Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

The Convener advised Members that there would be a briefing provided at the next Council meeting on the Energy from Waste facility.

He also highlighted that there was a Holocaust Memorial event being held that day at 11.45am which Members might wish to attend.

The Convener advised that he had submitted an Urgent Notice of Motion on winter maintenance and explained that the deadlines for submission of Notices of Motion for the Committee had fallen at the start of the recent extreme weather period, and so his Notice of Motion had not been able to meet the deadlines.  He considered it was important for the matter to be discussed and had therefore accepted it onto the agenda for today’s meeting.

The Committee resolved:-

to note that the urgent Notice of Motion would be considered at agenda item 7.1.

The Committee had before it the minute of its previous meeting of 18 November 2025 for approval.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the minute as a correct record.

The Committee had before it the business planner, as prepared by the Chief Officer – Governance.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to note the reasons for delay outlined in the planner for items 5 (Annual Report on the performance of Aberdeen City Council from the Scottish Roadworks Commissioner); 6 (Burnbutts Crescent, Cove - flooding mitigations); and 8 (Aberdeen South Harbour traffic management); and

(ii)       to otherwise note the planner.

That this Committee:

1.    Thanks the Council staff, residents, community groups, businesses, and others for their actions in tackling the recent exceptional period of cold and snowy weather.

2.    Notes that Council staff Teams worked around the clock to grit and clear roads and pavements during the recent cold weather.

3.    Welcomes officers’ action in hiring 31 private contractor diggers to assist with snow clearing in side streets.

4.    Recognises the impact the snow had on Council services, including education and refuse collection, and the impact that in turn had on residents and businesses.

5.    Recognises that, while it is too early to be able to make a link to this extreme weather event, climate change, including the increase in freeze / thaw cycles, has put additional pressure on the Council’s winter maintenance operations.

6.    Agrees to instruct the Chief Officer - Operations to report to the Net Zero, Environment, and Transport Committee to consider what resources would help Roads Operations meet extreme weather challenges, including what further support and assistance might be offered to local community resilience groups for all types of extreme weather events.

The Committee had before it an urgent Notice of Motion by the Convener in the following terms:-

That the Committee:-

(a)      thank the Council staff, residents, community groups, businesses, and others for their actions in tackling the recent exceptional period of cold and snowy weather;

(b)      note that Council staff Teams worked around the clock to grit and clear roads and pavements during the recent cold weather;

(c)      welcome officers’ action in hiring 31 private contractor diggers to assist with snow clearing in side streets;

(d)      recognise the impact the snow had on Council services, including education and refuse collection, and the impact that in turn had on residents and businesses;

(e)      recognise that, while it is too early to be able to make a link to this extreme weather event, climate change, including the increase in freeze / thaw cycles, has put additional pressure on the Council’s winter maintenance operations; and

(f)       agree to instruct the Chief Officer - Operations to report to the Net Zero, Environment, and Transport Committee to consider what resources would help Roads Operations meet extreme weather challenges, including what further support and assistance might be offered to local community resilience groups for all types of extreme weather events.

Councillor Malik, seconded by Councillor Tissera, moved a procedural motion to allow Members to ask questions of officers in relation to the Notice of Motion.

On a division, there voted:- for the procedural motion (4) – Councillors Brooks, Malik, Nicoll and Tissera; and against the procedural motion (5) – the Convener; the Vice Convener; and Councillors Hutchison, McLellan and van Sweeden.

The Committee resolved:-

to reject the procedural motion.

At this juncture, the Convener advised that there were three amendments in the names of Councillors Nicoll, Brooks and Tissera, and that he would accept the amendment from Councillor Nicoll into the motion at point (f), namely:-

That the Committee:-

(f)       agrees to instruct the Chief Officer - Operations to report to the Net Zero, Environment, and Transport Committee to consider what resources would help Roads Operations meet extreme weather challenges while providing an enhanced service throughout the year, including what further support and assistance might be offered to local community resilience groups for all types of extreme weather events and provide a "lessons learned” report for inclusion in future winter resilience planning.

The Convener moved, seconded by the Vice Convener:-

That Committee approve the amended Notice of Motion.

Councillor Brooks moved as an amendment, seconded by Councillor Nicoll:-

That the Committee:-

approve the notice of motion with an amendment to point (f) as follows:-

instructs the Chief Officer - Operations to review the Council’s performance against their winter weather policy and refer any potential additional funding required to the budget process to deliver an enhancement to the plan in anticipation of delivering an improvement in response for winter 26/27, whilst a revised plan is being developed to inform 27/28 budget process and the 27/28 plan; as the 2025/26 provision fell short and left many residents  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Committee had before it a report by the Executive Director – Corporate Services which presented the Committee with the status of appropriate key performance measures relating to services falling within its remit.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee note the report and provide comments and observations on the performance information contained in the report appendix.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to note that officers would provide information to Members outwith the meeting on the number of road-going small vans and the amount of plant that the Council owned, to include an explanation of variations in the performance indicator figures;

(ii)       in relation to performance indicators where the performance was below the target level but there was still a tick against the quarter (for example, % of complaints resolved within timescale – Roads), to note that the Chief Officer – Operations had advised that it was likely there was an allowance of 10% variance before the indicator would change to amber, however he would confirm this with colleagues in Data Insights outwith the meeting and advise Members if this was not the case;

(iii)      in relation to the % of waste diverted from landfill, to note that the Chief Officer – Operations had undertaken to circulate information to Members outwith the meeting on the breakdown of the figures for Quarter 2, to explain how the percentages had been calculated, including where waste may have ended up, in terms of any cost to the environment and where possible, the most recent data available;

(iv)      to note that the Chief Officer – Operations would provide information to Members outwith the meeting on how the 10 days sickness absence target might factor into any recruitment considerations;

(v)      in relation to the % of annual carbon budget used and the quarterly data contained within the report, to note that officers would provide full information to Members outwith the meeting on the comparison with Quarters 1 and 2 for 2025/2026, and could include the Quarter 1 to Quarter 4 breakdown for the previous year in future reporting;

(vi)      to note the report on the status of appropriate key performance measures relating to services;

(vii)     to note the significant complaints not resolved (% of complaints resolved within timescale – Roads) in Quarter 2;

(viii)    to further note that following a logical data trend and the exceptional loss of road usage during the early weeks of January 2026, that the significant number of complaints not resolved appropriately would be higher than 50%; and

(ix)      to therefore instruct the Chief Officer – Operations to make appropriate resources available to address and resolve such complaints within performance indicator targets and report back on progress in the next meeting of this Committee.

With reference to article 5 of the minute of its previous meeting, the Committee had before it a report by the Executive Director – City Regeneration and Environment which considered objections and comments received as part of the statutory consultation process with respect to proposed Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs).   The report also provided an update on the proposed actions regarding the “THE ABERDEEN CITY COUNCIL (Roads surrounding the Event

Complex Aberdeen (TECA), Dyce, Aberdeen) (Traffic Management) Order 202X” which had been deferred from the previous meeting.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)      acknowledge the objections received as a result of the public advertisement of proposed Traffic Regulation Orders;

(b)      in relation to “THE ABERDEEN CITY COUNCIL (BLOOMFIELD PLACE, ABERDEEN) (PROHIBITION OF WAITING) ORDER?202_”, overrule the objection received and approve this order be made as originally advertised;

(c)      in relation to “THE ABERDEEN CITY COUNCIL (Roads surrounding the Event Complex Aberdeen (TECA), Dyce, Aberdeen) (Traffic Management) Order 202X”, overrule the objection received and reported to the Committee in November 2025 and the further objection detailed within the report, and approve this order be made as advertised, with the revised arrangement at Ellerslie Road as shown in Appendix 8 of the report and with the exception of the bus priority measures which should be removed; and

(d)      instruct the Chief Officer - Operations to undertake the statutory process for the bus priority measures detailed in Appendices 4 and 5 of the report, reporting back to Committee only where objections were received.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations.

-       COUNCILLOR IAN YUILL, Convener