Agenda and draft minutes

45 minutes

This is an opportunity to see the facilities at the Recycling Hub and find out more about the items collected for recycling and what happens to them.  Also, to see the MOT Centre and Reuse Shop.

The tour takes 45 minutes and you will be standing for much of the time.  Do wear sturdy footwear if you wish to take part.  You will be given a hi-viz jacket to wear.

Do also let us know if you want to participate so that we have an idea of numbers – email connecting_communities@bathnes.gov.uk

It is likely that we will split into two groups for the tour and then return to the Training Room

Opportunity to have some refreshments following the tour (5 mins)

Parish and Town Council representatives undertook a tour of Keynsham recycling hub.

5 minutes

Welcome from the Chair of the Council, Cllr Karen Walker.

The Chair of Council welcomed everyone to the meeting after their tour of the Keynsham recycling facilities and confirmed that the fact sheet about the recycling hub would be circulated with the minutes of the meeting.

Apologies for absence had been received from:

Parish and Town Councils:

David Duckett, Hinton Blewett Parish Council

Richard Maccabee, Chair of B&NES Avon Local Councils Association (ALCA)

B&NES:

Cllr Eleanor Jackson

Cllr Ruth Malloy

Cllr Andy Wait

5 minutes

Many of you will remember Peter Duppa-Miller who passed away in 2015.  Peter was a dedicated advocate for Parishes and rural communities in Bath and North East Somerset and we have dedicated one of our annual Community Awards in his honour.

The Award acknowledges the commitment and service provided by Town or Parish Councils in our area.  The Chair will present the Award at this evening’s meeting.

The Chair announced Cllr Phil Harding of Saltford Parish Council as this year’s winner of the Peter Duppa-Miller Award which recognised the commitment and service provided by Town and Parish Councils in the area.

In receiving the award, Cllr Phil Harding paid tribute to the work of all Parish and Town Councillors and recommended the role to anyone looking to develop skills and support their community. 

It was noted that this was the first of this year’s Community Awards to be presented and Parishes would receive announcements of further winners soon via a press release.

5 minutes

Richard Maccabee, Chair of BANES ALCA will give an update.

Richard Maccabee, Chair of B&NES Avon Local Councils Association (ALCA) was unable to attend the meeting to give an update.

5 minutes

Parish Liaison takes place 3 times a year, usually in person in Keynsham.  This was previously agreed with Parishes as a central point in the district.

We have recently received a proposal to move the meeting to different locations through the year.  Suggestions of using venues in Bath; Bishop Sutton; Temple Cloud; Timsbury and Tunley as well as Keynsham have been made.

We would like the Parishes to agree whether to continue holding in-person Parish Liaison meetings in Keynsham, or whether to rotate the meeting to different communities.  We will send a survey out after the meeting.

Mandy Bishop gave a brief update as follows:

1. There had been a request to rotate the location of Parish Liaison meetings through the year to places such as Bath; Bishop Sutton; Temple Cloud; Timsbury and Tunley as well as Keynsham. 
2. It had previously been agreed with Parishes to hold the meetings in Keynsham was it is central in the district and accessible by transport.
3. A short survey would be sent out after the meeting seeking feedback on this issue. 

5 minutes

There will be an update on the Parish Charter.  The draft revised Charter will be circulated for comment prior to it being ratified by BANES ALCA and at B&NES Full Council in May.

Alison Wells, Community Engagement Officer, to gave an update as follows:

1.  There had been a Parish Charter since 1999.

2.  The latest version was updated in 2018 and was due a refresh.

3.  Following feedback that the charter was too long, it had been cut down to 5 pages with some of the practical information being moved to the parish information pack.

4.  The core commitments remained the same but there was an additional commitment relating to the climate emergency.

The revised draft would be circulated following the meeting, together with a short survey to help Parishes provide their comments

40 minutes

This is your opportunity to meet with Council Officers.  We will have staff involved with cleansing, waste and recycling as well as from the Green Transformation Team on Climate and Nature Emergency.

This evening, there will be two tables with a swap after 20 minutes.

A ‘World Café’ style session was held to give Parish/Town Councils the opportunity to meet officers.  The topics chosen were issues that ALCA and Parish representatives agreed on:

Table 1 – Waste and Recycling

Officers

Q1:  Do you do public tours of the facilities?

A1:  No – we have had some school groups in though.

Q2:  When our refuse and recycling is collected, we have issues with litter afterwards – either because it has been blown around or because it gets dropped by the crews.  What can we do.

A2:  Please do report it because we do monitor this for patterns and will speak to the crews concerned.  BANES Fix My Street.

Q3:  Do you deal with fly tipping?

A3:  Yes.  We have hidden cameras in areas that experience high levels of fly tipping and have recently caught someone dumping large amounts of waste.  They are about to be prosecuted.  We also issue fines of £150 (soon to increase to £200) to those we catch littering – even discarding cigarette butts.

Q4:  Will you be going to 3 week black waste collections?

A4:  There are no plans here at the moment, although neighbouring authorities are trialling it.

Comment 1:  I find that the compostable bags for food waste disintegrate very quickly.

Response 1:  You do not need to use them.  You can use old bread bags or newspaper.  There is further information about food waste on our website.

Comment 2:  I find the blue bags for cardboard rip quickly.

Response 2:  We are trialling some new, red bags and these may prove more robust.  The aim of the trial is to help separate cans and plastic but the bags may also be useful for those that don’t have space for a green bin.

Comment 3:  There is a bench and a bin outside my house but people don’t put litter in the bin – they drop it on the floor.  We’ve also recently found large gas canisters there.

Response 3:  Yes – we see people on camera dropping litter when there is a bin nearby and we do fine if we catch them.  As well as static cameras, we also have mobile cameras that we can use.  Finding gas canisters was raised at the Keynsham Area Forum recently.  The Police say that it is linked to nitrous oxide abuse with the canisters usually dumped away from the area where the substance is being used.

Q5:  Do you deal with dog waste?  Our Parish is considering installing three dog bins.

A5:  Yes – dog waste can go in regular bins.  If you have an issue with people not binning dog waste, again, we need evidence but we can bring enforcement action.  It may be best to install ordinary bins rather than  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

5 minutes

The Chair of the Council will close the meeting.

The Chair of the Council closed the meeting and thanked everyone for attending.

Wednesday 16 July 2025 - Community Space, Keynsham (provisionally booked)

Wednesday 15 October 2025 - Community Space, Keynsham (provisionally booked)

The dates of future meetings were noted as follows:

Wednesday 16 July 2025

Wednesday 15 October 2025

The Community Space in Keynsham had been provisionally booked but this would be reviewed if required by the outcome of the survey.