Issue - meetings

Matter for Decision

The report detailed the shared waste service ABCD (Alternative Bin Collection Day) initial project review from planning and design to month 9 of operations.

Decision of Executive Councillor for Environmental Services and City Centre.

     i.        Noted the report for information.

Reason for the Decision

As set out in the Officer’s report.

Any Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

Not applicable.

Scrutiny Considerations

The Committee received a report from the Head of Shared Waste Services which referred to the original business case creating a shared service with new collection rounds. This had been devised to ensure efficiency and to achieve target savings of £700,000 over three years. These changes meant that residents had a change in day and / or sequence of bin collections, which started on 27 February 2017.

The report provided a review of collections and the lessons learnt over the nine month period.

In response to Members’ questions the Head of Shared Waste Services and the Health and Environmental Services Director (South Cambridgeshire District Council) said the following:

     i.        Welcomed Members feedback.

    ii.        Recognised that errors had been made. The changes had been complex, difficult and on a large scale.

   iii.        Lessons had been learnt and there were things that could and would be done differently.

  iv.        A Project Manager was now in place to oversee the implementation of the ICT for shared waste services and had engaged with the wider stakeholders and would continue to do so.

   v.        Acknowledged that shared ownership of bins stores did create a problem, particularly when one of the parties was a commercial business but access issues were currently being addressed.

  vi.        Apologised to all residents who had their bins missed during collections.

 vii.        Praised the hard work of the refuse crews who had a very hard and physical job. They had shown great dedication to improve the service with the high levels of successful collections over the nine months and would continue to do so.

viii.        South Cambridgeshire District Council operatives had always started at 6.00am while those who had transferred from the City Council started at 7.00am. The reason was that those starting at 7.00am before the transfer would have had very little travel time to their destinations. As the refuse trucks left at 6.00AM from Waterbeach there was a thirty minutes travel time in to the City. The route was carefully planned to minimise noise around the City. This was one area of the service which was yet to be harmonised but would be looked at once the best system has been determined.

  ix.        The new vehicles would also be quieter as well as being environmentally friendlier.

The Strategic Director advised that a Shared Management Board had been set up to oversee the amalgamation of future shared services and would share the corporate learning from previous projects.

The Committee and the Executive Councillor noted the report.

Conflicts of Interest Declared by the Executive Councillor (and any Dispensations Granted)

No conflicts of interest were declared by the Executive Councillor