This meeting was scheduled to consider two reports: a review of the borough’s parks and green spaces, and an evaluation of the Recycling, Waste and Street Cleansing Strategy. It was also scheduled to set the date of the next meeting.

Parks and Green Spaces

This report was scheduled to assess the effectiveness and outcomes of the council’s parks and green spaces strategies. It starts by describing Newham’s Green and Water Infrastructure Strategy 2024 (GWIS), which has been co-produced by the council’s parks and planning policy teams.

The strategy was informed by desktop studies and assessments, internal stakeholder interviews, community engagement workshops, and an online survey. The report states that this work also informed the green and water space policies in Newham’s emerging Local Plan, which sets out a framework for the borough's growth over the next 15 years. The report goes on to describe the key challenges identified by the GWIS as:

1. Under-provision: Compared to other inner London Boroughs, Newham is relatively under-provided with green and water infrastructure.
2. Increasing population: This under-provision will be further challenged by a significant increase in the Borough’s population over the Strategy timeline, especially in the Borough’s five ‘growth Wards’.
3. Uneven distribution and poor connectivity: The Borough’s green and water infrastructure assets are not evenly distributed relative to the population of the Borough and are relatively poorly connected.
4. Quality: The condition of Newham green and water infrastructure assets needs to be sufficient to meet anticipated future demand for access to nature from an increasing population.

The report goes on to describe the GWIS’s three key priorities for the future provision and management of green and water space: improving health and well-being, meeting the challenge of the climate emergency, and improving ecology and biodiversity. The report then lists the strategy’s 11 key principles, which set out how Newham will focus its resources to address these challenges, and summarises the actions that will be taken to achieve them. These actions are organised under the themes “Rooting the Strategy”, “Growing and Propagating” and “Branching Out”.

The report then provides a summary of the Beckton Parks Masterplan, which was adopted in January 2024 following a co-design process with more than 1,500 local residents. The report states that the masterplan commits Newham to delivering a “gold standard network of green space that will benefit everyone living and working in Beckton and Custom House wards and in Newham as a whole”.

The masterplan provides a framework for delivering a series of schemes and improvements over time, safeguarding the parks against the community priorities identified during the co-design process. The report states that since the adoption of the masterplan, Newham has begun implementing a number of projects using Section 106 funds¹ and external funding. These include the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Pathway, Beckton Meadows, and the Will Thorne Pavilion and Sports and Leisure Hub. The report goes on to describe these projects and their progress.

The report then describes the work undertaken to create a new Playing Pitch Strategy (PPS) for Newham, to replace the one adopted in 2017. The new strategy is being prepared in collaboration with the council’s parks, leisure, and planning teams. The report explains that:

The strategy assesses the Boroughs playing pitch provision distributed across Parks, Leisure Centres, Schools and privately owned sites. It was produced following detailed engagement with National Governing Bodies, Sport England, Schools and local sports clubs.

The report then lists the three key aims of the strategy. It states that these are based on Sport England guidance.

The report next provides an update on plans to improve play spaces and urban sports facilities across the borough, outlining the funding that has been secured for these improvements and the projects that are being delivered. It states that £1 million in capital funding has been secured for play improvements and describes the schemes that will be delivered in 2024/25 and 2025/26. The report also highlights the work that has been done in partnership with Newham’s leisure department to provide activity equipment in parks.

The report goes on to summarise how the framework of strategies aligns with Newham’s corporate plan, delivery plan, and other relevant strategies. It lists the key actions being taken under the corporate plan and the Just Transition Plan towards 2030, and explains how these align with the aims and ambitions of the GWIS. The report then describes how the parks and green spaces strategies align with “50 Steps to a Healthier Newham”, the borough’s health and well-being strategy for 2024-2027.

The report next provides an overview of the governance structure supporting the strategies’ delivery, including coordination across Council Directorates and external partners. It describes the governance arrangements for both the Beckton Parks Masterplan and the GWIS, and outlines the roles and responsibilities of those involved in the implementation of each strategy. The report states that both frameworks are still in their early stages of implementation and that they will be subject to formal evaluation in 2025. It provides a brief overview of some of the achievements to date.

The report then summarises how stakeholders, including local residents and community groups, have been engaged in the development and implementation of the framework of parks and green spaces strategies. It provides two case studies that demonstrate how the council has used community engagement to improve its parks and green spaces, describing the process and outcomes of each. The report also lists the key communication channels used to raise awareness of the strategies.

The report then outlines the key challenges affecting the implementation of parks and green spaces strategies. It states that the GWIS action plan recommends obtaining funding to create two key operational plans: a Local Nature Recovery Plan, and an Urban Forest Plan, and that suitable funding sources are yet to be identified.

The report then describes the challenges affecting the implementation of the Beckton Parks Masterplan, stating that the £70 million delivery framework is currently unfunded, and explaining how the council has sought to obtain external funding to deliver the masterplan’s projects.

The report goes on to describe the council’s approach to maintaining its parks and green spaces. It explains how the service operates and the operational challenges it faces. It then lists the key performance indicators used to measure the strategies’ effectiveness and how these align with the council's corporate plan.

The final section of the report benchmarks Newham’s Parks and Green Spaces Strategies against national performance measures and the practices of other local authorities, highlighting strengths, potential areas for improvement, and opportunities for strategic development based on best practice insights. It describes how Newham has adopted the Green Flag Award as a measure of quality for its parks and how this has helped to improve the quality of the borough’s green spaces. The report concludes by describing the financial risks affecting the delivery of the strategies, outlining the budget allocated to parks and green spaces, the potential impacts of council budget cuts, and the external funding sources and partnerships being explored.

Newham’s Recycling, Waste and Street Cleansing Strategy

This report was scheduled to evaluate the impact of Newham’s Recycling, Waste and Street Cleansing Strategy, and to assess progress on the re-procurement of waste treatment and disposal services by the East London Waste Authority.

The report begins by summarising the strategy, stating that it was adopted by Newham’s cabinet in February 2024, and was co-designed with local residents. It describes the changes that have been implemented since the adoption of the strategy, including the introduction of weekly recycling collections and a new waste collection system. It goes on to summarise the communications plan that was used to inform residents of the changes to waste collection, and the challenges the council faces in delivering the strategy.

The report then explains how amendments to the Environmental Act are being incorporated into the strategy, outlining the implications of the act’s “Simpler Recycling” measures and how these will affect waste and recycling services in Newham. It summarises the Deposit Return Scheme and describes the implications of this scheme for Newham. The report goes on to describe the impact of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme and the Emissions Trading Scheme on the borough’s waste services.

The report next summarises how the strategy and its delivery framework integrate with Newham’s corporate plan, delivery plan, and other relevant strategies. It lists the actions Newham is taking under each of the key strategic frameworks and how these align with the waste and street cleansing strategy. The report then outlines the governance structure that is overseeing the delivery of the strategy, describing the role of the Public Realm Project Tracker and the responsibilities of those involved in its implementation.

The report goes on to describe the process of procuring new waste treatment and disposal services with the East London Waste Authority, outlining the steps that have been taken and the proposed commissioning route for the new contract, as well as the challenges faced by the authority and the four constituent boroughs. It also outlines the implications of the re-procurement process on the waste and recycling strategy.

The report then provides a summary of the food waste collection trial that has been planned with Eunomia, an independent sustainability consultancy. It describes the objectives and methodology of the trial, and explains why it is considered necessary. The report then describes the process of identifying rounds for the trial and describes the five days of rounds that have been chosen for the trial.

The report next identifies the key performance indicators (KPIs) used to measure the performance of Newham’s street cleansing service and summarises complaints data related to street cleansing and fly-tipping, including trends over time and the actions taken in response. It describes the new street cleansing service that was implemented in August 2023 and the “Tidy Teams” that were created in August 2023 to supplement the work of existing teams. The report states that the creation of the Tidy Teams was a response to the council’s manifesto pledge to cut reported fly-tipping by 50%.

The report then summarises the KPIs related to the Recycling, Waste and Street Cleansing Strategy, outlining how services are performing against these KPIs, and identifying any achievements, gaps, or areas for improvement. It describes how the council has met its targets for fly-tipping and recycling, and how these align with the ambitions of the Corporate plan. It concludes by describing Newham’s performance in relation to national measures and those of other local authorities, and highlights the opportunities for adopting recognised best practice.

The report then provides an overview of the approaches Newham uses to engage residents and gather feedback on its recycling, waste, and street cleansing services. It describes the process of co-designing the waste strategy, and how the council used the feedback it received to inform the communications plan used to inform residents about changes to waste collection services. It also highlights the importance of resident feedback in the creation of the new Enviro-Crime team.

The report concludes by describing the budget allocated to the Recycling, Waste and Street Cleansing Strategy, highlighting any financial risks, including the potential impact of council budget cuts. It provides an overview of the external funding sources and partnerships that are currently supporting the strategy.