Agenda and minutes

Venue: Hurstwood Room, Public Service Plaza, Civic Centre Road, Havant, Hampshire PO9 2AX. View directions

Contact: Holly Weaver  Democratic Services Assistant

Items
No. Item

40.

Apologies

To receive and record apologies for absence.

 

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Howard and Robinson.

 

41.

Matters Arising

Minutes:

There were no matters arising.

 

42.

Declarations of Interest

To receive and record any Declarations of Interests from members present in respect of any of the various matters on the agenda for this meeting.

 

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest relating to matters on the agenda.

 

43.

Update from Southern Water pdf icon PDF 583 KB

Minutes:

The Chairman opened the item by thanking Southern Water for coming back to speak to the Board. It was acknowledged that the Council has no direct responsibility for Southern Water, and that Southern Water were still under investigation.

 

The Board received a presentation by Sam Underwood, Daniel McElhinney and Nick Mills from Southern Water (please see attached with minutes).

 

In response to a question about lobbying for less water waste, Mr Underwood advised that lobbying was taking place through Water UK to reduce the number of plastic bottles in the environment and encourage refillable water bottles. He advised that it would be difficult to target manufacturers as manufacturers respond to a market where sales and convenience take priority, but Southern Water do not endorse the “Fine to Flush” accreditation. Whilst the biodegradable wipes may break down over an extended period of time, they still block up the screens and release plastic into the waste water treatment works, thus creating problems further down the line.

 

Mr Underwood agreed to share Southern Water’s submission on plastic lobbying and the extended polluter tariff.

 

Councillor Bains suggested that one way to reach out and educate residents would be to deliver information issued by Southern Water about flushing responsibly and reducing plastic waste with Council tax bills for the next fiscal year. Mr Underwood advised that Southern Water was also aiming to work with schools to educate residents, and that Southern Water was going to show how waste water and clean water were two very different teams, by sending them to schools on different day in order to maintain focus.

 

Councillor Raines offered to work with Southern Water to speak to Hayling Island residents and local groups about water issues.

 

In response to questions from Board Members about water quality testing, Mr Underwood counselled that:

 

a)    the Beach Buoy system covered 6 areas, including Chichester and Langstone despite there being no water quality testing taking place in those waters;

 

b)    reintroducing oysters into the Langstone oyster beds would enable testing to happen in Langstone Harbour;

 

c)    the Beach Buoy system still needs human intervention to send out alerts to the mailing list, but possibilities of automation in the distant future still exist;

 

d)    the Blue Marine Foundation were working on the Solent Oysters Restoration Project, which could be funded by Southern Water’s Enforcement Undertaking through the Environment Agency. Rather than a prosecuted fine, it allows for the money to go to a localised project agreed by the offender and the Environment Agency to help give improvements;

 

e)    once Langstone Harbour’s waters began to be tested again, the results and data should be readily available to residents, and there was a need to determine responsibility of testing.

 

Mr Underwood explained that since a change in executive management there appeared to be a marked improvement in Southern Water’s performance.

 

The Chairman then covered questions about the mechanical infrastructure of the pumping station, to which Mr Underwood, Mr Mills and Mr McElhinney advised that:

 

1)    whilst in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43.