
if approved this year, the Nottingham
CAZ would come into place soon after as it is intended to reach
required targets by 2020. The Council is already working on
procedures and methods for the CAZ; (l)
Nottingham is one of the UKs exemplar cities for clean transport,
and receives high levels of funding. Infrastructure improvements
are important but there also needs to be behaviour change amongst
citizens; (m)The Council should set a good example by changing its own vehicle fleet to electric vehicles.
RESOLVED to
(1)
thank Sara for the information provided; (2) explore possible changes to Council policy for improving air quality at a future meeting. |
|
Fly-tipping in Nottingham Response to Recommendations PDF 194 KB Report of the Head of Legal and Governance Additional documents: Minutes: Councillor Brian Parbutt introduced the report updating the Committee on the response to the recommendations it made at its meeting on 6 December 2017 regarding fly-tipping in Nottingham.
RESOLVED to
(1)
approach Area Committee Chairs with a view to
considering an item on the next agenda to look at individual ward
needs/issues in regard to waste management; (2) investigate the possibility of fly-tipping hotspots being available in NOMAD to inform Councillors. |
|
Work Programme 2018/19 Development PDF 222 KB Report of the Head of Legal and Governance
Minutes: Councillor Brian Parbutt introduced the report asking Committee members to identify suggestions for reviews during 2018/19.
The Committee identified the following possible areas for review:
(a)
revisit the outcomes and impact of the previous scrutiny review
resulting in in-sourcing of bailiffs and council tax
collection; (b)
property management and the potential for a property asset
register; (c)
homebuilding targets in Nottingham in the public and private
sector; (d)
homelessness; (e)
support for young people on the edge of
crime, including knife crime and grooming for drug dealing, who are
disengaged from mainstream services. |
|
Work Programme 2017/18 PDF 108 KB Report of the Head of Legal and Governance
Minutes: RESOLVED to note the work that is currently planned for the remainder of the 2017/18 municipal year. |