Minutes:
The Chair advised the Committee that there was a choice of two proposed areas of review activity. Members were reminded that all review activity needed to be complete before the elections in 2021. The proposals included the item put forward by Mr Bolton looking at Highways and also an item that would look at Durham County Councils waste and recycling.
The Overview and Scrutiny Officer (CYP) advised that a review of Highways would look specifically at unclassified roads, how repairs were made, service funding and the process for adopting roads. She added that a review of waste and recycling would look at the approach to recycling, green waste, household waste, DCC’s refuse and recycling policies, assisted bin collections, contaminated waste and complaints of missed bins.
The Overview and Scrutiny Officer advised that a scoping report on the chosen topic area would be brought to the committee meeting on 20 April with the review commencing in May/June 2020 and being completed by January 2021.
The Chair and Vice Chair considering the climate change emergency recommended choosing the refuse and recycling review but it was open to Members of the Committee to opt which one they preferred.
Mrs Holden reiterated Mr Bolton’s request to look at Highways as it was very unclear as to whether a road was adopted or unadopted as it appeared the register was not up to date. She felt that it was important that systems were up to date for clarification in case of issues with tripping accidents.
Councillor Adam requested that included within the Highways item that was scheduled to come to committee on 20 April should be information in relation to criteria of unadopted highways.
Resolved: That the committee unanimously agreed to review the Refuse and Recycling service.