J Wilby declared an interest in Item 9 on the agenda as he was Chair of a Community Council that had submitted an application for funding for Stalled Spaces and indicated his intention to leave the meeting during consideration of the item and not to take part in any discussion or voting thereon.

There was submitted the Minute of the meeting of the Greener Renfrewshire Thematic Board held on 5 March 2015.

DECIDED:    That the minute be approved.

The Rolling Action Log was submitted for approval.

GR.02.10.13(4b) – Establishment of Database

The Clerk gave a verbal update in S Marklow’s absence. It was noted that the database was now established and a demonstration of how the web page would work would be given at the next meeting of the Board. It was agreed that this action could now be removed from the action log.

GR.22.04.12(4) – Membership Structure

J Brown advised that all groups had been set up and the first meetings had either been held or were due to be held. It was agreed that this action could now be removed from the action log .

DECIDED:

(a)    That completed action GR.02.10.13(4b) – Establishment of Database be removed from the action log;

(b)   That completed action GR.22.04.12(4) – Membership Structure be removed from the action log; and

(c)    That the Rolling Action Log be otherwise noted.

There was submitted a report by the Greener Communities Sub Group relative to the progress made in delivering the actions endorsed by the Greener Renfrewshire Thematic Board in March.

The report advised that the first meeting of the group was held on 23 April 2015 and it was agreed at the meeting that the group would have a core membership with others to be invited to join for particular meetings as appropriate. The meetings would be used to share information, ideas and knowledge as well as discussing initiatives any group was working on in relation to the Greener Renfrewshire agenda. It was agreed at the meeting that members of each organisation would recruit new signups for the Greener Pledge in order to reach the target of 500 signups by the end of 2015/16.

The report also advised that the Stalled Spaces initiative was making good progress; an audit of community groups was underway; and a questionnaire relating to greener activities had been sent to 97 educational establishments and the results were being studied.

DECIDED:    That the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Greener Transport Sub Group relative to the progress made in delivering the actions endorsed by the Greener Renfrewshire Thematic Board in March.

The report advised that the first meeting of the group was held on 13 May 2015. Electric vehicles; Renfrewshire Council’s cycling strategy; the WorkBus scheme; and the Greener Transport action plan were discussed at the meeting.

DECIDED:    That the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Interim Head of Public Protection relative to the present situation with alternative fuel vehicles amongst Renfrewshire Community Planning partners.

The report indicated that Renfrewshire Council and its Community Planning Partners had received grant funding from Transport Scotland over the past four years which had enabled investment in electric vehicles and related infrastructure.

It was noted that funding had already been secured by Renfrewshire Council for 2015/16 which would enable a further 6 electric vans to be purchased which would meet the Community Plan target of 5% of the vehicle fleet using alternative fuels. The report also stated that three pilot projects were currently taking place across the country and the Board would be advised of the results in due course.
 
J Binning indicated that SPT operated a Journeywide Scheme which gave card holders free bus travel in Scotland and reduced fares on trains and Subway in the Strathclyde area. He intimated he would provide information on this at the next meeting.

DECIDED:

a)    That the present situation with alternative fuel vehicles amongst Renfrewshire Community Partners be noted;

b)    That it be agreed that a presentation and demonstration on electric vehicles be delivered at the next meeting of the Board; and

c)    That SPT provide information relating to the Journeywide Scheme at the next meeting of the Board.

There was submitted a report by the Interim Head of Public Protection relative to those impact measures which were identified as being 10% or more outwith target (red alert).

The report indicated that two impact measures from the Greener Renfrewshire Single Outcome Agreement fell within the red alert status. An analysis of the progress of these indicators was contained within the report and it was highlighted that this would form part of the overall progress report to the Community Planning Partnership Board in June 2015.

DECIDED:

a)    That the update provided on the indicators be noted; and

b)    That it be agreed that the update be reported to the Community Planning Partnership Board at its meeting on 24 June 2015.

There was submitted a report by the Interim Head of Public Protection relative to further work which had been undertaken to refine the detail of performance information for future years, building on the experience of the Board to date and refining the level of detail available to the Board in order to monitor progress more effectively.

The report advised that work was ongoing and details of a refreshed suite of indicators were included in the report.

DECIDED:

a)    That the performance against impacted measures as highlighted within the report be noted; and

b)    That the performance measures being used to support delivery of the headline indicators included in the Greener Renfrewshire element of the Single Outcome Agreement be agreed.

There was submitted a report by Renfrewshire Access Panel/Engage Renfrewshire relative to making streets and public places within Renfrewshire more accessible to disabled people and other people with mobility difficulties.

The report advised that the charity Living Streets published an analysis of statutory Equality Objectives of Scottish councils called “Streets For All?” which was contained within the Appendix to the report. The report highlighted that by improving accessibility within the environment this would directly benefit a wide range of individuals with temporary or permanent mobility issues, reduce the costs to individuals and public services of preventable falls and would also widen access to public services and the local economy. The Renfrewshire Forum For Empowering Communities proposed to work with the Board to develop appropriate practical actions as proposed in “Streets For All?” to improve the accessibility of streets, pavements and public places.

S Cruickshank advised that Renfrewshire Access Panel would be willing to do a street audit in an area specified by the Board and it was agreed that as the report had already been submitted to the Safer & Stronger Thematic Board and was due to go on the agenda for the Jobs and the Economy Thematic Board that Engage would write to each Lead Officer to identify areas to ensure no duplication.  The Board also asked the Access Panel to identify any areas where they considered there were issues and which were appropriate. 

DECIDED:

(a)    That the report be noted;

(b)    That it be agreed that Renfrewshire Forum For Empowering Communities develop the work with the relevant Lead Officers to improve the accessibility and attractiveness of streets, pavements and public places, which will contribute to achievement of the relevant equality outcomes in Renfrewshire, as outlined within the report;

(c)    That the Renfrewshire Access Panel identify any areas where they considered there were issues and which were appropriate; and

(d)    That it be agreed that a report with recommendations regarding practical ways to improve accessibility and attractiveness of streets, pavements and public spaces in Renfrewshire be considered at a future meeting of the Greener Renfrewshire Board.

C Devine gave a presentation relative to the Zero Waste Programme Plan. The presentation highlighted the goals and themes for Zero Waste Scotland for 2015/18; outlined how they would encourage sustainable consumer behavior; why there was a need to improve recycling performance; how they planned to demonstrate the value of a circular economy approach; how they planned to deliver resource efficiency savings; and what the key corporate and strategic goals were.

DECIDED:    That the presentation be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Lead Officer relative to the Stalled Spaces project which aimed to improve town centres by bringing derelict, vacant or underused land, collectively known as stalled spaces, back into positive use while it was lying unused or awaiting development.

The report advised that two community engagement events were held on Tuesday 12 May 2015 and Thursday 14 May 2015 at Engage Renfrewshire’s offices to promote the Stalled Spaces Scotland programme to community groups and educational establishments across Renfrewshire following the allocation of £20,000 of funding to Community Resources as part of the wider Stalled Spaces Scotland programme, managed by Architecture & Design Scotland. The appendix to the report detailed expressions of interest already received from community groups for proposed projects and it was anticipated that there would be a number of applications submitted over the coming weeks which could be considered at the next meeting of the Board.

The Lead Officer advised that an application had already been received and outlined the nature of the application.  Following discussion, it was agreed that a short term working group would be set up to score the application and any subsequent forms with the recommendations being submitted to the next Greener Renfrewshire Thematic Board.

DECIDED:

(a)    That the report be noted; and

(b)    That a short term working group be set up to score the application forms with the recommendations being brought to the next Greener Renfrewshire Thematic Board.

E Borland and J Brown gave a presentation relative to the Warden Service within Renfrewshire.

The presentation highlighted the new community clean up booklet; a number of large clean-up projects that had taken place; the educational workshops that the wardens had delivered; and the engagement events that the wardens had participated in.

DECIDED: That the presentation be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive’s Service 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 Clerk advised that the next meeting of the Greener Renfrewshire Thematic Board would take place on Monday 31 August 2015. The proposed agenda items were agreed.

DECIDED:

(a)    That the meeting date be noted;

(b)    That the agenda items be agreed.

Councillors E Devine and Audrey Doig; O Reid, Lead Officer and Interim Head of Public Protection; J Lynch, Head of Property Services, C Thorpe, Corporate Asset/Energy Manager and (all Renfrewshire Council); I Cunningham, Third Sector Development Officer (Engage Renfrewshire); J Wilby, Representative (Forum for Empowering Communities); Ross Nimmo, Planning and Development Manager (Glasgow Airport); J Binning, Principal Policy Officer (Strathclyde Partnership for Transport); and C Devine, Head of Resource Management (Zero Waste).
 
CHAIR

Councillor E Devine, Chair, presided.

IN ATTENDANCE

S Graham, Empowering Communities Manager (Engage); S Cruckshank, Chair (Renfrewshire Access Panel);  and K Anderson, Amenity Services Manager; G Scoular, Senior Warden; E Borland, Warden; J Brown, Planning and Performance Officer; and C MacDonald, Senior Committee Services Officer (all Renfrewshire Council).

APOLOGIES

A Fraser, Representative (FLAIR); G Tarvit, Sustainability & Climate Change Manager (Keep Scotland Beautiful); J Downie, Chief Superintendent (Police Scotland); S MacDougall, Director of Community Resources; B Spence, Housing Investment Manager; and S Marklow, Assistant Manager, Policy (all Renfrewshire Council); and J Still, Head of Administration (Renfrewshire Health & Social Care Partnership).

J Wilby having declared an interest in relation to the following item of business, left the meeting and did not take part in any discussion or voting thereon.