(1)

Councillor Roger Croad is appointed as Chair until the first meeting of the Joint Committee after the 1 May 2013;

(2)

Councillor David Thomas is appointed as Vice-Chair until the first meeting of the Joint Committee after the 1 May 2013.

(a)

MVV had continued preliminary works on site and were discharging planning conditions with a view to commencing main works in August 2012;

(b)

MVV had appointed Jane Ford, a local resident, as the company’s Community Liaison Manager;

(c)

the Judicial Review challenge lodged by PlymWin had been through all court processes and the outcome was that a formal Judicial Review hearing was refused and appeals have been unsuccessful. Due to MVV continuing with the preliminary works during this process the Judicial Review challenge should not have had a negative impact on the programme;

(d)

the deadline to challenge either the planning decision or environmental permit decision had now passed;

(e)

the partnership had held operational engagement sessions with the local authorities (the three partnership authorities and districts) whose waste will be treated at the facility, in order to explain how each authority would interface with the project when it became operational in 2014;

(f)

the partnership and the project had been widely acknowledged at the international Partnerships Awards ceremony in May where it was successful in the following categories –

·         Winner - Best Local Government Team;

·         Winner - Best Waste/Energy/Water Project;

·         Winner - Project Grand Prix;

·         Runners up and highly commended - Best Sustainability in a Project.

(a)

over the past three months the communication activity had been fairly quiet with most queries relating to MVV and the Judicial Review;

(b)

the appointment of a Community Liaison Manager had improved stakeholder engagement and the promotion of community related work in the local area;

(c)

the partnership had written an article on waste, environment and sustainability issues for the Western Morning News’ Green Guide; this was due to be published in August;

(d)

over the past three months the partnership had responded to one written query and one Freedom of Information request.

(a)

the main roles and responsibilities of the Community Liaison Manager involved educating people and raising awareness about waste reduction, incineration and promoting recycling through partnership working with SWDWP and the three local authorities;

(b)

education, awareness raising and promoting issues had so far been undertaken through stakeholder engagement workshops, newsletters, exhibitions, consultations and activity days such as an employment day and science fair;

(c)

strong links had now been established with the University of Plymouth, City College and local schools; these links would be further improved through continuous workshops and communication;

(d)

other groups had also been engaged including PARASOL (St. Budeaux parents forum), local residents, the Incinerator Liaison Committee and the recently established North Yard Community Trust, who were set up as a registered charity to allocate an annual Community Fund budget of £150k in the local community as part of the Planning permission agreement;

(e)

MVV were keen to raise aspirations and provide opportunities for local communities and this attitude had also been reflected in the workforce employed by KIER Construction, the company employed to develop the site, who were currently employing over 90 per cent of its workforce from the local area;

(f)

a work club had also been set up to assist residents in Barne Barton;

(g)

MVV were working with the community to address the major issues of concern which included planting trees to reduce the visual impact, introducing traffic calming to improve the traffic flow, and ensuring adequate control and monitoring systems were in place and explained to local residents to help monitor air quality;

(h)

MVV had created a long term plan to establish themselves in the local community, this included creating and adopting a Community Liaison Method Statement, establishing a visitor centre and education programme, and assisting in the creation and operation of the North Yard Community Trust;

(i)

MVV would seek to liase with partner authorities to engage with schools and colleges across the whole of South West Devon in order to promote the message of sustainability, recycling and waste management.