Councillor E Devine, Chair, presided.

Councillor E Devine, O Reid, Lead Officer and Head of Public Protection, J Lynch, Head of Property, C Thorpe, Corporate Asset/Energy Manager, L Feely, Housing Investment Manager; S Marklow, Assistant Manager - Policy and M Higginbotham, Development Manager (all Renfrewshire Council); I Cunningham, Engage Renfrewshire; D Shannan, Forestry Commission Scotland; Ross Nimmo, Glasgow Airport; J Still, Renfrewshire Community Health Partnership; and J Binning, Strathclyde Partnership for Transport.

G Brown (NHS GG&C); J Brown and C MacDonald (both Renfrewshire Council).

The Convener intimated that he proposed to alter the order of business to facilitate the conduct of the meeting by taking Items 7(b) and 7(a) after Item 2 and Item 3 after Item 6.

M Higginbotham, R Nimmo and J Still left the meeting.

Joe Lynch left the meeting.

Councillor Audrey Doig and S MacDougall, Director of Community Resources (both Renfrewshire Council); J Wilby, Forum for Empowering Communities; and C Devine, Zero Waste Scotland.

There were no Declarations of Interest intimated.

There was submitted the Minute of the meeting of the Greener Renfrewshire Thematic Board held on 9 November 2015.

DECIDED: That the Minute be approved.

The Rolling Action Log was submitted for approval.
 
DECIDED:

(a)  That completed action GR.05.03.15(4) - Progress Against Targets be removed from the action log; and

(b)  That the Rolling Action Log be approved.

G Brown gave a presentation relative to sustainability in the NHS.  She gave a brief overview of the direction and change of strategy; outlined the sustainability circle; highlighted some large scale and some small scale projects; detailed some of the staff engagement projects; and drew attention to some of the sustainability projects relating to transport and waste. 

DECIDED:  That the presentation be noted.

A report was submitted by the Head of Public Protection, Community Resources, Renfrewshire Council relative to the progress made by the four Sub-Groups in achieving the high level priorities of the Greener Renfrewshire Thematic Board.  The report detailed key achievements and challenges, together with refreshed action plans and targets which were detailed within the appendices.

Discussion took place on the progress of the Sub-Groups and it was agreed that a report be submitted to the next meeting of the Board relative to the Greener Housing Sub-Group which would include an updated action plan and a summary of the progress that had been made.

DECIDED:

(a) That the strategic direction of each of the Sub-Groups as identified in the action plans contained within the report be noted;

(b)  That the priority actions for the next 2 years for each of the Sub-Groups as detailed within the report be agreed;

(c)  That it be noted that performance scorecards for each of the Sub-Groups would be submitted to the next meeting of the board, with revised targets, where appropriate;

(d)  That the Minutes of the meeting of the Greener Communities and Greener Transport Sub-Groups held in December 2015 as detailed within the report be agreed; and

(e)  That it be agreed that a report be submitted to the next meeting of the Board relative to the Greener Housing Sub-Group which would include an updated action plan and a summary of the progress made.

A report was submitted by the Head of Public Protection relative to a Multi-Agency approach to building safer and greener communities.

The report advised that following discussions with Police Scotland and the Community Safety and Public Protection Steering Group, the monthly tasking process was being developed into a Renfrewshire Multi-Agency Tasking Group. This would develop the principles set out in the Building Safer Communities National Strategy of reducing victims of crime and reducing victims of unintentional harm to carry out structured multi-agency interventions in key communities to help them build capacity to resolve issues
which affected the area in which they lived.

The report advised that Police Scotland had successfully implemented this approach in a number of communities with positive results and with the full co-operation of all other partners with an agreement to participate, allocate and focus resources as required.

It was highlighted that the group would identify geographical areas with vulnerabilities and problems that could be addressed by a multi-agency approach, including high numbers of victims of crime and victims of unintentional harm. Over a six week period the group, made up of relevant Community Planning Partners, would work together to make improvements in the local community with a view to building long term community capacity. The proposed model would support a number of key priorities currently being taken forward by Community Planning Partners.

The report intimated that an evidence based action plan would be developed to tackle issues relating to each area where there was evidence of need using the EPIC approach of Enforcement, Prevention, Intelligence and Communication. This will be carried out in 4 phases and the Group would access and coordinate the relevant partner resources required to tackle the issues identified in each area. The group would operate throughout the 2016 – 17 financial year using the additional capacity delivered by the Tackling Poverty Special Wardens and Special Constables programme to focus on key tackling poverty communities and town centres. The intention was to engage with between 6 and 8 communities during 2016/17, starting in March 2016 when the Special Wardens and Special Constables would be in place during the 2016/17 financial year.

DECIDED:  

(a)  That the contents of the report be noted; and

(b)  That it be noted that the report would also be submitted to the Safer and Stronger Renfrewshire Thematic Board for noting. 

There was submitted a report by the Head of Public Protection, Community Resources, Renfrewshire Council relative to the findings of the most recent 2015 Updating & Screening Assessment, and advising of the conclusions of the detailed assessments undertaken at Johnstone High Street, Montgomery Road, Paisley and Renfrew.

The report intimated that following the introduction of the Environment Act 1995, all Scottish local authorities required to undertake a regular review and assessment of air quality within their area and submit their findings to the Scottish Government. The Council had completed annual reviews and assessments of local air quality across Renfrewshire since 1998. Where a review of air quality indicated that there was a risk of a limit value or objective being exceeded, local authorities were required to follow a clear process. The process was outlined within the report.

The report provided the findings of the 2015 Updating & Screening Assessment, which reviewed 2014 air quality data, as well as the conclusions of the detailed assessments undertaken at Johnstone High Street, Montgomery Road, Paisley and Renfrew. The 2015 Updating & Screening Assessment had identified that there was a risk that nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels were being breached at West Walkinshaw, Paisley and Inchinnan Road, Renfrew and that a detailed assessment would require to be carried out for NO2 at those locations.

The Detailed Assessment reports for Johnstone High Street, Montgomery Road, Paisley and Renfrew had been undertaken as the 2014 Updating & Screening Assessment had identified that the annual mean NO2 objective had been exceeded at these locations. The key conclusions of the detailed assessment reports were provided. The report stated that there were currently 693 air quality management areas declared in the UK, one of which was in Paisley town centre. Options included the expansion of the current Air Quality Management Area in Renfrewshire to include the above areas or the creation of a number of additional smaller air quality management areas. There were perceived benefits and disadvantages in both approaches and it was proposed that a detailed analysis of these be undertaken and a further report be submitted to a future meeting of this Board setting out options and recommendations.

DECIDED: 
 
(a)  That the outcome of the 2015 Updating & Screening Assessment on air quality throughout the Council area and the requirement to proceed to two further detailed
assessments for the annual mean NO2 objective at West Walkinshaw, Paisley and for the 1 hour NO2 objective at Inchinnan Road, Renfrew be noted;

(b)  That the outcome of the Johnstone High Street detailed assessment and the requirement to declare an Air Quality Management Area in the Johnstone High Street area be noted;
 
(c)  That the outcome of the Renfrew detailed assessment and the requirement to declare an Air Quality Management Area at the M8 and Town Centre areas be noted;
 
(d)  That the outcome of the Montgomery Road, Paisley detailed assessment and that there was no current requirement for further action in this area be noted; and

(e)  That it be agreed that a further report would be brought back to a future meeting of the Board incorporating comments from the Environment Policy Board.

A report was submitted by SPT which provided details on the fuel types used by SPT’s fleet of buses and cars/vans. The report also provided information regarding alternative fuel vehicles in the wider bus network across the West of Scotland and gave some analysis of current experience of SPT and bus operators in emerging fuel technologies.

DECIDED:  That the report be noted.

M Higginbotham gave a presentation on active travel plans across Renfrewshire. He gave a brief overview of the involvement from Council departments and external organisations; outlined the current and future Council projects and outreach projects; and highlighted the funding streams.
 
He advised that the Council required assistance to promote active travel in schools; to ensure better co-ordination between partners in order to deliver a joined up network; to put in place with partners a long-term comprehensive programme based on published strategies; to raise awareness of known funding requirements in advance; and for CPP partners to participate in joint funding applications to maximise opportunities.

Discussion took place on how to resource the co-ordination of the strategy. It was agreed that this action would be taken forward by the Greener Transport Sub-Group and resource implications would also be explored with the Chief Executive's Service.

DECIDED:

(a)  That it be agreed that this action be taken forward by the Greener Transport Sub-Group with resource implications also to be explored with the Chief Executive's Service; and

(b) That the presentation be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Head of Public Protection which provided an overview of recent developments, initiatives and funding streams made available to Community Planning Partnerships in Scotland.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

The following report was deemed Private & Confidential owing to the information contained within the application forms and the Press and Public were excluded.