Agenda and minutes

To approve the Minutes of the meeting held on 18 June 2024

The Minutes of the meeting held on 18 June 2024 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Chair referred to the recent accident on the Dawlish seawall and gave condolences to all family and friends. An invitation would be sent to Network Rail asking if they could attend a future meeting to update the Committee.

Cllr Parrot, the Council’s representative on the Network Rail Forum advised that there were still outstanding issues from the previous seawall accident. The risk assessment of the seawall was due to be published in a few weeks’ time and authorities would be consulted.  

Councillor P Parker declared an interest in Minute 30 advising he has shares with South West Water.

Members of the public may ask questions of the Chair. A maximum period of 15 minutes will be allowed with a maximum period of three minutes per questioner. The deadline for questions is no later than three working days before the date of the meeting i.e. should the meeting be on a Thursday the deadline would be the Friday before at 5pm.

None.

Presentation by representatives of South West Water.

South West Water’s Drainage and Wastewater Management Plans (DWMP) and Water Resources Management Plans (WRMP) can be found at the links below.

Drainage and wastewater management plan | South West Water

Water resources management plan | South West Water

The Committee welcomed representatives of South West Water (SWW) including the Head of external Liaison. Devon County’s head of flood risk and coastal management was also in attendance.

The focus was on wastewater treatment and networks, storm overflows and SWW’s associated action plans. River quality would need to be addressed by the Environment Agency as there are many factors which impact river water quality.

Links to SWW drainage and wastewater and water resources management plans are  

Drainage and wastewater management plan | South West Water

Water resources management plan | South West Water

During discussions it was agreed that SWW would provide:

-       The webpage link for its customer priority support register

-       The webpage link for information on sea algae to provide confidence to customers on distinguishing this from effluent.

-       Information and webpage link on joining SWW’s customer panel

-       The webpage link to the storm overflows action plan

SWW were involved and working with the worldwide academics at the CREWW facility at Exeter University looking at improving water quality.  

The full presentation can be found here.

https://democracy.teignbridge.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=418&MId=3539&Ver=4

 A representative from Building Digital UK and Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) will be in attendance to give an update to Councillors, along with Cllr Nuttall, the Councils representative on the CDS board.

The Committee welcomed Matt Barrow, Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) stakeholder engagement officer and Ian Isaacs the local delivery lead from Building Digital UK.

Interventions from the superfast broadband initiatives were targeting properties with broadband speeds below 30mg per second, and in hard-to-reach areas with lowest available speeds. Of 1-5mg.  This was Phase 2 of the CDS project. Of the 61,315K in this phase, 97.5% properties have been connecting, leaving 1,750 properties still to be connected and brought up to speed.

Connection issues included obtaining agreements for access over private land through Land Rights, with wayleaves and easements being challenging for rolling out broadband.

The full presentation can be found here.

https://democracy.teignbridge.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=418&MId=3539&Ver=4

Members of the Council may ask questions of the Chair of the Committee subject to procedural rules. The deadline for questions is no later than three clear working days before the meeting.

None.

To note forthcoming issues anticipated to be considered by the Executive over the next 12 months. The Executive Forward Plan can be found here.

The Executive Forward Plan showing issues to be considered over the next few months was noted.

The Executive noted all items of the agenda for the Executive meeting held on 9 July. No decisions were made.  

To review the Committee’s forward plan which can be found here

The Committee’s forward plan showing issues to be considered over the next few months was noted.

To consider the NOM deferred at the last meeting to enable the proposer of the NOM to be present

Consideration was given to the Notice of Motion (NOM) deferred from the previous meeting to enable the proposer of the NOM to be present.

It was proposed, seconded and

RESOLVED

The NOM be deferred to the Procedures Committee with a recommendation that it be considered as part of the overall planning review.

To receive updates on Teign Estuary Partnership - Cllr Hook and Cllr Nuttall Connecting Devon and Somerset Board. Cllr Nuttall’s update will be given at agenda item 6.

Cllr Nuttall’s update on the work of the Connecting Devon and Somerset Board was given at Minute 30 above.

Cllr Hook updated the Committee on the Teign Estuary Partnership. The Partnership was led by the Council and consists of statutory agencies and other stakeholders. A small grants scheme encourages community groups to be involved with the management of the estuary. Meetings were quarterly and an annual forum. The Council contributed £3,000 towards the Partnership and in return the Council benefitted from the Partnership and was a stakeholder in ensuring the management of the estuary, some of which were the responsibility of the council.   All information about the Partnership is available on the Council’s website.

The Committee were updated on the work of the Medium-Term Financial Plan Task and Finish Group. An interim report would be presented to the Committee at its next meeting.

Cllrs Buscombe and Williams could no longer be members of the group because they were now Executive Members and were thanked for their contribution on the group. Cllrs P Parker and Nuttall had joined the group in their place.