To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Simon Werner.

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

None received.

The Chairman informed everyone present that the meeting was being recorded and that the audio would be made available on the RBWM website.

To note the Part I minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on Monday 16 May 2016.

The Part I minutes of the meeting held on Monday 16 May 2016 were agreed as a correct record.

The Head of Governance, Partnerships, Performance & Policy, David Scott, informed the Panel that the LED Streetlighting timetable had changed and that it was likely that it would go before Cabinet in July instead of June as previously scheduled. 

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

Nothing raised.

The Chairman thanked the former Chairman, Councillor Sharp, for all his hard work and stated that she looked forward to working with him on the Panel.  The Chairman also thanked the Vice-Chair for continuing in his role. 

The Chairman asked the Panel to go away after the meeting and think about what sustainability meant to them and for some future item suggestions.

By Mark Camp-Overy (Legacy Leisure).

The Chairman welcomed Mark Camp-Overy (on behalf of Legacy Leisure), Nicky Rockmoor (Windsor Leisure Centre) and Paul Mangle (Parkwood Leisure) to the meeting and invited Mark to address the Panel.  Members were given a brief presentation on “What is Legacy Leisure currently doing to reduce energy consumption in the leisure centres and what are the future plans and targets?”.  

The presentation covered the following:

·         Target is for the Royal Borough’s leisure centres to achieve ISO:14001

·         January 2015 – June 2016 (systems and processes & operations)

·         Responsibility for ISO 14001

·         Consumption Data 2015 to 2016

·         July 2016 – December 2016 (systems and processes & operations)

·         Targets

In the ensuing discussion the following points were noted:

Ø  That internal audits took place in leisure centres every six months. 

Ø  That there were nominated champions in leisure centres who did monthly audits to ensure staff were hitting targets (e.g. turning lights off, etc).

Ø  The target with regard to the ISO:14001 accreditation was a 5% reduction on annual utility consumption.

Ø  That liquid pool covers were one of the options that could be used as part of the pool management programme.  It was believed that whilst permission would not be necessary to proceed with such an option Legacy Leisure would usually discuss options first with their clients.   

Ø  That a lot of lighting had been replaced in leisure centres under the RE:FIT contract and that those savings should still be taking place.

Ø  The combined heating power plant at the Magnet had reduced to 120 kilowatts (two units) that each took 5 kilowatts to run.  It was noted that the output would need to be clarified after the meeting as to what was being sold back. 

Ø  The Furze Platt Leisure Centre was on a similar system to Cox Green and Charters (on a formulae based on the size of the building).  It was noted that the all weather pitch at Furze Platt was metered separately. 

Ø  It was noted that Charters had recently installed smart meters.

The Chairman thanked Mark Camp-Overy, Nicky Rockmoor and Paul Mangle for attending the meeting and presenting to the Panel.

By Adam Parvez (Ichoosr).

The Chairman welcomed Adam Parvez from Ichoosr to the meeting and invited him to address the Panel.  Members were given a brief presentation on ‘Collective Switching’ which covered the following:

·         Who are we?

·         What do we do?

·         Who do we work with?

·         Why do we do it?

·         Why don’t people switch?

·         Collective switching in the UK

·         The iChoosr Model

·         Registration – Online

·         Registration – Offline

·         Feb 2016 Auction

In the ensuing discussion the following points were noted:

Ø  That it would be a Borough wide advertisement and that it would be down to the Communications Team to decide how best to advertise the scheme.

Ø  That registrations could be accepted via an online or an offline route.  Once the resident had accepted the offer provided by the winning supplier a welcome pack from the new supplier was issued. There was a fourteen day cooling off period following the offer acceptance. 

Ø  That iChoosr made their money through a small referral fee from each person that switched and that they would share this fee with the Council

Ø  That contracts ran for a minimum of twelve months.  It was noted that the pre-payment tariff did not tend to be fixed rate. 

Ø  That three auctions were held a year and that between 60-70% of those attending actions had not switched in three years. 

Ø  That DECC stood for Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Ø  That it was possible to track on the portal how many registrations had taken place.

Ø  That the demographics of the Borough were last looked at in 2013 which had seen that those that had registered tended to be between 40-60 years of age and tended to be middle band workers. 

Ø  The success of the scheme was felt to depend on how and where the scheme was advertised / promoted. 

The Chairman thanked Adam Parvez for his informative presentation.

By the Senior Streetcare Officer (Tony Robinson), RBWM.

The Senior Streetcare Officer, Tony Robinson, informed the Panel that Veolia, the current contractor, emptied approximately 550 bins in the Royal Borough which equated to approximately 0.5million collections per annum.  It was noted that the current contract totalled £75,000 excluding petrol and staff costs.  The Panel was informed that in total the current Veolia street cleansing contract was worth £1.7million. 

The Senior Streetcare Officer went onto explain that the Panel had three options available to them which were:

·         To remain with the current service.

·         To introduce Big Belly bins.

·         To introduce sensor system bins.

The Panel was informed that the Big Belly bins cost approximately £800 per bin so were considered to be very expensive.  It was noted that the were 130+ bins that were emptied multiple times per day in the Royal Borough and that due to the costs involved the Senior Streetcare Officer did not believe this to be a viable option. 

The Panel noted that an alternative could be sensor system bins which would inform the Council via some sensor software when bins were full.  The Senior Streetcare Officer informed the Panel that a three month trial of the sensor system bins and the sensor software would cost approximately £1200.  It was explained that only after the trial had taken place would it be known whether the bins were viable.  It was noted that sensor system bins would not be used for dog waste and might not work in open top bins. 

The Chairman stated that as the cost factors did not sound like the Big Belly bins would be viable she believed the sensor system bins were probably worth a trial. 

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY That a more complete business case (to include another supplier) be brought back before the Panel in October in a report format for approval.  It was requested that the business case showed the benefits available, numbers and who could offer a trail.   

By the Energy Reduction Manager (Michael Potter), RBWM.

The Energy Reduction Manager, Michael Potter, referred Members to pages 13-24 of the agenda and explained that the report provided an update and gave the Panel an overview of the progress being made to deliver the Panel’s energy reduction strategy. 

The key areas covered were noted as follows:

·         LED lighting project – phase 2

·         Energy Switching Campaign

·         MITIE Energy Performance Contract

·         Town Hall Building Management System (BMS) replacement

·         Schools Sustainability Education

·         Water Reduction Works

·         Work planned over the next period until the next Sustainability Panel

It was noted that the Council was currently working towards a four year Sustainability Strategy running from April 2014 to March 2018 and that the strategy focused on six work streams including: Sustainability, Energy, Water, Waste, Transport and Renewable Generation.  Members were informed that the strategy had three key targets over the four year period which were:

1.    Reduce energy in the Council building estate by 15% in 2017/18 compared to a 2013/2014 baseline.

2.    Reduce water usage in the Council’s corporate office buildings by 3% in 2017/18 compared to a 2013/2014 baseline.

3.    Recycling rates increased to 55% in 2017/18.

Each year an action plan is drawn up to enable the Council to meet these targets as well as other goals presented in the strategy documents. This update provides a progress report for the energy work stream.

In the ensuing discussion, the following points were noted:  

Ø  Members were referred to para 17.7 and were informed that the next step was to agree the scheme name.  It was agreed that the scheme name should be either ‘RBWM Switch to Save’ or ‘RBWM Energy Switch to Save’ and that the Panel were happy for the Communications and Marketing Manager, Louisa Dean, to make the final decision between the two preferred scheme names.

Ø  That the Panel would be informed via email before the October meeting of the full proposal which might include alterations at Stafferton Way Car Park as well as the potential Town Hall Building Management System (BMS) upgrade.

Ø  That it was being considered whether the Council could host a schools sustainability event in the future.  It was noted that further investigations were required before any commitment to the event could be made. Councillor Sharp requested that a schools energy saving competition was set up for the autumn term. It was suggested that the Energy Reduction Manager spoke to the Head of Schools and Educational Services, Kevin McDaniel, regarding the schools element and the Community & Business Partnerships Manager, Harjit Hunjan, regarding the incentives element.  It was agreed that a proposal would be brought before the Panel at the October meeting. 

Ø  The Panel was referred to Appendix 1 on pages 23 & 24 of the agenda which was a list of corporate sites that indicated previous lighting works and possible future lighting works. 

Ø  It was requested that the schools energy saving competition be added to the work planned over the next period in paragraph 17.24.

Ø  Councillor Sharp suggested asking the Maidenhead  ...  view the full minutes text for item 41.

The dates of future meetings are as follows:

•           Monday 3 October 2016

•           Tuesday 29 November 2016

•           Thursday 19 January 2017

•           Monday 6 March 2017

•           Tuesday 9 May 2017

Future meeting dates were noted to be as follows:

·         Monday 3 October 2016

·         Tuesday 29 November 2016

·         Thursday 19 January 2017

·         Monday 6 March 2017

·         Tuesday 9 May 2017

The Chairman suggested that the meeting start time be brought forward to 19:00 from the next meeting in October to see if it was agreeable with the Panel going forward. 

A.O.B.

The Energy Reduction Manager informed everyone present that the homeowners advice service was no longer up and running as the post had been deleted and would not be re-instated. 

Councillor Sharp reminded the Panel that at the last meeting, which the Waste Strategy Manager had attended, it had been requested that an update on the food waste scheme be provided for each meeting.  It was requested that the Energy Reduction Manager make contact with the Waste Strategy Manager and ask that the figures be provided so that they could be emailed to the Panel and also that the Waste Strategy Manager attends the next Sustainability Panel.