Contact: Campbell Williams, tel 023 8038 3331

email: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 This paper outlines the priority activities required for the successful delivery of Local Area Agreement (LAA) Priority G `Use Material Resources More Efficiently' by the County Council.

2. Recommendation

That the Cabinet commits to the shared set of ambitions for the corporate approach to more efficient use of materials set out in the attached appendix.

3. Introduction

3.1 The LAA is a three year agreement between public sector partners in Hampshire and the Government to improve lives and conditions in Hampshire communities. The Agreement focuses the attention of partners on eight priority outcomes drawn from the Hampshire Community Strategy and the 11 District Community Strategies.

3.2 The LAA runs from April 2006 to March 2009. It is an opportunity to strengthen partnership working to deliver real improvement against these priorities. It is also an important means to work with the Government to achieve greater flexibility around funding and to remove barriers to delivery.

3.3 The County Council is the nominated lead for Priority G (see paragraph 4 below) and is coordinating work across the whole public sector in order to lead the change outlined in the LAA.

3.4 This paper sets out a series of ambitions for the County Council to sign up to, in order to deliver change in priority areas, which have been developed jointly with the Districts and wider public sector. As part of this the County Council itself needs to review how it delivers services across the whole range of its functions. Using material resources more efficiently has been a theme pursued through the corporate sustainable development working group for some years. The Council has the opportunity now to align its actions with those being taken by other public sector organisations to maximise the benefit for Hampshire's communities.

4. Using Material Resources More Efficiently

4.1 Priority G of the LAA is to `use material resources more efficiently', specifically to:

(i) reduce construction waste by substitution of recovered material in new build development and major refurbishment; and

(ii) increase recycling in the non-municipal sector.

4.2 These are linked to Public Sector Agreement (PSA2) indicators by which performance will be measured:

(i) tonnes per annum of commercial and industrial waste recycled;

(ii) tonnes of material recycled by schools and public sector sites in Hampshire;

(iii) tonnes of ash residues diverted from landfill in Hampshire and used in construction; and

(iv) percentage of Municipal Solid Waste diverted from landfill in Hampshire.

4.3 The County Council has a statutory role as a Waste Disposal Authority and works through the Project Integra partnership to minimise waste. The material resources approach, however, covers the whole range of the Council's services, and not just the statutory waste function - it includes planning, procurement, premises management, environmental services, economic development, etc.

4.4 Additionally, by working in partnership with the Districts, the Public Sector and the community on these wider service issues, it will provide a critical mass which will enable things to happen which otherwise would not have been possible.

4.5 For example, in terms of planning policy, discussion with the building and construction industry suggests that policies on sustainability need to be consistent across each council for developers to be able to apply them successfully.

4.6 Providing recycling facilities at main premises is more likely to influence behaviour if it becomes commonplace to recycle in the public realm and workplaces as well as in private.

4.7 The County Council is ideally placed to lead such initiatives, which would not be achieved without successful partnership working.

5. Delivering the Local Area Agreement

5.1 The County Council and each District Council has identified a corporate lead at officer level for material resources, and they are meeting on a regular basis to work together on this priority.

5.2 To coordinate effort and results, the County Council and the District Councils have developed a shared set of ambitions, and are now working to deliver on these across the whole of Hampshire.

6. What are the Implications for the County Council?

6.1 The key point about the Materials Resources approach is that it requires all sectors to start to do things differently. In local government terms, material resources becomes a corporate issue requiring integrated action across a range of different services in all local authorities.

6.2 Specifically the ambitions are to:

(i) deliver core services so that the County Council leads the change in how materials are used in Hampshire;

(ii) use the major capital build programmes as examples of good practice for sustainable building, and the use of recycled materials;

(iii) deliver increased diversion of waste from landfill, whilst minimising cost to the environment and taxpayer, through the Partner Implementation Programmes within the Project Integra Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy;

(iv) ensure recycling services are available at major County Council owned sites;

(v) identify where the corporate procurement of large amounts of materials occurs and work to specify alternatives to increase the proportion of recycled material used; and

(vi) provide community leadership on this agenda, by influencing partners, contractors, service providers and commercial tenants to deliver on this agenda.

And to monitor and ensure progress by:

(vii) identifying a senior corporate lead responsible for the delivery of the priority area for this target;

(viii) communicating progress and outcomes to officers, Members and the wider community; and

(ix) implementing the above within the period of the LAA, ie by 2009, and reporting on progress every six months, through the LAA performance reporting process.

7. Monitoring and Reporting

7.1 Information and actions from work the County Council undertakes on materials are being coordinated through the Corporate Sustainable Development Group, supported by experts from the waste and resource management team.

7.2 This will then be coordinated with the collection of information on progress from District Councils and the wider sector, and fed back to the LAA Executive and Board, which meets regularly to review progress on each of the LAA priorities.

8. Impact Assessments

8.1 No adverse impact has been identified in terms of race, creed or gender.

9. Conclusion

9.1 The White Paper on Local Government places increasing emphasis on Local Area Agreements as a way of delivering community priorities.

9.2 The ambitions set out above have been developed jointly with the District Councils. Within the County Council it will be important to ensure that the departmental "sustainable action plans" translate these ambitions into results in each service area. It is important that the County Council continues to show leadership across Hampshire for delivery of these objectives and ambitions.

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APPENDIX

Sign Up Agreement

The Local Area Agreement is a 3 year agreement between partners in Hampshire and the Government to improve lives and conditions in Hampshire Communities. The Agreement focuses the attention of partners on 8 Priority outcomes drawn from the Hampshire Community Strategy and the 11 District Community Strategies.

The LAA runs from April 2006 to March 2009. The LAA is an opportunity to strengthen partnership working to deliver real improvement against these priorities. It is also an important means to work with the Government to achieve greater flexibility around funding and to remove barriers to delivery

In respect of the above priority Hampshire County Council formally agrees to deliver a corporate approach to the use of materials through the Local Area Agreement.

Signed..........................................................................................

Position..........................................................................................

Date .............................................................................................

www.hants.gov.uk/localareaagreement

In respect of Priority G `Use material resources more efficiently'

Specifically our ambitions are to:

1. deliver core services so that the County Council leads the change in how materials are used in Hampshire;

2. use our major capital build programmes as examples of good practice for sustainable building, and the use of recycled materials;

3. deliver increased diversion of waste from landfill, whilst minimising cost to the environment and taxpayer, through the Partner Implementation Programmes within the Project Integra Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy;

4. ensure recycling services are available at our major council owned sites;

5. identify where the corporate procurement of large amounts of materials occurs and work to specify alternatives to increase the proportion of recycled material used;

6. provide community leadership on this agenda, by influencing partners, contractors, service providers, and commercial tenants, to deliver on this agenda.

And to monitor and ensure progress by:

7. identifying a senior corporate lead responsible for the delivery of the priority area for this target;

8. communicating progress and outcomes to staff, Members and wider community;

9. implementing the above within the period of the LAA ie by 2009 and reporting on progress every six months, through the LAA performance reporting process.

www.hants.gov.uk/localareaagreement