The Chair introduced the report which provided a short update on the progress of the Waste Scrutiny Panel set up to scrutinise the Waste and Street Cleansing Contract. 

The Chair reported that the Waste Scrutiny Panel had met four times and had considered: resources and staff to deal with the changeover to the new contract effectively; the initial revised routes implemented by Suez and operational questions; the decisions made by the Council, before, during and after the tendering process and implementation of the contract.  He said that the sessions had been very productive and informative, and the Panel had identified a number of recommendations and questions to ask representatives from Suez at one of the remaining sessions.

The Chair further reported that the Panel had raised concern that the remaining sessions due to be held week commencing 7 October 2024, would not allow sufficient time for a report to be produced with the level of care and attention it deserved. The Panel also noted that a considerable improvement in bin collections since the new routes were implemented in mid-September 2024, had helped to reduce the sense of urgency to publicly provide answers. 

The Committee were asked to agree to moving the presentation and discussion of the Waste & Street Cleansing Scrutiny Review report from the Extraordinary meeting arranged for 20 November 2024 to the scheduled meeting on 15 January 2025.  The Chair explained that the extension would allow an additional panel session prior to their meeting with Suez in order that the questions put to them were as thorough and robust as possible.  The questions would be shared with Suez in advance of the session to ensure that they came prepared.

The Chair thanked Members of the Panel for their dedication and thoughtful input.  He said that he looked forward to continued work as they aimed to ensure the ‘pain’ of the last months was not repeated again in the borough.

The Chair invited comments from Members, which included:

·         There had been improvements to the service but there were still delays in some wards, particularly in the rural areas;

·         how were the missed brown bin collections processed?;

·         agreed that the item should be deferred and that it was important that the review work be carried out properly;

·         Ward Members did not receive an update on a Friday which made it difficult to communicate with residents if the work was in-hand;

·         deferring the item would allow the Panel to review the public responses and the impact it had on residents lives; and

·         deferring the item was necessary to allow a three-month baseline of the contract to be established and analysed.

In response, the Chair explained that with regard to missed brown bins work was ongoing, but if a brown bin was missed and reported that would not count as notification.  If a brown bin was reported and still not collected within two weeks but reported again as missed, then the Council could look at extending their contract.  He said that officers  hoped to look at how many brown bin collections were missed and do a “blanket” reimbursement/contract extension.

The Head of Environment and Leisure advised that the Council offices were closed on Friday afternoons which was why Friday updates to Ward Members were no provided.  He added that he hoped that once the issues were resolved it would not be necessary to send Ward Members daily updates as the service was getting close to “business as usual”.

Councillor Carole Jackson proposed the recommendation, which was seconded by Councillor Tony Winckless.

Resolved:

(1)   That the Waste & Street Cleansing Scrutiny Review report timelines be extended and the report be presented and discussed at the Environment & Climate Change Committee Meeting on 15 January 2025 instead of the Extraordinary Meeting on 20 November 2024.