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Communities and Place OSC - Wednesday, 30th July, 2025 2.00 pm

July 30, 2025 View on council website
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Summary

Here is a summary of the upcoming Communities and Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC) meeting. The meeting will include discussion of the rollout of food waste services, and a review of the committee's work programme for the 2025/26 council year. The committee will also note recent decisions made by the cabinet.

Provision of Food Waste Services

The committee will be considering issues around the provision of food waste services to households under simpler recycling. Councillor John Riddle, Cabinet Member for Environment and Rural, is expected to attend for this item.

The report pack includes a report that was considered by the cabinet on 10 June 2025, where it was:

RESOLVED that: (a) Cabinet supports the actions taken to submit an appeal to DEFRA to address the shortfall in new burdens capital funding allocated to Northumberland for the provision of a weekly food waste collection service to all households; (b) Cabinet agrees that pending the outcome of the appeal to DEFRA and also confirmation of new burdens revenue funding (announcement due in Spring 2025), that plans for the implementation of food waste collection services for 2026/27 are based on utilising the current level of new burdens capital funding allocated to Northumberland, noting that this would not enable food waste collections to be provided to all households; (c) Cabinet approves Option 1 as the preferred option for making best use of the new burdens capital funds received to date as it offers the most effective and efficient approach to providing food waste collections to the maximum number of households in the county, as set out in Section 5 of this report; (d) authority be delegated to the Executive Director of Place and Regeneration in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Environment, Rural and Farming to select the settlement areas that will be included in the Option 1, Phase 1b roll out of food waste collections to enable the timely implementation of the further expansion of the service to fully utilise any remaining capital new burdens funding following implementation of Phase 1a.

The Environment Act 2021 places statutory obligations on English local authorities to collect a more consistent range of household waste materials for recycling. From 31 March 2026, the council will have a legal duty to ensure dry recyclable materials and food waste are collected separately from household residual waste. This will include a separate collection of additional plastic pots, tubs and trays, glass bottles and jars, tetra packs and flexible plastics. The management of this increased range of materials will require a major capital investment/rebuild of the existing Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) at West Sleekburn.

The report considered by the cabinet detailed several collection/processing options.

Committee Work Programme

The committee will consider its work programme for the 2025/26 council year, with reference to the Communities and Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee Monitoring Report. Issues identified by the committee for inclusion on the work programme include:

  • Local Cycling Walking Infrastructure Plans development
  • Northumberland Road Safety Strategy use of members scheme funds and costings
  • New Section 1061 system
  • Green / Open spaces review
  • Tree and Woodland Strategy

Cabinet Decisions

The committee will note the schedule of decisions made by cabinet since the last meeting, together with the latest Forward Plan of key decisions. Some of the recent cabinet decisions that the committee may discuss include:

  • An update on the County Partnership.
  • The MS365 Enterprise Agreement Licence Renewal.
  • Financial Performance 2024-25.
  • The Great Northumberland Forest – Hadston and Redrow.
  • The HRA Roof Replacement Programme.
  • Highways Resurfacing Contracts Award to DSD Construction Ltd.
  • Northumberland Skills Ofsted January 2025 Inspection Summary.
  • Q3 & Q4 Corporate Performance Report.
  • Northumberland Local Plan Evaluation Report.
  • Seghill Campus ISO Containers at the Northumberland Skills Seghill campus.
  • Concordia Leisure Centre Roof Replacement.
  • City Regional Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS).
  • Borderlands Place Programme: Northumberland Hall Enabling Works and Alnwick Bus Station Improvements.
  • Corporate Risk Management.

The Cabinet Forward Plan includes the following items:

  • Future of kerbside recycling collections under Simpler Recycling
  • Levelling Up Deep Dive: Town Centre Living Extra Care Facility
  • Northumberland Line Update
  • Summary of New Capital Proposals considered by Officer Capital Strategy Group
  • Ashington Regeneration Programme Update
  • Food & Feed, Safety & Standards Service Plan 2025/26
  • Integrated Domestic Abuse Services for Northumberland – Permission to Tender and Award Contracts

  1. Section 106 agreements are legal agreements between local planning authorities and developers; these are used to mitigate the impact of new developments on the local community and infrastructure. 

Attendees

Profile image for Councillor David Lee Bawn
Councillor David Lee Bawn  Conservative •  Morpeth North
Profile image for Councillor Angie Scott
Councillor Angie Scott  Labour •  Prudhoe West & Mickley
Profile image for Councillor Antonia Azocar-Nevin
Councillor Antonia Azocar-Nevin  Green Party •  Humshaugh
Profile image for Councillor Trevor Cessford
Councillor Trevor Cessford  Conservative •  Hexham North
Profile image for Councillor Patricia Anne Mary Dale
Councillor Patricia Anne Mary Dale  Independent Group •  Stocksfield and Bywell
Profile image for Councillor Richard Robert Dodd
Councillor Richard Robert Dodd  Conservative •  Ponteland North
Profile image for Councillor Patrick Henry Lambert
Councillor Patrick Henry Lambert  Reform UK •  Norham and Islandshires
Profile image for Councillor Sonia Simm
Councillor Sonia Simm  Reform UK •  Haydon
Profile image for Councillor Alan Smith
Councillor Alan Smith  Conservative •  Cramlington Eastfield
Profile image for Councillor Roger Gordon Spriddell
Councillor Roger Gordon Spriddell  Reform UK •  Sleekburn
Profile image for Councillor John Robert Riddle
Councillor John Robert Riddle  Conservative •  Bellingham
Greg Gavin
David Groves
Paul Jones
Simon Neilson
Sean Nicholson
Nichola Turnbull

Topics

No topics have been identified for this meeting yet.

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