Agenda, decisions and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any disclosable pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests in any item on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

In accordance with Procedure Rules Nos.11 and 35 a period of 10 minutes is allocated for members of the public to address the meeting on any matter relevant to the work of the body in question.  Individual members of the public may speak for up to 5 minutes but the Chairman or person presiding will decide how the period of time allocated for public speaking will be apportioned where there are a number of speakers. Members of the public are not required to give notice to use this facility. However, as a matter of courtesy, a period of 24 hours’ notice is encouraged.

Members of the public wishing to ask a question at the meeting should provide at least three clear working days’ notice in writing and should include the question with that notice. This will enable an informed answer to be given.

No members of the public were present.

To consider an extension of the contract for the delivery of waste and environmental services.

That the Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, in consultation with the Chief Operating Officer and Director of Legal Services, vary the Service Operating Contract of Ansa Environmental Services and associated agreements in accordance with the Deed of Variation attached to the report.

It was requested that Ansa Environmental Services Ltd.’s (Ansa) existing contract for the delivery of Waste and Environmental Services be varied to allow for an extension of the contract to 1 April 2031; this would enable Ansa to enter into new procurement arrangements for waste processing and deliver future benefits to the Council.

Now in its third year of trading, Ansa had delivered the contract efficiencies required by the Council whilst at the same time exceeding its performance indicators and delivering a profit from its operations. In order to deliver future benefits however there was a need for Ansa to let new waste and recycling processing contracts that would require a 10-15 year service commitment.

A key aspect of the waste strategy was to reduce disposal to landfill to zero and achieve 100% disposal to waste to energy generation, to achieve this Council was constructing its central environmental hub. Ansa now needed to procure a number of contracts to coincide with the opening of the hub to allow the treatment and disposal of waste ending landfilling and delivering savings associated with it.  At present however Ansa’s contract with the Council was due for renewal only 4 years after completion of the hub.

This time limitation on the scope of Ansa’s development would be unduly restrictive since any contracts they subsequently entered into with third parties dealing with various aspects of waste management and treatment and be too short for most companies to agree with.

The current contract was due to expire on 1 April 2021 and a 10 year extension to its existing contract was proposed in order to give to give an unelapsed period of 15 years from 1st April 2016, ending 1st April 2031, with a rolling one year extension each year thereafter, assuming Ansa  achieved the  appropriate performance standards.

RESOLVED

That approval be given for the Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, in consultation with the Chief Operating Officer and Director of Legal Services, to vary the Service Operating Contract of Ansa Environmental Services and associated agreements in accordance with the Deed of Variation attached to the report.

To rectify the ownership of a number of allotment sites in Crewe.

1.    That approval be given to the rectification of the 9 allotment sites, set out in paragraph 2 of Appendix 1 of the report, from Crewe Town Council to Cheshire East Council, which will be formalised by way of a Settlement Agreement and Consent Order made between Cheshire East Council and Crewe Town Council. 

2.    That authority be given, following the above rectification, to formally transfer the freehold title to the 9 allotments sites to Crewe Town Council and to deal with any other legal documentation required to formalise this agreement.

Crewe Town Council was formed in April 2013 and in accordance with the Local Government (Parishes and Parish Councils) (England) Regulations 2008 it made an application to the Land Registry for the statutory vesting of 11 allotment sites which fell within its administrative area, with effect from 1 April 2013.

The Land Registry accepted the application and registered all 11 sites into the freehold ownership of Crewe Town Council but only 2 of the sites registered were allotment land only, the remaining 9 sites were both allotment and other land and as such did not automatically vest in Crewe Town Council on the date it was created.

Authority was now sought to rectify the ownership of the remaining 9 allotment sites back into the freehold ownership of Cheshire East Council and immediately thereafter to ratify the transfer of the Freehold of the 9 allotment sites, as set out in Appendix 1 of the report. 

In addition it was proposed that the transfers also dealt with amendments in terms of agreed site boundaries, rights of access and other rights and reservations necessary, set out in paragraph 2 of Appendix 1 of the report, to Crewe Town Council as part of the Local Service Delivery Transfer and Devolutions to Town and Parish Councils process.

RESOLVED

1.    That approval be given to the rectification of the 9 allotment sites, set out in paragraph 2 of Appendix 1 of the report, from Crewe Town Council to Cheshire East Council, which will be formalised by way of a Settlement Agreement and Consent Order made between Cheshire East Council and Crewe Town Council. 

2.    That authority be given, following the above rectification, to formally transfer the freehold title to the 9 allotments sites to Crewe Town Council and to deal with any other legal documentation required to formalise this agreement.