WILTSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

WILTSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

Purpose of Report

1. To seek approval to proposals for a Waste Forum which will assist in informing the preparation of the Wiltshire and Swindon Waste Local Plan 2011.

Background

2. The principle of setting up a Forum to help inform the preparation of the Waste Local Plan following the public/stakeholder consultation process was acknowledged in a report to the meeting of the Environment and Transport Committee on 15^th September 1999. Subsequently, outline details of the structure of the proposed Forum and of the expected costs of running the Forum were presented to the Joint Structure Plan Working Party meeting on 18^th April 2000 (see report attached as Appendix A).

3. At this meeting the Joint Structure Plan Working Party resolved:-

(i) That the Working Party approves the proposals for the Waste Forum as outlined in paragraphs 5 and 11-16 inclusive;

(ii) That the Waste Forum is financed from within agreed budgets and that no financial commitment is made beyond the current financial year; and

(iii) The above resolutions be presented to the Environment and Transport Committee of Wiltshire County Council on the 10^thMay 2000, and the Cabinet of Swindon Borough Council.
Recommendation

4. That the Committee approves:-

The proposals for the Waste Forum as outlined in paragraphs 11-16 inclusive of Appendix A; and

The outline costings in paragraphs 17-19 of Appendix A and a budgetary ceiling of £20,000 for the Waste Local Plan Forum for the financial year 2000/2001.

RICHARD J. LANDER

Director of Environmental Services

The following unpublished documents have been relied on in the preparation of this Report:

None

Environmental Impact of the Recommendations contained in this Report:

None

APPENDIX A

Purpose of Report

1. To seek approval of proposals for a Waste Forum which will assist in informing the preparation of the Wiltshire and Swindon Waste Local Plan 2011.

Background

3. Following the recent period of public consultation, Officers have been advised by Yorkshire Planning Aid that the use of a Waste Forum may be the most appropriate mechanism for the continued consultation and involvement of interested stakeholders of the Waste Local Plan.

4. Additionally, there is now a public/stakeholder expectation that the Forums will be set in motion by the County Council following assurances that such a process would be undertaken.

The Value of a Forum

5. The Waste Local Plan Forum would add the following value to the continued development and implementation of the Waste Local Plan:-

Diffuse potential conflict on contentious issues.

Generate a sense of ownership for the problems and possible solutions.

Share information and knowledge about issues and solutions.

Share responsibility for wider communication with communities.

Strengthen partnerships capable of tackling the issues in a practical way.

Overall Aim and Purpose of the Forum

6. The Waste Local Plan Forum should be set up to achieve the following Aim:

To provide an opportunity to further involve Stakeholders of the Waste Local Plan in a process of:

Debating the issues of importance to the Waste Local Plan; and

Informing and guiding the Waste Local Plan to its First Deposit Draft.

7. Officers have been advised that the Forum could provide information to stakeholders on technologies, such as Waste to Energy, and policy development, such as the Area of Search, whilst better informing the deliberations of elected members as ultimate decision-makers. The Forum would also assist in generating wider support for the Plan whilst strengthening partnerships for future action amongst stakeholders.

Approaches of Past and Present Waste Forums

8. To assist in the determination of the format for the Waste Local Plan Forum, research was undertaken to ascertain the variety of approaches undertaken by other Local Authorities and internally by Wiltshire and Swindon.

9. This research illustrates the types of facilitator and stakeholder involvement that other Forums have adopted whilst detailing the frequency and coverage of these processes. Details are provided on the range of issues that were covered by each process surveyed and the type of remit and responsibility that was afforded to each. In particular, the level of involvement allowed/expected from Council Officers and Members is highlighted along with the approximate costs incurred in carrying out this process, where given.

10. Full details of this research can be found in Appendices 1 and 2.

The Proposed Waste Local Plan Forum

Facilitation

11. It is considered that an independent person should facilitate at least the initial meeting of the Forum in order to generate a sense of ownership and direction. The need for a facilitator for subsequent meetings to support the Forum’s development is a matter that should be discussed and finalised at this first meeting. However, Officer opinion at this stage has indicated that a facilitator would preferably be retained for the duration of the process to ensure the maintenance of this sense of ownership and direction.

Coverage

12. Initially, the option of establishing locally based Forums was considered. However, this report now advises that initially one Forum is established for all of Wiltshire and Swindon. If appropriate, sub task groups can be set up at a more local level to continue particular debate where relevant. Overall, one Forum will provide the best option for stakeholders to discuss issues and generate solutions that take into account considerations of all geographic areas, as well as providing the opportunity for more locality specific discussions to be established if necessary.

Stakeholder Involvement

13. The Forum should be made up of organisations that have a special interest in the issue of waste. The participants of the Open Days will act as an initial invitation list, although wider participation will need to be considered. In some cases the number of representatives should be considered from a particular stakeholder group, e.g. Parish Councils, as the number of overall participants will have to be balanced in order to have a manageable Forum. In this case, an appropriate selection process will need to be considered to ensure a representative coverage is achieved. An outline example of this could be an invitation to the Wiltshire Association of Local Councils for representatives or to a similar co-opting body.

14. In particular, it is considered that the Forum should allow for the active involvement of Council Members and Officers on an equal footing as other members of the Forum to allow for the complete representation of viewpoints from the stakeholders of the Waste Local Plan. This should include County and Borough Members of relevant Committees, eg the Joint Working Party, and District Members with an interest in the waste planning process. This view is given particular weight by the survey results in Appendix 1 which indicate that active Officer and Member involvement in the Forum process is considered intrinsic to the membership of the Forum.

Operation and Structure

15. The Forum's participants should be given the opportunity of developing how the Forum should operate so that ownership is established from the beginning. It is therefore advised that an initial meeting is required to take place by the end of May 2000 to begin the process of bringing together interested participants to agree:

The overall purpose.

Terms and reference.

Operating structure.

16. The initial outline of this operating structure is shown diagrammatically in Appendix 3, and whilst only outline this is likely to be indicative of the means of relating the Forum to the formal Committee structure informing the preparation of the Waste Local Plan.

Cost of the Waste Local Plan Forum

17. The establishment and undertaking of the Waste Local Plan Forum has the potential to become a costly exercise, a factor that is to some extent dictated by the level of Member and Officer involvement in the process. The costs that can be considered as additional to any existing budget are as follows:-

The cost of hiring an independent Forum facilitator.

The costs of hiring or reserving a suitable debating chamber for each meeting of the Forum.

The costs of additional mailshots to identified stakeholders to be invited to participate in the process, e.g. invites, updates, agendas, minutes of proceedings, responses to specific queries.

18. In addition, there may be a need for the discussion of some issues at a sub group level (see paragraph 12), which would in itself generate a similar range of costs as set out above in paragraph 17. With regards to the proposed Forum structure the ‘cost of the Waste Local Plan Forum’ is estimated to be £18,500.

19. This is based upon past experiences of establishing and undertaking the earlier public consultation process for the Waste Local Plan and the estimation that five meetings of the Forum will be required to serve its intended purpose. This £18,500 breaks down as follows:

£15,000 for the retention of the services of an independent facilitator, including the costs of producing a final, independent report of the process.

£1,000 for the costs of hiring/reserving suitable debating facilities.

£2,500 for the costs of canvassing, advertising and ‘mailshots’.

Conclusion

20. It can be seen that with the recent background of the Issues and Options document there is a need for a Waste Local Plan Forum to be set up to discuss those issues of chief concern and/or controversy. In particular, good practice examples from other local authorities involved with producing waste strategies and Local Plans, and from local experience in Wiltshire and Swindon, indicate that the most beneficial option at this stage of the Waste Local Plan production is to continue the culture of debate that has been started by the recent public consultation process.

Recommendation

21. That:-

(i) The Joint Structure Plan Working Party approves the proposals for the Waste Forum as outlined in paragraphs 5 and 11-16 inclusive; and

(ii) The resolution of the Joint Structure Plan Working Party is presented to the Environment and Transport Committee of Wiltshire County Council on 10^th May 2000, and the Cabinet of Swindon Borough Council.

RICHARD J. LANDER PETER ELLERSHAW

Director of Environmental Services Director of Environmental Services

Wiltshire County Council Swindon Borough Council

EXPERIENCE OF OTHER LOCAL AUTHORITIES

Query	Local Authority
Query	Dorset CC	Hampshire CC	Hertfordshire CC	Berkshire CC	East Sussex CC
Type of Facilitator	Rep. of Dorset Assoc. of Parish + Town Councils.	Independent company.	Independent moderator.	Advisory Consultant - BABTIE.	Advisory Consultant – BABTIE.
Stakeholder	CC/DC/BC Officers and Members; Commerce + Industry; Local Interest / Amenities Groups; Environmental Groups; Local Trusts; Residents associations.	CC/DC/BC Officers and Members; EA and other regulators; industry reps (waste and minerals); Environmental Groups; Resident groups.	Jury made up of 16 members of the public. Representative in relation to gender, age, economic activity, ethnicity and geographical location.	CC/DC/PC Officers and Members; Industry (waste) reps; Environmental Groups; Local interest groups; Industry regulators.	1: Waste Awareness Campaign and focus groups aimed at stakeholders and public; 2: Joint Area Committee of CC/BC/DC members and Officers; 3: CC/DC Members Seminars.
Frequency and Coverage	Monthly/6 weekly, progressing to quarterly. Incorporated all Districts and Boroughs at central, County Council venue.	3 years of regular, intensive meetings. 3 forums set up as split over 3 geographical areas of the county.	A ‘one off exercise spanning four days followed by a two month reporting period.	3 seminars, 4 ‘provocative’ workshops, second stage series of meetings, 'Mori' style polling.	Public involvement: 9 months (10 focus groups); Public consultation: 2 months; County and Borough wide processes.
Remit and Issues	Waste: disposal; statistics; minimisation and management; pollutants; voidspace; outside practice; WTE; the forum process.	Wide-ranging re: Hants. Household waste management contract. Basis was to set solutions for final agreement.	To consider "How, and to what extent can the county achieve the aim of becoming self sufficient in the provision of waste management facilities?"	Process sought to achieve the ‘allocation of the right sites, in the right place at the right time’. Avoided highlighting site specific at this stage.	Allocation of sites; provision of waste management services required; develop WLP strategy through which these can be accommodated.
Members Involvement	Active participation.	Observation only basis.	No direct involvement.	Very active in all stages.	Irregular involvement at pre-deposit stage.
Officers Involvement	Direct involvement in all aspects of process.	No direct input – advisory role only.	Not directly involved - report consideration only.	Active involvement alongside BABTIE.	Direct involvement at all stages of all processes.
Comments	Covered all issues as necessary; helped to build a consensus. Questions raised re: decision making powers and the constitution of the forum.	Generated ‘a way forward’; gave public credence to decision making process. Need greater officer involvement on equal basis; 3 area based forums led to possible delay and repetition.	Well received Jury recommendations; good process evaluation; good jury feedback. Broadness of issue versustime available; feeling of bias in evidence, costs were high.	Considered as a successful tool for informing the WLP strategy. No problems indicated.	Process considered to have reached audience well, highlighted issues most pertinent to the process. Time constraints led to compromise of objectives.
Costs	Part of overall waste management budget.	Not disclosed.	Approximately £16,000.	Not disclosed.	Approximately £45,000.

EXPERIENCE OF WCC/SBC FORUMS

Query	FORUM
Query	Wiltshire Waste Management Forum	(Wiltshire) Waste Recycling Officers Forum
Type of Facilitator	Local Councillor acting as chair – elected by members of the forum, elected yearly.	Meetings chaired by officers on a rotating basis – as meeting moves from District to Borough to County to District etc, chair rotates accordingly.
Stakeholder	CC/DC/BC Officers and Members; Waste Industry; Waste Regulator; Industry; Academia; Environmental Groups.	CC/DC/BC recycling/waste disposal officers only.
Frequency and Coverage	Quarterly, held at central location (at Kennet DC – Devizes), during working hours.	Approximately every 8 weeks, all around the County (rotating chair), carried out during working hours
Remit and Issues	Operation of the forum; waste management practices; best available technologies.	Local District recycling, contracts; Government strategies; LAWRAC initiatives; recycling plans; markets.
Members Involvement	Active participation	Officers group only.
Officers Involvement	Active participation	Active participation and running of meetings.
Comments	Forum process gives good basis for discussing the issues of managing waste in Wiltshire and Swindon, and has wide stakeholder coverage but has lost attendance of West Wiltshire due to a feeling of talking shop and not creating action or results.	Forum is very informal and very enclosed to highlighted stakeholders only. Considered to be very successful in terms of keeping district, borough and county officers involved with recycling in touch with each other and their ongoing initiatives.
Costs	Not disclosed, considered to be low making use of officer time, basic level amenities and contributed time from other invited stakeholders.	Officer time, basic amenities.