Policy and Regulatory Committee
Report of a meeting held in the Council Chambers, 2nd Floor, 30 Laings Road,
Lower Hutt on
Monday 4 March 2019 commencing at 5.30pm
PRESENT: Cr MJ Cousins (Chair) Cr C Barry
Deputy Mayor D Bassett Cr L Bridson
Cr J Briggs Cr S Edwards (Deputy Chair)
Cr T Lewis Cr M Lulich
Cr C Milne (from 5.36pm) Cr L Sutton
APOLOGIES: Mayor WR Wallace
IN ATTENDANCE: Mr T Stallinger, Chief Executive
Mr B Kibblewhite, General Manager, Corporate Services
Ms K Kelly, General Manager, City Transformation
Mr M Reid, General Manager, City and Community Services
Mr J Scherzer, Sustainability and Resilience Manager
Mr G George, Manager, Trade Waste
Mr J Hoyle , Communications and Marketing Advisor
Ms J Randall, Committee Advisor
PUBLIC BUSINESS
1. APOLOGIES
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Resolved: (Cr Cousins/Cr Sutton) Minute No. PRC 19101 “That the apology received from Mayor Wallace be accepted and leave of absence be granted.” |
2. PUBLIC COMMENT
Comments are recorded under the item to which they relate.
3. CONFLICT OF INTEREST DECLARATIONS
There were no conflict of interest declarations.
4. Recommendation to Council - 26 March 2019
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Revised Training Budget for Community Boards (19/208) In response to questions from members, the Chief Executive advised proposed revisions to the Training Budget Policy were to address a specific point raised rather than as part of a full review of the policy. Members agreed the proposed amendments made sense. They noted there were no financial implications. They considered the amendments allowed Boards to manage their budgets in a way that worked best for them and their communities. |
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RECOMMENDED: (Cr Briggs/Cr Edwards) Minute No. PRC 19102 “That the Committee recommends that Council: (i) notes and receives the revised Training Policy for Community Boards attached as Appendix 1 to the report; and (ii) adopts the revised Training Policy for Community Boards attached as Appendix 1 to the report.” |
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5. |
Update on Strategic Waste Reviews and the Review of the Refuse Collection and Disposal Bylaw 2008 (19/152) Report No. PRC2019/1/11 by the Sustainability and Resilience Manager |
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Speaking under public comment, Ms S Nem, the Chair of Youth Council, expressed concern with waste issues and their impact on young people. She noted it was important to reduce waste, particularly the large amount of construction and demolition waste. She asked for more initiatives to encourage the recovery of this waste. She agreed there were a lack of incentives to encourage waste management and she recognised that investigating possible initiatives was key. She added this would provide an opportunity for innovative ideas and potentially jobs for young people. She suggested the Innovative Young Minds programme could be used for this purpose. She noted many young people attended the programme and would welcome a project to work on. Ms Nem considered the report raised important issues. She advised Youth Council would be investigating the impact of waste on young people and ways to reduce it. She said Youth Council would like to create a more sustainable environment for Lower Hutt. In response to questions from a member, Ms Nem advised Youth Council had no specific initiatives planned yet, but intended discussing ideas and recommending solutions on behalf of the young people of Lower Hutt. Ms Nem was thanked for her presentation and for the work of Youth Council for Lower Hutt. The Sustainability and Resilience Manager elaborated on the report. In response to questions from members, the Sustainability and Resilience Manager advised there were examples of ways to recycle constuction and demolition waste within New Zealand but he noted that in Wellington there was nothing to incentivise industry to do this. He noted in the Wellington region there were a number of quarries with easy access to industry and waste levies were low. He suggested a higher regional waste levy would send the right signals and create the necessary incentives to a wider market. He added the creation of a bylaw that was consistent across local Councils would require industry to create plans and would send a joint message to industry. He considered there was an opportunity for Council to take a leadership role in procurement by ensuring Council contractors planned for recovery of waste. In response to questions from members, the Sustainability and Resilience Manager considered developing a waste recovery centre would not be useful without incentives. He welcomed involvement from representatives of Youth Council at an upcoming workshop on the review and also at the consultation stage of the review. He advised the main issues with construction and demolition material were the embedded carbon it contained and the landfill and cleanfill space it occupied. He added there was increasing social pressure to take action on the issue. He said Council did not hold data on the volume of wastestreams at cleanfills. He confirmed materials needed to be separated early in the process for waste recovery to be effective. In response to questions from members, the Sustainability and Resilience Manager said the process of working through issues and consultation would continue throughout the year. He expected a proposed bylaw, ideally in conjunction with other Councils, to be ready by early 2020. He acknowledged Councils would experience different challenges in implementing a bylaw. He noted that finding the best way to give effect to a regional procurement policy would be a challenge for Councils. He advised this would be discussed further at an upcoming Councillor workshop. The Sustainability and Resilience Manager was thanked for his detailed work on the issue. The Chair noted a more detailed workshop held in conjunction with other local Councils would take place on 14 March 2019. |
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Resolved: (Cr Bridson/Cr Briggs) Minute No. PRC 19103 “That the Committee: (i) notes
the progress on three strategic projects to review our waste management
system; (ii) notes
Tonkin & Taylor Ltd’s report regarding construction and demolition
waste, and the options available to councils in the Wellington region to
address them; (iii) notes
the information on waste management and minimisation issues that have been
identified so far for Lower Hutt, with an opportunity to discuss these in
more detail at a workshop on 14 March 2019; (iv) notes that officers are continuing to work with the other Councils in the Wellington region to support the Waste Management and Minimisation Plan’s (WMMP) action to “investigate and if feasible, develop
… a regional bylaw or a suite of regionally consistent bylaws; (v) notes
that draft bylaw provisions could be made available for Council consideration
by the middle of 2019; and (vi) formally invites the Youth Council to a workshop on the issue on 14 March 2019.” |
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6. |
General Manager's Report (19/63) Report No. PRC2019/1/12 by the General Manager City Transformation |
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Cr Lewis advised the Whaitua Committee had held their first meeting on Matiu/Somes Island recently. She said the group would be working on a report and expected it to be completed in two years’ time. She noted members of the Whaitua Committee were in contact with their communities and would be taking that community knowledge with them to meetings. The General Manager, City Transformation elaborated on the report. She advised local earthquake prone buildings with expired notices were currently being inspected by officers. She said officers would assess the condition and circumstances of each building and take actions that could range from infringement notices to prosecution. She added that Councillors would be advised if any prosecutions ensued. In response to questions from members, the General Manager, City Transformation said said she did not have detail on whether all the buildings were occupied or unoccupied. She highlighted it was a factor officers would take into account before deciding on actions. She said officers might issue notices but full assessments needed to be completed first. In response to a question from a member, the General Manager, City Transformation said it was possible the contract with Lime Scooters might be renegotiated when the current one had expired. In response to questions from members, the Manager, Trade Waste said it was not feasible or sustainable to install litter traps in all areas of Lower Hutt. He considered the traps would provide better value if strategically placed in areas where there was less leaf litter and more waste litter. He noted the Litter Act was onerous to enforce and warnings needed to be given before infringements could be issued. The General Manager, City Transformation agreed to find out how many infringements had been issued for litter and cigarette butts. In response to questions from members, the Sustainability and Resilience Manager emphasised the trial of litter traps discussed in the report was based on only six weeks of data. He advised officers intended extending the trial into industrial and residential areas to determine where priority areas were, the amount of litter and which outlets would be the most effective for trial of litter traps. He added officers would develop a business case for the project. He said without the litter taps most of the litter would have flushed into the harbour. He agreed an effective campaign to change behaviour would be needed once the project was completed. |
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Resolved: (Cr Cousins/Cr Sutton) Minute No. PRC 19104 “That the Committee notes the contents of this report.” |
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7. Information Item
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Policy and Regulatory Committee Work Programme (19/64) Report No. PRC2019/1/21 by the Committee Advisor |
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Resolved: (Cr Cousins/Deputy Mayor Bassett) Minute No. PRC 19105 “That the programme be noted and received.” |
8. QUESTIONS
There were no questions.
There being no further business the Chair declared the meeting closed at 6.27pm.
Cr MJ Cousins
CHAIR
CONFIRMED as a true and correct record
Dated this 26th day of March 2019