The agenda for the meeting contained three main reports: the draft North London Joint Waste Strategy, a report exploring a mission-led approach to climate action in the borough, and a forward planning report.

North London Joint Waste Strategy

The North London Waste Authority (NLWA) was scheduled to present their draft Joint Waste Strategy (JWS) to the Climate Scrutiny Committee for pre-decision scrutiny. The strategy is a joint strategy between seven north London boroughs and the NLWA and will run from 2025 to 2040.

The key vision for the strategy is:

To manage north Londoners’ waste according to the waste hierarchy, prioritising waste reduction then maximising reuse, repair, recycling (and the most climate-friendly means of disposal possible) where reduction is not feasible. This includes providing environmentally-friendly, best-value, resident-focused services and policies that meet the challenges of the Climate Emergency.

The draft strategy includes a series of proposed targets:

• 50% of household waste to be reused, recycled or composted
• Zero landfill for the waste collected by local authorities in north London
• Double the percentage of material reused at RRCs
• 100% of recycling to be processed within the UK
• Reduce avoidable food waste by 50%
• Reduce recyclable material in residual waste by 50%

The draft strategy contained extensive analysis of the north London area and its population, future waste arisings, the policy and legislative context, and feedback from residents collected through a listening exercise which took place during 2023. It set out proposals for the authorities to take action across three key priority areas:

1. Supporting the reduction in waste by promoting prevention, repair and reuse
2. Improving and maximising recycling
3. Reducing the environmental impact of disposal, where there is no option to prevent or reuse waste.

The draft strategy also contained a section on social value and highlighted activities to deliver wider benefits for the community, for example through the North London Community Fund. It also included a commitment to pay staff the London Living Wage.

The public consultation for the draft strategy was due to run until 19 January 2025 and feedback received as part of this process would be used to inform the final version of the document.

Mission-led approach for climate action

A report on applying a mission-led approach to climate action was also scheduled to be presented to the committee.

The report set out how the principles of Mission Waltham Forest, which was adopted as the Council’s Corporate Plan in February 2024, could be applied to deliver greater climate action. The report focused on two key principles of Mission Waltham Forest:

1. Innovation
2. Participation

It also recognised the need for an increased emphasis on partnership working and shared leadership, to ensure that climate action was progressed within the council.

The report highlighted the need to embed an understanding of climate justice into policy and engagement and included the Climate Engagement Guide as an example of a tool that could be used to ensure an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) friendly approach to climate action. The report also included a stakeholder map to illustrate how council officers could effectively engage with stakeholders.

It set out several key climate priorities for the borough, including:

• Enabling home energy efficiency improvements (retrofitting)
• Facilitating environmentally conscious investment in The Upper Lea Valley

The report also recommended convening external stakeholders to develop a climate-focused mission timeline for the borough to establish and re-affirm shared visions across key organisations and identify opportunities to collaborate.

The Scrutiny Report

The committee was also scheduled to review the forward plan for their ongoing work programme and consider new items to be added to the plan. There were two meetings left for the remainder of the municipal year.

The committee was also due to review actions and recommendations from the previous meeting held on 15 October 2024. This included considering the progress of services towards establishing gully cleansing as a Key Performance Indicator, and exploring communications strategies to reduce residents’ fear of flooding.