To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Coppinger and Pryer.

To receive declarations of interests from Members of the Panel in respect of any item to be considered at the meeting.

None.

To note the Part I minutes of the previous meeting.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the minutes of the meeting held on 18 September 2018 be agreed following the below amendments:

Councillor Sharp stated the Panel should demand that Council buildings be plastic free by January 2019.

Councillor Sharp said if food waste bin bags were not replaced, the scheme would not work.

Opening remarks by the Chairman on the Panel’s role.

The Chairman welcomed the Panel and members of the public and stated that solar panels were to be installed on the roof of the Braywick Leisure Centre which showed how serious the Council was about energy reduction. The Chairman added the Council was also serious about reducing plastic and she had brought her own paper cups for people to use during the meeting.

To receive the above update.

Sue Fox, Principal Commissioning Officer, stated there was a report that was due to be presented at the Highways, Transport and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Panel on the 19 November 2018 which would give Members a full update; the Principal Commissioning Officer summarised the main key points of the report below:

Ø  The Borough currently leased 13 petrol Mini’s

Ø  Cabinet had approved the replacement of the Mini’s with 10 electric or hybrid powered cars.

Ø  The current provider could only offer one type of car when the Principal Commissioning Officer was initially researching contracts but, now they could offer a service called Multi-Make which could be installed into any car, giving a wider choice of car and meant they could go out to market and get the cheapest deal.

Ø  The Principal Commissioning Officer was in the process of obtaining quotes for leases.

Ø  The Borough had trialled a Renault Zoe at the Tinkers Lane Depot which was well received.

Ø  The Borough was also trialling a Renault Kango van too.

Ø  The Council was tied in by delivery times but the Zoe was available quite quickly.

Ø  The current lease ran until January 2019 and that could be extended to a short lease if more time was required.

Ø  The Council’s HR team had been working on increasing the usage and mileage of pool cars and signing staff up to use them.

Ø  In terms of possibly setting up a car club, it was difficult for the Council to offer its own leased vehicles. However the Borough’s Joint Venture partners were looking at setting up a car club in the future and if that got up and running, the Borough could terminate its pool car contract and block book from the car club instead.

Ø  Charging points needed to be installed in the Council’s buildings such as in the North Yard and the Members Yard.

Ø  The Borough was looking to develop a charging hub at Tinkers Lane but that would need to be well managed to ensure the appropriate organisation paid for the electricity.

Ø  The Borough was also looking at installing on street/public charging points and there was a form on the Council’s website that residents could fill in and request a charging point. 22 requests for charging points had so far been received.

Ø  The Principal Commissioning Officer had visited Oxford City Council as they were trialling various types of charging points.

Ø  The Borough were progressing a site in Alma Road in Windsor and one in All Saints Avenue in Maidenhead. The sites were chosen due to there being no off street parking and the approach used was to create a neighbourhood hub to serve the whole street.

Ø  A lamp post column was replaced in Park Street, Windsor with a charging point installed in the base which would be on a pay as you go basis and one resident was already using it.

Ø  Another site being looked at was Meadow Lane in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 138.

To introduce the new Energy Reduction Manager.

James Thorpe, Energy Reduction Manager, stated he had only been in post for three weeks. He came from the energy team at the University of Reading and had worked in two local authorities before that. This was the first time he had worked in a unitary authority.

The Energy Reduction Manager said his role started with procuring energy and managing relations with suppliers. He was looking to develop and manage the energy reduction strategy which was a priority in the New Year. He was also looking to develop metering across the estate and look at opportunities to use that metering to develop projects that reduced energy consumption.

The Energy Reduction Manager’s first impressions when he started with the Borough were that LED lighting was widely installed, the motors and pumps in the Town Hall were efficient and the building fabric was good. There was a new Building Management System installed and there were big opportunities to utilise that more. He added the LED lighting was very appreciated by residents.

Investment needed to be targeted effectively; it was a dynamic estate with some buildings being demolished while others were going up or being refurbished. He did not want to install new equipment until he was certain of the future of the building. He added there was a good culture at RBWM with the facilities team switching off lights and shutting windows; it was a good culture to promote.

The Energy Reduction Manager stated his next task would be to catch up on housekeeping since the previous Energy Reduction Manager had left and he needed to learn the billing process as it was different to what he had been used to in previous roles. He added that energy contracts were due to expire in 2019 so he would be meeting with the Procurement team to progress. There was also lots of work to do around awareness and engagement and he wanted to work with the Communications Team regarding publicising Braywick Leisure Centre and other energy conserving or reduction projects the Council was working on.

The Energy Reduction Manager wanted to promote the Solar Panels on the roof of the Town Hall, Braywick Leisure Centre and soon to be York House. He was committed to energy performance and wanted to make the public aware of that. Martin Fry stated he had spoken with the new Energy Reduction Manager prior to the meeting and said he had worked in Energy Reduction and was happy to help. The Chairman said she had had a meeting with the new Energy Reduction Manager and she could tell he had taken suggestions on board and she wanted to work as a team. She welcomed James Thorpe and thanked him for introducing himself and explaining a bit about his plans for reducing energy consumption at the Council.

To receive an update on the above.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That this item be deferred to the next Panel meeting to allow the Lead Officer to present.

The dates of future meetings are as follows (7.00pm start):

·         22 January 2019

·         19 March 2019

The Panel noted the details of the future meetings as follows:

Ø  22 January 2019

Ø  19 March 2019