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Environment Scrutiny Panel
Record of Meeting
Date: 2nd September 2013 Meeting No: 49
Present | Deputy J. Young, Chairman Deputy S. Luce (Vice chairman) Connétable P. Rondel |
Apologies |
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Absent |
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In attendance | Mr. M. Orbell, Scrutiny Officer |
Ref Back | Agenda matter | Action |
| 1. Records of meetings The Minutes of the meetings held on 26th and 29th April; 20th, 21st, 22nd and 30th May; 10th, 11th and 12th June; and 9th, 10th, and 25th July 2013 were approved and signed. | MO |
Item 1 29.04.13 514/1(25) | 2. Taxi Regulation Members considered the outcomes of a private briefing with the Minister for Transport and Technical Services on 2nd August 2013. The Panel was broadly supportive of the Minister's proposals for change. Since there had already been extensive consultation on the Green Paper members were also in favour of the Minister's suggested timetable for a short period of further consultation on a White Paper after the summer recess, to be followed by an early debate. |
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Item 1 25.07.13 514/22 | 3. Pathway 2050: An Energy Plan for Jersey The Panel considered the draft report on the Minister for Planning and Environment's draft energy policy prepared by the Panels' adviser. Members agreed that it was an excellent report. A small number of comments were felt to be political in nature and it was agreed that the Vice chairman would meet with the Scrutiny Officer to review the content and suggest any potential changes. It was noted that some more detailed information about renewable energy resources would be useful in the report. It was further agreed that the adviser's draft report should be released in confidence in advance to the Environment Department so that any errors of fact could be highlighted before it was finalised, with the proviso that some minor changes were still expected. It was noted that the Panel's report was intended to be relatively short as it would include the adviser's work in full as an appendix. The Panel's report would follow a similar format to the adviser's draft and summarise the arguments, avoiding duplication as far as possible and simplifying where necessary. It was agreed to aim for the Panel's report to be completed by the end of September 2013. | SL/ MO MO MO |
Item 5 26.04.13 514/23 | 4. Historic buildings The Panel considered possible amendments to the draft terms of reference for the proposed review following a private meeting with the Minister for Planning and Environment on 30th May 2013. It was felt that a recent landmark judgment by the Royal Court in respect of planning controls on historic buildings would need to be taken into account and it was agreed this should be added to the amended draft. The Scrutiny Officer was asked to revise the draft terms of reference accordingly. There was further discussion concerning possible sources of expert advice for the review, which members now considered would be necessary. It was thought that it might be difficult to demonstrate impartiality, particularly if a local candidate with past experience in the planning department was selected, and it was therefore agreed that the Chairman and Scrutiny Officer would look into the possibility of finding advisers from Guernsey to assist with the review in due course. | MO JY/MO |
Item 6 26.04.13 514/20 | 5. Radon The Panel received an oral update on contact with the Panel's proposed advisers. A draft contract had been received by the Scrutiny Office and the standard Scrutiny terms had since been shared with the advisers for their consideration. It was noted that advice would need to be sought from the Greffier of the States before going any further. The proposed tender price was within the Panel's provisional budget, and the advisers had availability to work on the review until 31st December 2013. It was agreed that the review should proceed as soon as possible once the Energy Policy report was completed. It was suggested that if a public call for evidence was launched near the end of September this would allow sufficient time for any submissions to be considered. There was a potential for concerns about different sources of radiation to be conflated with radon issues and this would have to be considered when selecting possible witnesses for hearings. Members reconsidered the draft terms of reference and objectives for the review; it was felt that these remained valid following the 2011 survey and recent publication of the epidemiological study on causes of cancer, Cancer in Jersey' by the Department for Health and Social Services. There was discussion about the possibility of using some of the Panel's budget to fund additional testing, as it was agreed that one possible concern was the small number of tests on which current information was based. However, it was noted that the sum potentially available would only allow for a similar-sized sample to that tested during the 2011 survey, which was considered to be very small compared with the total number of local households. A further survey of this size would not necessarily add anything substantive to the previous results. The Scrutiny Officer was asked to take steps to progress the contract and make necessary preparations for the review. | MO MO MO |
| 6. Forthcoming meetings In view of the forthcoming Royal Visit the Panel agreed to change the arrangements for its next scheduled Panel meeting, which would now take place at: 11.30am on 16th September 2013, Le Capelain Room, States Building Quarterly public hearing with the Minister for Transport and Technical Services: 2.30pm on Monday 2nd September 2013, Le Capelain Room, States Building Quarterly public hearing with the Minister for Planning and Environment: 2.30pm on Monday 16th September 2013, Le Capelain Room, States Building | MO |