Agenda and minutes

To elect a Chair of the Committee for the 2023/24 Municipal Year.

The Committee elected a Chair for the 2023/24 Municipal Year.

RESOLVED: That Al Neal be elected as Chair of the Committee for the 2023/24 Municipal Year.

To appoint a Vice-Chair of the Committee for the 2023/24 Municipal Year.

The Committee appointed a Vice-Chair for the 2023/24 Municipal Year.

RESOLVED: That Andrew Mickleburgh be appointed as Vice-Chair of the Committee for the 2023/24 Municipal Year.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were submitted from Pauline Jorgensen and Stuart Munro.

Graham Howe attended the meeting as a substitute.

To confirm the Minutes of the Meeting held on 15 March 2023.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee, held on 15 March 2023, were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair, subject to an amendment on Page 7, second paragraph:

“…KPIs were assigned a RAG status (Red for on target…….amend to Green for on target.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest.

To answer any public questions. A period of 30 minutes will be allowed for members of the public to ask questions submitted under notice.

The Council welcomes questions from members of the public about the work of this committee. Subject to meeting certain timescales, questions can relate to general issues concerned with the work of the Committee or an item which is on the Agenda for this meeting.  For full details of the procedure for submitting questions please contact the Democratic Services Section on the numbers given below or go to www.wokingham.gov.uk/publicquestions

There were no public questions.

To answer any Member questions.

There were no Member questions.

Richard Aylard, External Affairs and Sustainability Director for Thames Water, will attend the meeting to answer Member questions on issues of interest for local residents and community groups.

Further to a request from the Committee, Richard Aylard, Thames Water’s Sustainability Director, attended the meeting to give a presentation and answer Member questions on matters of interest to residents and local communities. James Bentley, Thames Water’s Operations Director, joined Richard for the Q&A which followed.

The presentation covered the following issues:

·           How does a sewage treatment works operate?

·           Why do flows increase after rainfall? Causes - infiltration, missed and unauthorised connections, inundation and physical damage.

·           Why do flows increase after rainfall – dual manholes.

·           Impacts on river water quality – reasons for not achieving Good status in the Thames River Basin.

·           Event Duration Monitor (EDM) – showing the number and duration of overflows at sites in the Borough.

·           Storm Discharge Interactive Map – showing storm discharge activity indicated by Thames Water’s EDM at sites in the Borough. The map has been updated to include improvement plans.

·           Thames Water Investment Plans – Wokingham Borough:

o    Arborfield Sewage Treatment Works (STW) – an upgrade is planned to improve the ability to treat the volumes of incoming sewage, reducing the need for untreated discharges in wet weather. Due to complete in 2026.

o    Remenham STW – is a small treatment works, currently operating well with no major upgrade schemes planned.

o    Longwater STW – ongoing work to improve the efficiency of its sludge system.

o    Ash Ridge (Wokingham) STW – an upgrade is planned to improve the ability to treat the volumes of incoming sewage, reducing the need for untreated discharges in wet weather;

o    New Mill STW – is currently operating well and there are no plans for major upgrade schemes.

o    Wargrave STW – is being upgraded to improve its ability to treat the volumes of incoming sewage, reducing the need for untreated discharges. The scheme is due to complete in 2026. Assessments for future upgrades are also being considered to cater for future growth in the Wargrave system.

In the ensuing discussion, Members raised the following points and questions:

The Wargrave STW supported a large catchment area and a population equivalent of 119k. Local Members were interested in the planned investment plans from 2026 onwards. Richard Aylard stated that Thames Water would be happy to deliver a tour of the site for a small group – up to six people. Generally, Thames Water would be happy to deliver talks to local communities, perhaps via the relevant Town and Parish Councils.

It was noted that a number of STWs in Reading had an impact on Wokingham Borough. Reading STW was one of the biggest and newest STWs, so there were no immediate plans for investment. There were eight sewage discharges into the Kennet in 2022 which was relatively low, but still too high.

There were ongoing issues at the Grazeley Road pumping station and a new station at Three Mile Cross – the system appeared to take a long time to switch back on following incidents, resulting in problems such as sewage in gardens. Were there any plans to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

To consider and scrutinise the corporate Q4 Performance Monitoring Report – January to March 2023.

The Committee considered a report, set out at Agenda pages 21 to 68, which set out the Q4 Performance Monitoring Report for 2022/23 (January to March 2023).

Prue Bray (Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Children’s Services) attended the meeting to present the report on behalf of Sarah Kerr (Executive Member for Climate Emergency and Resident Services).

Louise Livingston (Head of HR & Organisational Development) introduced the report and highlighted some inconsistencies in the figures, including the pie charts at the start of the report.

Overall, Q4 showed good performance in spite of ongoing challenges relating to inflation and financial uncertainty at a national and international level. Of the 41 KPIs reported, 23 were Green, 7 were Amber and 4 were Red. Seven KPIs were in the process of being categorised and assigned SMART targets..

The four Red KPIs were:

·           RA 10B – Completion to time and budget of regeneration works (residential works);

·           CS3 – percentage of children in care who were 20 miles + from their homes and out of the Borough;

·           CS4 – Percentage of Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) assessments completed within 20 weeks of referral;

·           AS2 – Social work assessments allocated to commence within 28 days of the request (counted at the point of allocation).

The report gave details of the measures being implemented to bring these KPIs back on track.

The report also gave details of the top wins, top opportunities and challenges facing each of the Council’s service directorates.

In the ensuing discussion, Members raised the following points and questions:

RA4 – Return on investment portfolio – Property Investment Fund – would it be useful to include a valuation for the assets in the Council’s property portfolio? Graham Ebers commented that the return on investment was the most useful information for Members. However, further consideration would be given to this suggestion about valuation, with feedback provided to Members.

RA8 – Capital Budget monitoring forecast position – what factors lay behind the 11% underspend on the Capital Budget? Graham Ebers stated that there were a number of factors. High inflation and high interest rates had led to a focus on avoiding Capital expenditure in certain areas in order to mitigate the impact of the current financial situation. The detail would be reported to the Executive in July 2023.

CS3 – Percentage of children in care who are 20 miles + from their homes and out of the Borough – what factors had led the KPI to move from Red to Green? Prue Bray commented that children could still be in care if placed with family members. Some families had moved out of the Borough but were still included in the report. There was also an issue around unaccompanied asylum seeker children. The KPI covered a number of complex issues. Andrew Mickleburgh commented that this KPI would be closely scrutinised by the Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Pages 29 and 33 – Challenges for Place and Growth and Children’s Services – were action plans  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

To consider the current published version of the Executive Forward Programme and the Individual Executive Member Decision Forward Programme.

The Committee considered a copy of the Executive Forward Programme and Individual Member Decision Forward Programme, as set out on Agenda pages 69 to 82.

RESOLVED: That the Executive Forward Programme and Individual Member Decision Forward Programme be noted.

To discuss the work programme of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee and Overview and Scrutiny Committees.

The Committee considered its forward work programme and that of the Overview and Scrutiny Committees as set out on Agenda pages 83 to 96.

RESOLVED That:

1)     Scrutiny suggestions from Town and Parish Councils and residents (reported to the March 2023 meeting) be allocated to the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committees;

2)     all Scrutiny reports and presentations be included in the published Agenda ahead of the Committee’s meetings;

3)     the Chair and Vice-Chair discuss the format and timing for the proposed Scrutiny item on Air Quality – progress against the improvement action plan.

To consider the regular Action Tracker report.

The Committee considered the regular Action Tracker report.

RESOLVED That:

1)     the Action Tracker report be noted;

2)     each Overview and Scrutiny Committee develop its own Action Tracker.

Further to Item 8 – Thames Water

Al Neal

Chair of the Overview & Scrutiny Management Committee

Wokingham Borough Council

12 July 2023

Richard Aylard

Sustainability Director

Thames Water

Dear Richard,

Thames Water Visit to Wokingham Borough Council O&S

Firstly, I would like to thank you and your colleagues for attending the Overview & Scrutiny meeting on 12 June 2023. Members found your presentation very useful and I was pleased to see such a constructive debate on a number of key issues. Obviously, since then there have been tumultuous changes at Thames Water. I hope that these matters can be resolved quickly in order to renew the shared focus on tackling the issues we discussed at the Scrutiny meeting.

As you are aware, the role of Overview & Scrutiny is to hold the Council’s leadership and key public service providers to account. Scrutiny also acts as the voice of local residents, ensuring that issues of importance and concern are scrutinised publicly.

Our residents and community groups have been telling us that the discharge of sewage into rivers and waterways is unacceptable. Wokingham Borough is home to rivers and streams of significant importance and I was pleased to see that Thames Water recognises that urgent action is required.

There is also great concern about the huge amount of water which is lost on a daily basis through leakage. This is especially worrying in light of the Climate Emergency, declared by the Council in 2019.

At the end of our discussion on 12 June, I undertook to write to you setting out the key points and actions agreed at the meeting. These are set out below:

·           You undertook to arrange a site visit for up to six people at the Wargrave Sewage Treatment plant;

·           You agreed to provide briefings on issues such as sewage discharge, water leakages and investment plans for Town and Parish Councils and community groups, on request;

·           Councillor Chris Johnson raised issues about the performance of the Grazeley Road/Three Mile Cross pumping stations – you agreed to investigate and provide a written answer;

·           Thames Water was currently working on a submission to Ofwat on the price review process – you agreed to share the submission with Members once it was ready for circulation;

·           In response to a question about the payment of dividends to shareholders and the movement of funds to the company’s internal stakeholders, you agreed to provide a written response;

·           You agreed to provide feedback on the level of water leakages in the Borough and the action plan/investment in place to address this matter;

·           We agreed to a joint meeting in September 2023 when Thames Water would brief WBC Members and officers on the roll-out of smart meters in 2024;

·           We agreed that Thames Water and WBC officers would meet to discuss issues relating to delays in the adoption of infrastructure  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.