Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Rishi Madlani and Stephen Stark who was substituted by Councillor Gio Spinella.

Members will be asked to declare any pecuniary, non-pecuniary and any other interests in respect of items on the agenda.

There were none.

Webcasting of the Meeting

The Chair to announce the following: “In addition to the rights by law that the public and press have to record and film public meetings, I would like to remind everyone present that this meeting will be broadcast live by the Council to the Internet and can be viewed on our website for six months after the meeting.  After that time, webcasts are archived and can be made available on DVD upon request.

If you are seated in the room it is likely that the Council’s cameras will capture your image and you are deemed to be consenting to being filmed and to the use of those images and sound recordings for webcasting and/or training purposes.”

Any other announcements

The Chair announced that the meeting was broadcast live by the Council to the Internet and could be viewed on the website for six months after the meeting.  After that time, webcasts were archived and could be made available on DVD upon request. Those who were seated in the room or participated via Teams were deemed to have consented to their contributions being recorded and broadcast and to the use of those sound recordings and images for webcasting and/or training purposes.

Requests to speak at the Committee on a matter within its terms of reference must be made in writing to the clerk named on the front of this agenda by 5pm two working days before the meeting.

There were none.

There was none.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 10^th July 2023.

RESOLVED –

THAT the minutes of the meeting held on 10^th July 2023 be signed as accurate record.

Report of Transport for London (TfL).

This report highlights measures TfL have made to improve Routemaster buses ventilation and reduce in-bus temperatures on hot days since their introduction in London, following safety concerns and queries raised by the Chair of the Culture and Environment Scrutiny Committee.

Consideration was given to the report of Transport for London (TfL).

The Chair informed the Committee that he had invited TfL to the meeting to respond to safety concerns due to excessive temperatures experienced by passengers and staff on Route master buses on hot days in London.

Tom Cunnington – TfL Head of Buses Business Development made the following comments in response to the Committee’s questions:

·       TfL did not believe that the buses were dangerous for passengers and staff. The organisation was working to improve the temperature on buses, this however was offset by there being an increasing number of hot days.

·       The organisation did not have a record of staff collapsing on Route master buses or other buses due to heat exhaustion in the last few years. There were a very small number of incidents of passengers feeling unwell on buses, however it was not certain whether this was due to heat or as a result of other issues and would need to be looked at more specifically.

·       The new route master buses were owned by TfL, run and operated by TfL’s bus operators who were responsible for keeping the buses in working order.

·       Where there were issues with the drivers’ air conditioning system in the buses, these were raised with the operators concerned when this became apparent. The drivers also raised this directly with their employer.

·       In cases of extreme heat on buses, there were a number of steps drivers were advised to take including wearing cooler clothing alongside other mitigations such as taking breaks in appropriate places. It varied from operator to operator as each had their own hot weather plan.

·       There was a separate cooling system for the driver’s cab as it was recognised that this was a more challenging area of the vehicle, the focus had been on making sure the driver’s air conditioning systems worked better.

·       The new buses that had been ordered would come with improved heating and cooling for staff and customers. The improved fleet of buses that would be introduced had come about as a result of research over the last two to three years.

·       TfL were the first in the world to undertake this research, it was aimed at understanding how staff and customers on board vehicles would feel comfortable in both hot and cold temperatures. It involved changing the design of the buses.

·       The new fleet of buses would have improved heating and cooling to keep temperatures down on hot days, the challenge for TfL was to keep the current vehicles as cool as possible in the interim.

·       The aim was to get the temperature in the buses on hot days down to the mid-20 degrees which was cooler than outside.

·       The specification when considering the heat and cooling system would also consider the number of people on board the bus.

·       The projection was for the new buses to be in operation towards the end of next year.

·       TfL was moving towards replacing diesel buses first, currently there were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Report of the Cabinet Member for a Sustainable Camden

The Cabinet Member for a Sustainable Camden will provide the Committee with his annual report for discussion.

Consideration was given to the annual report of the Cabinet Member for a Sustainable Camden.

Members made the following comments:

• It was lovely to see the library of things, it would be nice to have this in West Hampstead Library and good news about the retrofit programme.
• Looking forward to welcoming the grit bins in West End Lane following on from the trial in Belsize Village.
• The Cabinet Member was thanked for the pop-up community skip over the summer and requested that a regular pop-up skip be provided for the West Hampstead ward area.
• It was good to see references in the report to the increased use of fixed penalty notices for fly-tipping and looking forward to seeing more results on this in due course.
• The wildflower and sustainable planting projects in Brunswick Square and St Andrews Gardens in Kings Cross had made a significant difference to the overall perception of these areas with more people enjoying these amenities, this was a credit to the Cabinet Member and officers.
• Officers, the emergency services and the Cabinet Member were thanked for their support in responding to the flooding incident in South Hampstead last weekend.

In response to questions, Councillor Adam Harrison (Cabinet Member for a Sustainable Camden, Richard Bradbury (Director of Environment and Sustainability) and Oliver Jones (Director of Recreation) made the following points:

·       With regards to the West Hampstead Primary School Health School Streets issues residents had in applying for exemptions, the Council’s implementation team was looking into exactly what happened and would share details when the investigation was completed. The Cabinet Member agreed to provide written details to the Committee of this.

ACTION BY Cabinet Member for a Sustainable Camden

·       The Council was in the process of getting communications out to residents to set new start dates for Healthy School Street exemptions which would be shared in more detail as soon as possible.

·       With regards to the deputation about inaccessibility of the borough pavements for disabled residents due to retail related clutter made at the last Council meeting, the Cabinet member informed the Committee that he had gone on a walkabout of the borough with the deputee and Councillor Chung. The walkabout had been insightful and helpful, the Council was looking at the powers it had, it’s current policy, how far it could go to minimise these obstructions and what the policy on this should be in the future.

·       Officers agreed to share the carbon assessments from Lime with the Committee

Action by: Director of Environment and Sustainability

·       The retrofit credits were a positive piece of work. It allowed businesses to open up credit on retrofit work in the borough as part of a wider set of schemes about funding retrofit.

·       The Council was also working with Islington on funding the greening infrastructure through the credit approach. It was also being used as a trial, issues were being looked at to understand how scalable it was and comparing this with many other financial institutions and credit models to determine  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Report of the Director of Economy, Regeneration and Investment.

This report summarises the vision and ambitions for the culture service and the development and delivery of the cultural programme for the communities of Camden.

The Culture Service has been created to reposition the council’s unique role as connectors and enablers of culture between cultural organisations, communities, and neighbourhoods to realise opportunities, animate the public realm and uncover Camden creatives and the everyday creativity of Camden people.

The Culture Service brings together the existing arts and events team who are responsible for event management of community festivals and civic events, managing the film office and generating income through venue hire and public realm activations as well as strategically growing and supporting arts and culture in the borough and leading the Cultural Partnership –Cultural Camden, who help deliver and champion the cultural framework’s vision.

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Economy, Regeneration and Investment.

Members made the following comments:

·       Thank you for setting up the Culture, Education, Learning and Support Fund, it was welcomed and clearly focussed in the right place for cash scrapped organisations. Outreach was loss making and without the grants supporting this it was likely to go.

·       Thank you for the report, Camden was a cultural powerhouse and the report indicated that events in the borough this year had been nonstop with celebration and recognising the heritage of its diverse population, which was really needed at this moment, particularly at a time when cultures were being marginalised and denigrated. Could the Council have more events in the Northwest of the borough similar to little Amar which was outstanding emotional and thought provoking.

·       The Windrush 75 homecoming event was amazing and it was good to see Camden leading on that which was really positive and hopefully could be an annual event. It was also really positive to see that Camden had an artist network which Camden artists could tap into.

·       There was lots of derelict space in South Hampstead which hopefully could be turned into space that could be used by artists.

·       It would also be good if Camden could have more interfaith celebrations like little Amar.

In response to questions, Zerritha Brown (Head of Culture) and Councillor Sabrina Francis (Cabinet Member for Young People and Culture) made the following points:

·       In relation to complaints from Grime artists that they were being prevented by the Police from performing at venues in Camden, the Cabinet Member for Young People and Culture indicated that as part of her role, she regularly met with Camden Police to discuss youth safety and would take this away and raise the issues relating to Grime artists with the Police.

ACTION BY: Cabinet Member for Young People and Culture

·       The Camden Fringe was run by Camden Cultural organisations such as the People’s Theatre, the Council did however promote the event through its various channels but did not deliver it.

·       With regards to closing off the borough’s high streets to stage events, the Council trialled the Camden Music Festival event on Camden High Road at the weekend which included pop music and a walk of fame. Part of the high road was closed off and was a test to see how the Council could have more of such events, shut off some of the high roads and include other venues and spaces for such events next year.

·       In relation to evening and night-time entertainment, there was an Evening and Night-time Entertainment Strategy that was being worked on that would be presented to Cabinet and Council later in the year and was also scheduled to be presented to this Committee. There was a lot of consultation going on incorporating the views of all stakeholders, balancing the various issues to look at how to get the best for Camden’s night-time economy.

·       The Culture Team did have discussions with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Report of the Director of Recreation.

This report outlines the Council’s tree management and maintenance procedures and policy as it stands in 2023.

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Recreation.

Members made the following comments:

·       The Chair and Committee congratulated Oliver Jones on his permanent appointment as Director of Recreation.

·       It was a great report and it was good to see the Tree Strategy growing from strength to strength.

Oliver Jones (Director of Recreation) and David Houghton (Tree Manager) made the following comments in response to members questions:

·       As to why there had been increased number of tree losses since the pandemic, this could be looked into. However there had been a net increase of 1000 trees from 28,000 to 29,000 over the period.

·       In some years there had been more tree felling than other years, it would be difficult to tell why it happened during the pandemic, the Council had however been planting more trees than it had been removing.

·       With regards to new trees in wards such as Kilburn, Kings Cross and Holborn, 79 new trees were planted in Kilburn in 2021/22, 23 in Kings Cross last year and 35 in 2021/22.

·       Some new trees had been planted in Holborn which was largely through funding from the Urban Tree Challenge Fund

·       There were some years that new trees were not planted, it was determined by the programme cycle.

·       The Council was open to looking at and investigating more sites if suggestions were to be made by members.

·       With regards to the skill level of the Council’s Tree team, Camden was the host borough of the London Tree Officer Association, the current Chair of the Association worked for Camden’s Tree Manager, Camden’s Tree Manager sat on the national executive around trees and advised the Woodland Advisory Committee nationally.

·       The Council’s Tree team was well placed and at the forefront of policy development as well as day to day work on trees.

·       The Council did have, which was a sector problem challenges with recruitment particularly when officers left or changed jobs. The Council had more success more recently in recruiting officers compared to during the covid years.

·       With regards to felling of trees, there would be upcoming guidance in November on the duty to consult with residents. Once further information was provided the Council would be looking at how it would comply with this requirement.

·       The Council did notify residents through its website which provided a map and the reason for the felling/removal of a tree.

·       Officer contact details were also provided on posters stuck on trees.

·       In relation to leaning trees, the Council did not consider these to be dangerous. It was only seen as dangerous if the roots had started to lift up or it were felt that it would catch the wind in a peculiar manner.

·       For the tree outside the pub, that appeared to have been felled because the roots were starting to lift. Officers agreed to find out further information on this.

ACTION BY: Tree Manager

·       With regards to planting of evergreen trees, the Council was always looking in the north of the borough  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

Report of the Director of Environment and Sustainability.

The report provides information relating to fire risk associated withlithium-ion batteries, the management of lithium-ion powered vehicles in council building and fire safety information provided to residents and retailers.

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Environment and Sustainability.

In response to questions, Richard Bradbury (Director of Environment and Sustainability) made the following points:

·       Officers agreed to speak to colleagues in Housing about whether there was a register of people with lithium-ion battery powered vehicles in their homes, so that those with bad or old batteries could be advised when an upgrade was required.

ACTION BY: Director of Environment and Sustainability.

·       A Committee member suggested it was a good idea to establish a register of these vehicles in the borough so it could be identified where they were in the borough.

·       It was noted that Housing Officers had looked at a range of measures so action could be taken to identify and ensure safety in communal areas.

·       Within Council buildings any e-powered vehicle would need to be registered and have the right safety accreditation.

·       A Committee member pointed out that there also the need to take into consideration people with mobility scooters who had limited mobility and mindful of not creating unnecessary hardship and difficulty for users of this type of vehicle.

RESOLVED –

THAT the report be noted.

Report of the Executive Director Supporting Communities.

This paper provides an update on the work programme for the Committee for the 2023/24 municipal year and tracks actions from previous meetings.

Consideration was given to the report of the Executive Director Supporting Communities.

Members discussed the work programme and suggested that items on the Committee’s Work Programme should be moved around.

For the November 2023 meeting the following items were expected:

·       Annual report of the Cabinet Member for Safer Communities

·       Evening and Night-time Economy Strategy

·       Environment Services Contract

·       Report of the Circular Economy Scrutiny Panel

The Use of Pesticides should be moved to a later date – probably February/March.

NLWA Joint Waste Strategy to be moved to the January meeting and the Committee was looking to invite Thames Water back for an update also in January 2024.

RESOLVED –

THAT the above changes to the Work Programme be agreed.

ACTION BY: Senior Policy and Strategy Officer / Principal Committee Officer

There was none.