Skip to main content

Environment - Approved Panel Minutes - 18 September 2012

The official version of this document can be found via the PDF button.

The below content has been automatically generated from the original PDF and some formatting may have been lost, therefore it should not be relied upon to extract citations or propose amendments.

Environment Scrutiny Panel

Record of Meeting

Date: 18th September 2012 Meeting No: 11

 

Present

Deputy J. Young, Chairman Connétable P. Rondel

Deputy S. Luce (Vice chairman)

Apologies

 

Absent

 

In attendance

Mr. M. Orbell, Scrutiny Officer

 

Ref Back

Agenda matter

Action

 

1. Record of meeting

The  Minutes  of  the  meeting  held  on  21st  August  2012  were approved and signed.

MO

21.08.12 Item 2

514/19

2. Ash Disposal

The  Panel  considered  the  adviser's  draft  report  and  suggested questions for the ash review public hearings on 21st September. It was agreed that the Panel would hold an informal pre-meeting with the adviser starting at 1.00pm on 20th September to prepare for the hearings  the  following  day.  The  Scrutiny  Officer  was  asked  to prepare a suitable media release announcing the hearings.

MO MO

21.08.12 Item 3

514/20

3. Radon

It was noted that the Health and Social Services Department had not yet responded to a request for information on radon, to be followed by a meeting with the Minister for Health and Social Services to agree terms and conditions for the review. The Scrutiny Officer was asked to contact the department to remind them of the request and ask for full information on all past radon surveys to be provided at least 2 days in advance of the meeting. It was agreed that the information would be treated as confidential. The Panel discussed the need for an adviser for the review; members considered that it might be helpful to seek advice on suitable consultants from the UK Health Protection Agency once the terms of reference for the review were agreed.

MO

MO

21.08.12 Item 4

513/35

4. Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP)

The Panel noted separate draft reports on the MTFP proposals for the Department of the Environment and Transport and Technical Services prepared by the Chairman. It was agreed that members would  submit  any  comments  or  suggested  amendments  before midday on 20th September so that the reports could be passed on to the Corporate Services (MTFP) Sub-Panel by 24th September.

SL/PR JY/MO

21.08.12 Item 5

5. Asbestos

The  Panel  discussed  the  latest  information  received  from departments concerning asbestos. The Scrutiny Officer was asked to seek  clarification  from  the  Department  of  the  Environment  on discussions with the UK Environment Agency about Duly Reasoned

MO

 

Requests' for the purpose of exporting waste. It was agreed that the Panel would revisit the subject of asbestos in 1-2 months to see what progress had been made.

MO

1214(605)

6. Marine water quality

It  was  noted  that  no  contact  had  yet  been  received  from  the aquaculture  industry  following  the  Panel's  last  meeting  with  the Department  of  the  Environment.  It  was  agreed  that  the  Vice Chairman would follow this up with the industry; in the meantime the Panel would take no further action.

SL

 

7. Planning System

The Panel noted comments on various matters from the Chairman following his attendance at the first Construction Council conference.

  1. There appeared to be some movement on the Department of the Environment's internal review of the Planning Appeals system; it was agreed that the Panel would wait 3 months before following this matter up.
  2. The H3 affordable housing policy was not working and there was pressure for a review. It was understood that the Minister would be bringing forward a Green Paper, but a timetable would be required so that that the Panel could look into this before the matter came back to the States.
  3. The  system  for  planning  applications  was  considered  to be chaotic and time-consuming. There could be a case for a Panel review early in 2013.

The  Panel  also  discussed  historic  buildings.  It  was  agreed  that available guidance was unclear and a review was also needed in this  area.  It  was  suggested  that  the  topic  could  be  Registered Buildings and Heritage Policy' and the review should take place in the first quarter of 2013.

MO MO MO

MO

 

8. Forthcoming meetings

Ash Disposal review public hearings:

  1. Minister  for Planning  and  Environment:  10.00am  on  21st September 2012, Blampied Room, States Building
  1. Minister for Transport and Technical Services: 1.30pm on 21st September 2012, Blampied Room, States Building

Quarterly  public  hearing  with  the  Minister  for  Transport  and Technical Services: 2.00pm on 8th October 2012, Blampied Room, States Building

Next  scheduled  Panel  meeting:  2.00pm  on  16th October  2012, Blampied Room, States Building

MO