Agenda item

The Leader raised the following urgent matter – Roll out of the new Recycling and Waste Collection Service.

The Leader declared that he intended to raise the following matter requiring urgent attention – Roll out of the new Recycling and Waste Collection Service.

The Leader apologised on behalf of the Council to residents affected by problems associated with the roll out of the new service and to members who had been working hard on behalf of residents. He also thanked members for reporting missed collections in their wards and residents for their patience and efforts in recycling.

The Leader advised that he had been in daily contact with the Chief Executive, Corporate Director: Environment and Economy and Lead Member regarding the situation.  Whilst collection rates had improved it was clear there needed to be a massive increase in pace and improvement to address the backlog and work to ensure the system was operating properly.  The Leader provided assurances that both he and the Lead Member were providing rigorous challenge to officers to ensure the problems were dealt with as quickly as possible and all were working as hard as possible to clear the backlog, address the problems, and ensure the system was operating correctly going forward.  The events surrounding the roll out of the new system would be subject to a public scrutiny inquiry and that process would commence at the earliest opportunity following the election with a special meeting of the Scrutiny Chairs and Vice Chairs Group convened for 8 July.

The Lead Member, Councillor Barry Mellor submitted his apologies to members and residents.  He added that the roll out was brought forward by the previous Cabinet but as a Cabinet they believed it was the right thing to do and carried on with that.  Councillor Mellor stressed that it was an operational problem and he had been in regular contact with the relevant officers to drive an increase in the pace of improvement.  Together with the Chief Executive and Corporate Director he had been out with the crews to see first-hand the difficulties residents were facing and the hard work of the crews who were putting in extra shifts to address the backlog.  Consequently, he was confident that the issues would be addressed, and the system would be successfully embedded, although not as quickly as envisaged.  He thanked residents for their patience and provided assurances that all was being done to achieve the benefits the new system would bring as quickly as possible.

The Leader permitted questions but reminded members that scrutiny of the roll out of the new service was a separate process via a member-led inquiry.

During debate members took the opportunity to express their concern and distress over the roll out of the new service and the impact on residents with numerous examples of problems within different ward areas, particularly in rural areas.  In speaking on behalf of the Independent Group, Councillor Huw Hilditch-Roberts wished to convey their thanks to the crews and operatives on the frontline who were working hard in difficult circumstances.  He also wished it to be recorded that the former Cabinet voted on the concept of the new service and not its implementation.  Members raised specific questions and concerns regarding various aspects of the service roll out and key failings and sought assurances regarding steps to address both the current backlog and ensure the system operated efficiently going forward, and a number of suggestions were also put forward in that regard.

The Leader, Lead Member, Chief Executive, Corporate Director and Monitoring Officer responded to the questions and issues raised as follows –

·       the impact on residents detrimentally affected by the service change was unacceptable and the Council was truly sorry for the distress caused as a result

·       collection rates in the rural areas of the county were lower than in the North where the majority of collections had been completed and additional resource had been targeted in the rural areas to address the issue

·       senior managers, operational staff, and WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) were working together on actions to address the problems

·       additional resources had been directed to the new service for a temporary period until operations were running smoothly

·       the backlog was essentially being addressed by more staff, driving more vehicles, for more hours with a shift system to maximise fleet hours during the week and also deploying a full fleet on Saturday

·       once the backlog had been cleared a review could be carried out into the different routes to ensure they were being completed consistently going forward

·       council staff were being redeployed on a temporary basis from other non-critical work and agency staff were being recruited in the short term, other options considered to increase capacity on a temporary basis included commissioning waste companies and contacting neighbouring local authorities for assistance

·       confirmed that smaller vans were being utilised in the rural areas to carry out collections in those areas which had been given high priority

·       it was not thought that missed garden waste collections was a widespread issue and the Corporate Director agreed to look into the matter and possible review of the subscription and provide an update to members outside of the meeting

·       under the previous system food waste had been collected separately but it was collected with the recycling under the new system

·       steps were being introduced to deal with the backlog of food waste and areas that had not had a collection for some weeks were being prioritised with routes created for specific crews in smaller vehicles to collect in those areas

·       there had been issues across the whole of the county which had made it difficult to prioritise and target resources correctly, and there was a need to prioritise those households who had not had a collection for the longest time

·       the Leader advised that he took full accountability that the roll out happened on his watch and did not blame the previous Cabinet for the circumstances of the roll out – his efforts now concentrated on maximising capacity and clearing the backlog.  The system itself agreed by the previous Cabinet and taken up by the current Cabinet was the correct one once it was properly operational

·       the Head of Highways and Environmental Services had been on the frontline on a daily basis and had been involved in the two member briefings on the roll out; he would also be available to participate in the forthcoming scrutiny process

·       it had not been possible to convene a meeting of the Scrutiny Chairs and Vice Chairs Group prior to 8 July due to the pre-election period and scrutiny support staff working full time on the election, and the proposal for the scrutiny process was outlined which culminated in a public scrutiny inquiry of the service roll out.

At the conclusion of the debate the Chair thanked everyone for their contributions.