Minutes:
(A) Mr Hunt
asked the following question of the Leader or his nominee:-
“Several local authorities have agreed tree
planting programmes with targets to spur them on. Despite the creation of
the National Forest, Leicestershire still remains one of the least wooded
counties in England. Could the Leader
therefore tell the Council what plans we have to step up tree planting in the
county?”
Mr Pain replied
as follows:-
“The historic human and natural development
of the County has had an impact on the landscape character and the amount of
woodland cover we have. Currently
approximately 4% of Leicestershire and Rutland has woodland cover.
Leicestershire County Council supports small
scale tree planting through various tree planting initiatives including the MOREhedges, MOREwoods, Targeting
Tree Disease Pack and Free Tree Replacement Schemes. Since 2009-10 over 25,400 trees and 13,000
metres of hedges have been planted through these schemes.
On the Council’s own land, larger capital
schemes have been implemented. These
include several National Forest Schemes and intensive landscape schemes on
newly constructed roads.
During 2019, the Council has reviewed and
updated its Tree Management Strategy which is due to be officially adopted in
Autumn 2019. This Strategy identifies
the need for a ‘substantial and sustained’ programme of tree planting to offset
the effects of tree loss throughout the County and the likely impact of Ash
Dieback.
The County Council established an Ash Dieback
Project board in 2018 to plan and manage the risks to the trees and landscape
in Leicestershire. This includes a £5M
indicative budget to manage the impact of the disease, including future
replanting considerations.
Additional resources and innovative
technology have been employed to support effective management, surveying and
monitoring of tree health throughout the County.
To mitigate the effects of decline in the
County’s trees, following the publication of the updated Tree Management
Strategy, a programme of tree planting will be developed. This will support the Government’s “Green
Future”, 25-year Environmental plan and aspiration to increase woodland cover
in England to 12% by 2060.
Not only will this help to minimise the
effect on the County’s landscape, it will also contribute to mitigating the
effects of climate change and help to achieve many of the objectives outlined
in the Council’s Environmental Strategy and the commitments made as part of the
recent climate emergency declaration.
There are other potential opportunities to
increase tree planting which will be explored over the coming years including:
-
Urban
Tree Challenge fund which was launched in May and the Council is looking to
work with partners to submit a joint bid;
-
Countryside
Stewardship Scheme;
-
Proposed
new Agri-environment scheme known as the Environmental Land Management Scheme;
-
Local
Growth Fund;
-
Developer
contributions;
-
Planning
conditions/obligations.”
(B) Mr Hunt asked the following question of the
Leader or his nominee:-
“Much of our major
highways programme seems to be governed by the ‘predict and provide’ approach
as far as resources allow. Could the Leader advise what plans we have for
accommodating the huge predicted use of electric bikes?”
Mr Pain replied as follows:-
“The growth of the
electric bike market is something the County Council is aware of and is fully
embracing because of its many sustainable benefits and how it will form another
vital part of the Council’s commitment to tackling climate change.
Electric bikes
enable faster, sweat-free travel as well as easier riding in windy and uphill
conditions, therefore removing many of the barriers to people getting on two
wheels. By law electric bikes are
limited to 15mph and are suitable for off road infrastructure. Therefore, like conventional cyclists,
electric bike users will benefit from the cycle infrastructure the Council has
built over many years connecting communities, schools, businesses and leisure
facilities.
Electric bike users
are also more inclined to use the road network, especially in built up areas,
as they feel more confident in their ability to keep pace with motor
traffic and therefore better integrate.
The Council is
actively encouraging its employees to try out electric bikes through the stock
of electric pool bikes it currently holds with further communications and
support to come as part of the refresh of the County Council’s travel plan,
which is underway.
In addition, through
its Access Fund work, the Council is actively working with businesses to
develop their travel plans and encourage take up of electric bike use by their
employees. Sustainable Travel Business
Grants are available to those businesses to help fund the provision of electric
pool bikes for staff.
The Council is in the
process of revamping its Choose How You Move website and going forward this
will be utilised as a key platform for promoting electric bike use as well as
all other sustainable modes of travel.
The Council see this
market as an ideal opportunity to reduce the level of single occupancy car use
and hence help contribute to lowering carbon emissions and will be working hard
with partners to promote usage.”
Mr Hunt asked the following supplementary question:-
“My question was about
the increasing use of electric bikes. The answer is not about accommodating
them, which was what my question was. The answer is about promoting them, which
is in a sense the opposite, and we really do look to an increasing problem,
particularly on shared use cycle ways, of faster electric bikes and I would
appreciate an answer on that particular question in due course.”
Mr Pain replied as follows:-
“I will send an
answer out to Mr Hunt on that question.”
(C) Mr Hunt asked the following question of the
Leader or his nominee:-
“The weedkiller glyphosate is the subject of many claims that it
causes cancer. Could the Leader please
advise whether Leicestershire County Council uses such products and, if so, to
what extent and with what safeguards to the health of operatives and the
public?”
Mr Pain replied as follows:-
“The County Council
does use the herbicide Glyphosate but does so in the most environmentally
friendly way possible. By following the
procedure set out below overall use of Glyphosate has been reduced by 40% on
previous years.
The County Council
employs a specialist contractor to target weed growth within the highway twice
a year, usually around June and September dependent upon growing
conditions. The contractor also treats known areas of invasive noxious
weeds such as Japanese Knotweed on a reactive basis. The contract is let
in accordance with the Manual of Contract Documents for Highway Works – Volume
1 Specification for Highway Works.
The contractor
applies herbicide on the highways by means of a Total Droplet Control (TDC)
system. This is a targeted application with virtually no run-off or spray
drift, and significantly reduces the risk of water pollution. The chemical formulation requires a much
lower level of the active ingredient Glyphosate. The TDC formulations produce no breathable
droplets, are safer for operators, bystanders, wildlife and the
environment. Application does not take place on either wet or windy days
to eliminate the risk of spread.
The use of chemicals
and all applications are carried out under strict guidelines. Our contractors use the Amenity Forum best
practice guidelines to ensure all applications are carried out in accordance
with the latest guidelines. https://amenityforum.co.uk/
Glyphosate leaves no
residual residue, it breaks down within the soil structure. The herbicide is applied to actively growing
plants, we do not “blanket spray”. This
targets the areas of weed growth and with this system only 4 to 5 drops of
chemical per leaf are required to kill the plant. The herbicide comes as a ‘pre-mixed’ solution
and this reduces operator exposure and the risk of spillage.
At the current time Glyphosate is the only really effective way of
treating weeds in the highway. More recently a number of other
authorities have tried alternative treatments, but these trials have not as yet
identified an effective alternative. As part of our wider bio-diversity
work however, the County Council are proposing to carry small area patch
testing of our own.”
Mr Hunt asked
the following supplementary question:-
“Can we enforce the
guidelines that we talked about with our contractors who are doing most of the
weeding on our roads?”
Mr Pain replied as follows:-
“As far as I am
aware the contract does ensure that they comply with all the legislation and
health and safety guidance.”
(D) Question by MR HUNT
“Noting the recent Cabinet decision to invest
an initial £550,000 in 2019/20 in an enhanced service for Parish and Town
Councils across the county, to assist third party funding, signage including
Vehicle Activated Signs, trees and vegetation and edging back on pavements in
built up areas, which is in addition to the automated communications system and
quarterly clerks meetings, neither officers nor Cabinet members made reference
to communities other than parish and town councils. Could the Leader explain:
a. How he sees this working
for communities seeking to deliver their own improvements and their elected
member representatives in non-parished areas?
b. How elected members in
non-parished areas will access funding for enhanced
signing and edging back on pavements, not to mention better regulation of
parking and protecting verges on so many large council estates?”
Reply by MR PAIN
Officers are, however, happy to work with
non-parished areas using alternative means such as
the local member or a community group.
The additional resource will allow the
Department to develop a more co-ordinated approach to increase community and
parish engagement, working together to build on the priorities of the Leicestershire
Communities Strategy.
An update on progress will be presented to
the Environment and Transport Overview and Scrutiny Committee in 2020. That can cover the level of resource
committed to non-parished areas in response to
similar requests for maintenance and tidying up works during 2019/20.
b. Contact
should be made initially through the usual channel of Customer Services for the
specific groups of highway assets that Mr Hunt refers to in his question.
It is worth noting that this scheme will also allow the Council to build
on its work in supporting communities to undertake their own initiatives. An example is the support that the Council
has given to communities to hold their own events for Remembrance Day and other
special events. For next May’s 70th anniversary VE Day celebrations
the Council will provide the following for free:
·
event
planning and traffic marshall training;
·
loan of
signs and cones;
·
road
closures as necessary.”
Mr Hunt asked the
following supplementary question:-
“This is something
that arose out of the blue, we did not have it at our Highways Scrutiny and it
was the decision by the Cabinet last week. It was clear to anyone there this
was an offer of half a million pounds to assist parish and town councils with
their particular needs. Now, I know it mentions communities, and that is the
nub of my question here, because the answer suggests that non-parished areas will only be interested in maintenance and
tidying up works, which one would expect the authority to do anyway, and not through
third party funding because they do not have third party funding in that sense
and no forum for deciding things as parish and town councils do. Whilst the officers are saying they are happy
to work with non-parished areas, we are grateful for
that, but it is something we expect anyway. Really, without creating town
councils in our non-parished areas, does the Lead
Member agree that this is not equal and breaches the kind of equality we would
expect in the use of highways funding?”
Mr Pain replied as follows:-
“I do not agree
with the premise of this supplementary question that has just been raised. The
intention is to serve all our communities equally. We think we have seen customer contacts to
the Highways Department rising over the last five years. We had about 380 customer contacts in 2014/15
and we are now looking at 1323 customer contacts, many relating to these types
of issues that we are now putting additional funding for. It is the intention to serve all the
communities equally, indeed, many of the unparished areas are covered also by
district councils. I know, as a former leader of a district council, that some
areas with parish and town councils feel they are at a disadvantage to those in
the unparished areas. We will not get into that argument but, needless to say,
we will serve all of our communities absolutely equally.”