Members of the public who wish to address Council on the agenda item for this meeting must register to do so in writing or by email to democratic.services@southandvale.gov.uk no later than 5.00pm on Monday 20 September 2021.
Minutes:
The Chair advised that eight members of the public had registered to address Council. Council agreed to extend the public speaking time to allow each member of the public who had registered to speak for three minutes to make their address.
Sally Povolotsky, County Councillor for Hendreds & Harwell Division, addressed Council. She expressed the view that the suspension of the garden waste service illustrated an issue in respect of the resilience and strategic planning of outsourced council contractors exasperated by a lack of HGV divers, “track and trace pings” and rising Covid cases. In her view the scale of the upset amongst residents who subscribe to the service was the lack of clear communication. She welcomed the reinstatement of the service.
Les Buck congratulated both the council and Biffa for delivering the waste disposal service during the Covid pandemic. He expressed concern in respect of the lack of effective communication from the council regarding the suspension of the garden waste service and the time taken to arrive at the measures set out in the report. He was grateful that a four weekly cycle would commence soon.
John Lloyd regretted the lack of foresight and planning and the lack of notice provided to subscribers of the suspension of the service. Whilst welcoming the measures set out in the report these needed to be followed through with a swift return to the fortnightly service.
Jim Halliday thanked the council and Biffa for the delivery of the service during the pandemic. He referenced the shortage of HGV drivers and the particularly demanding nature of those delivering the waste service. He thanked the council for providing the discretionary garden waste service and looked forward to the resumption of the service in due course.
Paul Mayhew-Archer referred to the issues set out in the report, Brexit and the pandemic, for the shortage of HGV drivers, the issues of outsourcing contracts and the council’s lack of a Customer Relationship Management system.
Chris Carrigan thanked officers for the report before Council. He acknowledged the issues set out in the report. However, he expressed concern regarding the poor communication with residents and the misinformation that arose because of this. The council should have an operating Customer Relationship Management system.
James Greenman thanked officers for the report which provided a summary of the situation to date and clarified what actions were being taken to address the issue. He questioned the lack of a direct communication process with subscribers of the garden waste service.
Lucy Edwards expressed the view that the shortage of HGV drivers had been well documented and as such Biffa should have had a plan in place to respond to the issue. She asked what scrutiny had taken place in respect of Biffa’s performance. There had been poor communication via social media and the council’s website which are not accessible to all residents. She asked what plans the council had to address communication going forward.
Councillor Smith, Leader of the council, thanked the public speakers for taking time to address Council and for their useful feedback. She also thanked those members of the public who had contacted the council during the summer raising concerns and offering support and ideas. On behalf of the council, she apologised for the disruption to the Garden Waste service over the summer recognising and empathising that the communication with customers in respect of the temporary suspension of the service was not ideal. This experience had led to some immediate improvements and longer-term planning.
Councillor Smith responded to some of the questions raised by members of the public.
Periodically, the Joint Scrutiny Committee formally reviewed the performance of Biffa with ongoing contract management by officers and the Cabinet member. Councillor Smith stated that alternate rotation of the waste collection and garden waste service presented issues. Firstly, only approximately 40% of residents subscribed to the garden waste service whilst the refuse collection service is provided to all residents. In addition, guidance from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs set out the priority levels and the collection of waste was the highest priority. In respect of the communication, she explained that whilst the garden waste service was provided by Biffa, the invoicing for the service was outsourced as part of the Five Councils Partnership Contract but did not include a system for communication with customers outside of invoicing. This service was brought back inhouse in April 2021 but a process for communicating with customers was not in place prior to the suspension of the garden waste service. The suspension of the service triggered an immediate impact. Without reliable email contacts the options to relay the message were to write to all customers with details of the suspension or use social media, the council’s website and local media. Writing to customers was estimated to cost around £30,000 and many of those letters would have taken a week to arrive with households. This option was not considered to be a good use of public funds. The decision was therefore taken to communicate details of the suspension immediately via social media, the council’s website and local radio. She confirmed the resumption of the garden waste service, initially on a four-weekly cycle with an option to leave additional waste, would commence in the week commencing 27 September. All customers would be contacted via email or letter explaining the details for the collection of the bins and additional waste and setting out arrangements for the extension of their subscription by three months in recognition of the reduced service received over the summer. Lessons had been learnt in respect of the need to improve communication with customers. Cabinet would be considering an IT Strategy report to improve systems for the future.
She concluded by thanking officers and the Cabinet member for working to resolve the issues.