Minutes:
The following additional items of business were reported.
The Chair referred to the site visit on 27 September 2022 to waste facilities at Thornley Waste Transfer Station, Biffa recycling at Hartlepool and Suez Energy from Waste facility at Haverton Hill, which was very well received and she thanked all the officers involved in the visit. Members remarked on how enlightening the visit had been which had highlighted the intricacies of the processes involved and the scale of the challenge, particularly in relation to the contamination of recycling. Presentation slides from the visit would be circulated to all Members and in order to reinforce the public messages, the Strategic Waste Management Team was compiling a library of materials for Members to use on their social media platforms.
The Vice-Chair informed the Committee of research taking place with Durham University on public perceptions of different types of grass cutting. This recognised the difficulties in gaining the true public opinion as the public are more likely to contact the council to provide negative feedback than they are to provide positive feedback. Therefore, to establish a clearer picture, survey methodology will be used to gather residents’ views and the results of the research will be brought to the Committee in due course. Welcoming the work, Members highlighted other factors to consider with regard to less frequent grass cutting such as safety issues and the possible increase of littering and dog-fouling. The Vice-Chair agreed and added that the research would be used to inform the wider area of work.