(a)

the Environmental Services department which employed 550 members of staff and on a yearly basis undertook the following –

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cut six million metres of grass;

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maintained over 60,000 trees, 28 parks and 80 sports pitches;

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helped to dispose of over 128,000 tonnes of waste;

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Inspected over 1000 business and ensured compliance of over 32 pieces of legislation around food safety, health and safety and trading standards;

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made 170,000 collections each week for refuse and recycling;

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provided first class facilities for the disposal of waste at the Household Waste Recycling Centre at both Chelson Meadow and Weston Mill;

(b)

major achievements of the Environmental Services department over the last few years, which included –

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successful roll out of pilot kerbside household glass collection service;

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successful ‘Pickles Pot’ bid of £4m to maintain weekly refuse collection service;

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a £980k investment in new minibuses and a £1.7m investment in plant and equipment;

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five star rating for Street Cleansing;

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gold medal for South West in Bloom and 44 neighbourhood awards;

(c)

key performance trends which included the following -

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reduction in the amount of waste produced per household continued;

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the rate for recycling was over 34 per cent;

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the bin collection rate remained at 99.9 per cent completed the first time;

(d)

the Planning Services department undertook the following -

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the launch of Plymouth Energy Community;

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approval of the plans for the completion of the fourth stand at Home Park and related development;

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creation of a Green Space Trust;

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the Plymouth Plan (one integrated plan for the city which will enable a rationalisation of over 130 existing plans and strategies);

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continued monitoring of Section 106 agreements;

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inspector’s report on the Derriford Area Action Plan;

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consideration of a forthcoming planning application for Seaton Neighbourhood which included 873 homes, employment space, community park and educational resource centre;

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major developments including Sherford, Plymstock Quarry and Plymouth Argyle;

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Derriford Area Action Plan, Seaton Neighbourhood, North West Quadrant Appeal, city Centre;

(e)

due to the topography of Plymouth, road closures and inconsiderate parking, it was not possible to collect 100 per cent of bins first time; local knowledge was invaluable and where possible a pool of agency staff were used (the service was always striving to achieve a 100 per cent collection rate);

(f)

several options had been investigated relating to the most suitable container/bag for the disposal of garden waste; members of staff were continually reminded to put the bags inside the bins where it was possible to do so;

(g)

during the hot weather members of staff had been encouraged to guard against the sun by ensuring that they were suitably dressed and had access to drinks;

(h)

currently there was no significant impact on the council relating to amenity funerals however, there was a worrying trend of people not making provision for their funerals and in the next five to 10 years there would be an impact;

(i)

an undertaking was made to provide the Board with information relating to the number of public funerals that had taken place;

(j)

the planning notices had been redesigned and made more user friendly;

(k)

the Secretary of State had dismissed the appeal relating to the North West Quadrant Appeal and in addition to this the council had been awarded costs against the developer;

(l)

Devon County Council had consulted the planning department relating to the development of the Hemerdon Mine.

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the commencement of the £2m highways investment scheme;

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the enforcement of the bus lanes had achieved a positive impact on the time keeping of bus services and punctuality;  following concerns raised by both councillors and members of the public the bus lanes had now been clearly marked in red;

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the South West Peninsula Rail Task Force had produced a joint report pressing the Government for additional investment in the South West and seeking an update on the First Great Western rail franchise;

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Amey was continually being challenged to provide more coherent communications including ward reports and newsletters;

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there was disappointment that the city council had not been successful in securing funding for the city cycle deal, although other funding streams were being investigated;

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as a result of the major cuts in transport funding there would be less investment in transport projects the region.

(a)

it was difficult to forecast whether the money generated from the bus lane reinforcement would need to be revised up or down; following the adjudication of the camera on Tavistock Road, the camera had been removed (for a period of eight weeks) to allow bus lanes to be clearly marked;

(b)

inspections were undertaken by Amey following any work carried out on the highway; if the work had not meet the specified standard then the contractors were required to re-do the work;

(c)

there had been an increase in enquiries for the provision of blue badges but at this stage it was less than anticipated;

(e)

the standardisation of car parking charges within the city centre had gone out to consultation; following the close of the consultation period at the end of October 2013, the responses would be fully analysed to ascertain if there was a way forward; it was important to note that this was not a revenue driven exercise.