The Council and democracy Neighbourhoods and Environment Scrutiny Committee's Investigations

End of Year Summary 2018/19

End of Year Summary 2018/19

Over the previous 12 months the Neighbourhoods and Environment Scrutiny Committee has continued to examine the many services that are delivered in local areas that have an impact on communities and neighbourhoods. The Committee has also continued to monitor the steps taken to reduce carbon emissions and improve air quality.   

The Committee has considered reports on a variety of subjects including update reports on enforcement activities such as trading standards tackling counterfeit goods; environmental protection; the initiatives designed to tackle rouge landlords and address poor management practices in the Private Rented Sector; regular updates on the measures taken to improve Waste and Recycling; Green and Blue Infrastructure; progress on the implementation of the plans to improve cycling routes and the promotion of active travel across the city and the continued investment in highways improvement and repairs. 

To help inform the Committees discussions a number of Members undertook a visit to the Longley Lane Recycling Centre where they were given a tour of the facility and took part in an education and awareness session delivered by the education team based at the site. Members had also undertaken visits to meet with the Highways Team. Members reported that they had found the visits to be very interesting and informative and they had welcomed the opportunity to meet with staff delivering services.

The Council remains committed to reducing its direct carbon emissions by 41% by 2020 from a 2009/10 baseline, and the Committee continue to receive regular progress reports on the delivery of the Climate Change Action Plan. The Committee further supported the adoption of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Research’s recommendation of adopting a carbon budget for Manchester and committing the city to a target of becoming zero carbon by 2038 rather the existing 2050 target. The Committee has welcomed the opportunity to hear from, and question a range of invited guests with specialist knowledge and expertise in this subject area. The Committee thank all who had attended for their invaluable contribution.

The consultation on The Manchester Strategy showed how passionately residents felt about environmental issues and this feedback had been incorporated into the ‘Our Manchester’ vision to reduce littering, increase recycling and create a cleaner city. Whilst the City has a statutory obligation to keep streets clean, residents, businesses and visitors to Manchester have a key role to play in keeping it tidy. The Committee therefore agreed to establish a Task and Finish group to investigate Behaviour Change and Waste. The Group had agreed a work programme that included hearing from resident groups and volunteers, and the findings, along with final recommendations of this review will be reported in the new municipal year.  

Get Involved

If there's an issue you want to contribute to, let us know.  You can either send a written contribution to scrutiny@manchester.gov.uk or you can attend a meeting and ask the Chair if you can speak.  You can also suggest a topic for us to look into by filling in our 'suggestions form.' 

If you want to speak to somebody about contributing to the committee, please call our scrutiny support officer on 0161 234 3376 or e mail scrutiny@manchester.gov.uk.   

Role of the Committee 


Councillor Lee-Ann Igbon

Chair of the Neighbourhoods and Environment Scrutiny Committee

"The Neighbourhoods and Environment Scrutiny Committee deals with many of the city council's services which are most visible to residents - housing, highways, the street environment, waste and recycling - and also monitors the council's planning and environmental policies, including our carbon reduction plans and climate change strategy.

The role of councillors serving on the committee is to ensure that our policies are fit for purpose and that we are delivering services which serve the interests of the people we represent. My role as chair is to make sure that members have all the information they need to ask the right questions and make appropriate recommendations to the council's executive as to how to best implement our policies and deliver our services.

In the year ahead we will:

- Continue to monitor the city council's plan to reduce carbon emissions by 41% from 2010 levels by 2020.

- Work to improve street cleaning and waste disposal services as we monitor the delivery of the contract with Biffa.

- Engage constructively with the city council to monitor and improve plans to increase recycling rates across the city.

A key focus for all members of the committee is ensuring that residents have the ability to influence local decision making through the scrutiny process and I would strongly encourage and warmly welcome any local residents or community groups who wish to attend our meetings, suggest items for future work or otherwise help us to conduct scrutiny effectively.

Contact us on scrutiny@manchester.gov.uk with your questions and ideas. 

Through this page you'll be able to keep in touch with what we've been doing, find out what we'll be investigating over the next few months and how you can get involved." 

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