Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Andrew Jones (Cabinet Member for the Economy), Sharon Holder (Cabinet Member for Public Realm) and Councillor Zarar Qayyum (Cabinet Member for Enterprise and Skills).

In the absence of the Cabinet Members, Councillor Stephen Cowan, Leader of the Council attended the meeting.

If a Councillor has a disclosable pecuniary interest in a particular item, whether or not it is entered in the Authority’s register of interests, or any other significant interest which they consider should be declared in the public interest, they should declare the existence and, unless it is a sensitive interest as defined in the Member Code of Conduct, the nature of the interest at the commencement of the consideration of that item or as soon as it becomes apparent.

At meetings where members of the public are allowed to be in attendance and speak, any Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest or other significant interest may also make representations, give evidence or answer questions about the matter.  The Councillor must then withdraw immediately from the meeting before the matter is discussed and any vote taken.

Where Members of the public are not allowed to be in attendance and speak, then the Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest should withdraw from the meeting whilst the matter is under consideration. Councillors who have declared other significant interests should also withdraw from the meeting if they consider their continued participation in the matter would not be reasonable in the circumstances and may give rise to a perception of a conflict of interest.

Councillors are not obliged to withdraw from the meeting where a dispensation to that effect has been obtained from the Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting and note any outstanding actions.

The minutes of the Economy, Arts, Sports and Public Realm Policy and Accountability Committee meeting held on 22^nd April 2024 were agreed.

This report sets out the progress made in our waste and recycling services through the roll-out of food waste recycling, introduction of wheeled bins and garden waste recycling and other service developments.

Pat Cosgrave, Service Lead for Street Environmental Services gave a presentation on waste and recycling service developments. This update set out the progress made in the council’s waste and recycling services through the roll-out of food waste recycling, the introduction of wheeled bins and garden waste recycling and other service developments.

The presentation drew attention to the following:

• The context of where Hammersmith and Fulham stood for waste minimisation and recycling in comparison to other London Boroughs.
• The benefits of a wheeled bin and food collection service.
• Details of the service roll out, the community engagement work which had been conducted and flexibility of the service.
• A sample of the feedback the service had received from residents.
• Food waste – statistics of how this had increased.
• Household recycling – Noting a 5-7% increase to date, as well as future forecasts.
• Details on the garden waste recycling service, including the use of green vehicles.
• Details on the social value implications of the service and how this had benefited communities.

Councillor Adam Peter Lang commented that waste generation affected every resident and noted that 47,000 food waste bins were now being provided. He explained that while there was scope to improve the service, he had found the Waste and Recycling Team to be helpful and responsive. Referring to lived experience data, he explained that after the last waste update at committee, he had contacted the Team and had been trained by Veolia in waste management. He commented that he was impressed by the way in which Veolia thought about the health and well-being of their staff which he felt was important. He also provided details of a waste collection round in Brook Green that he attended with the team’s supervisor which had gone well.

Turning to garden waste, Councillor Adam Peter Lang asked if officers felt the new charge associated with the service had been publicised enough. In response, Mark Raisbeck, Director of Public Realm confirmed that the service was about to come online and the Council were doing a soft launch, so it would be announced initially just on the Council’s website and then promoted more heavily from September when most residents had returned from the holiday period.

Councillor Adam Peter Lang asked if the roll-out had been completed in Hammersmith and Fulham. In response, Pat Cosgrave, Service Lead for Street Environmental Services explained that the roll-out for core deliveries had been completed in terms of the kerb side residential streets that the Council wished to deliver to, and the Council would be revisiting some of the main roads again, but where it was thought there would be a lower eligibility for wheeled bins.  Pat Cosgrave also highlighted there had been plenty of opportunities for residents to swap bins to ensure they had the right capacity bin for their needs.

In relation to the food waste bins, Councillor Jackie Borland asked what percentage of the bins were being used, as she had seen many bins with new blue tape on them  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

This report outlines the ongoing efforts in civic renewal to promote increased community activities, with a specific focus on play streets and community events across the borough.

Ian Hawthorn, Assistant Director Highways gave a presentation on café culture, play streets and the street parties initiative. This focused on the ongoing efforts in civic renewal to promote increased community activities, with a specific focus on play streets and community events across the borough.

The presentation covered the following points:

• An explanation of what the initiative was and what it sought to achieve.
• The mechanics and steps required to enable street activities to take place.
• An across the Council approach with a team of enablers from many service departments working together.
• Building partner support, including contractors / consultants, Developers, Hammersmith  bid and Football Clubs based in the borough.
• Details of those projects which had been delivered, and those planned for the future.
• Details of the Fun Under the Flyover project and the types of activities this supported and delivered.

Councillor Adam Peter Lang commented that some of the street parties had taken place in the road where he lived and also in the ward where he was a councillor. He asked what was being done to engage with those harder to reach groups and whether officers were speaking to residents’ groups to ensure they were aware events could be held. Given the complexity of arranging street parties, he suggested that residents may well need assistance in getting events up and running.

In response, Ian Hawthorn confirmed that at the end of the meeting, Councillors could have his email address, and any Committee Member could email him with a proposal which he would do his best to facilitate. Moving forwards, Ian Hawthorn confirmed the Council would be developing a communications strategy, including a website to promote these concepts, provide guidance on best practice and make events easier to realise.

Ian Hawthorn confirmed the Council had to consider its messaging and how this would be achieved, either through the website, by adapting and updating its current information and pro-formas, as well as the use of word of mouth to best effect. Ian Hawthorn commented that when civic renewal through the street parties and community events was first proposed, it seemed a significant challenge. However, events such as a theatre production in Brackenbury ward would be taking place soon which illustrated what could be achieved.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Stephen Cowan, explained that the idea behind civic renewal (through events) was to activate people’s goodwill and good neighbourliness in order to create greater social cohesiveness. He provided details of a street market which took place in Hammersmith Grove shortly after the Administration gained control of the borough and explained that residents had found they were a good way of people getting to know their neighbours. He commented that in any large city, there was a high degree of transience, so the question posed was whether there was a social benefit in making people feel a sense of belonging, which he felt there was. He commented that the Council was measuring the number of street parties that were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

This report provides an update to the Committee on progress in developing a new Sport & Physical Activity Strategy following public consultation via the council’s ‘Have your Say’ platform. The report outlines the next steps towards bringing forward a new strategy and action plan to a future cycle of the Committee.

Simon Ingyon, Assistant Director, Parks, and Leisure, gave a presentation on the Sport and Physical Activity Strategy for Hammersmith and Fulham. This focused on the progress in developing the strategy following public consultation via the council’s ‘have your say’ platform. The presentation outlined the next steps towards bringing forward a new strategy and action plan to a future cycle of the committee.

The presentation drew attention to the following:

• An overview of how the strategy was developing and details of the public consultation via the ‘Have Your Say’ platform.
• A reminder of the Five Strategic Themes of the Strategy.
• Details on the consultation feedback and the accessibility responses.
• An explanation of how other feedback: Beat the Streets, Playzones and GLL Annual User Survey would augment and feed into the Sports Strategy consultation  feedback.
• Information on the co-production and community engagement initiatives.
• Details of what the next steps were.

Referring to the consultation, Councillor Jackie Borland enquired if the backbone of the strategy was going to be based on twenty-one consultation responses. She asked if the Council could re-run the consultation and why officers thought there had been such a low response rate. In response, Simon Ingyon, explained that the strategy would not be based on just the twenty-one responses, and highlighted that it would include the responses from: Beat the Streets, Playzones and the GLL Annual User Survey which provided a much-improved insight (over one thousand combined responses) into residents perceptions and thoughts on sports and physical activity in the borough. It was noted that over 13,000 residents had signed up to Beat the Streets, over 8,000 from GLL’s research and 500 responses had been received from young people. Adding further comments, Simon Ingyon, mooted it may have been the time of year that the consultation went out, the impact of the European Football Championships and perhaps there could have been more publicity. However, he confirmed that the usual consultation process had been followed, key stakeholders had been written to and the consultation had been live for between five and six weeks from the end of April to the beginning of June. With this in mind, Simon Ingyon,  confirmed that the Council did not want to delay the strategy any further as it had taken longer than anticipated to reach its current state of development.

Commenting further, Councillor Jackie Borland confirmed that it was fortunate the Council had the additional pieces of research to augment the consultation as the response had been so low. So few responses meant that any feedback in a specific area would have disproportionate weight. She acknowledged that there were some great facilities within the borough and a considerable amount of activities were taking place. In turn, this meant there were pressures on the Council’s green spaces and challenges in balancing how these resources were used (paid for as opposed to community usage).

Councillor Adam Peter Lang remarked he was pleased with the strength of the co-production within the report, as its  importance had been highlighted  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.