Agenda item

Council is invited to discuss and debate the current temporary suspension of the Garden Waste Service.

Council considered the report of the Head of Housing and Environment on the temporary suspension of the garden waste service and the steps taken to restart the service in discussion with Biffa, the council’s waste service contractor. The report set out the circumstances leading to the suspension, the national situation, communication with residents and the current situation.

Councillor Catherine Webber, Cabinet member for climate emergency and environment, addressed Council. She advised that the Garden Waste service was used by around 44 per cent of residents who, in accordance with the terms and conditions were entitled to a minimum of 20 collections over the 12-month period at a cost of £51.50 per bin per annum.

On Monday 2 August, Biffa informed the council that the number of suitably

qualified drivers they had available to work on that day was such that it was necessary to activate the Business Continuity Plan (BCP). On that day they were 20 per cent down, 9 short, on the number of drivers needed. The BCP, agreed with the contractor, enables parties to identify the actions required to maintain critical services following disruptive incidents and is designed to protect the critical kerbside collections (food waste, recycling, and residual (rubbish) waste) received by all households in the district.

Throughout the pandemic officers had worked closely with local and regional managers to ensure that the kerbside waste service was delivered. There were several times during this period when driver numbers were less than those needed, Biffa took the necessary actions including working longer hours and weekends to ensure services were delivered. However, on 2 August, in order to protect the collection of the critical services, officers had no alternative but to agree to the temporary suspension of the garden waste service for a period of 4 to 6 weeks.

She explained that the cause of the suspension was caused by the national shortage of HGV drivers which impacted Biffa’s ability to recruit and retain drivers.  Due to the sudden suspension of the service, it was not possible to communicate with customers in advance. With the council only holding 30% of garden waste customers email addresses the decision was taken to communicate the suspension via social media and local media. She referred to the communication activity set out in appendix 1 to the report and concluded by referring to the interim arrangements and the extension of subscriptions advised by Councillor Smith (see minute 31). 

Councillor Catherine Webber moved, and Councillor Smith seconded the recommendation to note the report and the current position with the garden waste service as set out in the report.

Councillors welcomed the interim arrangements to resume the Garden Waste collections on 27 September and the decision to extend subscriptions by three months.

A number of councillors supported the view that the suspension of the service was as a result of a shortage of HGV drivers caused by a number of factors including drivers returning home as a consequence of Brexit and the impact of the pandemic in restricting the training and testing of new drivers. Many local authorities had faced disruption to their waste collection services. The lack of a Customer Relationship Management system (CRM), related to previous decisions related to the corporate services’ contract, had restricted the ability of the council to communicate with subscribers of the service, particularly when the council only held 30% of the email details of subscribers at the time of the suspension. Whilst it was regrettable that the service was suspended, it was necessary to protect the critical waste services. They welcomed the efforts taken to communicate details of the suspension as quickly as possible. A number of councillors questioned the need for the Extraordinary meeting of Council when the issue had been considered by the Joint Scrutiny Committee and did not impact the majority of council residents.

However, other councillors criticised the handling of the suspension of the service and the communication plan. The issue illustrated a lack of preparedness and an inability to address the problems of the council’s contractors. Biffa’s staffing issues had been foreseen and an action plan agreed to address these in 2018 – was this implemented? The potential for disruption was identified in July and therefore mitigating measures should have been put in place.  A number criticised the decision not to email subscribers whose contact details were held by the council and the decision not to write to all subscribers following the suspension rather than placing reliance on social media and media outlets. Others criticised the continued collection of direct debit payments, the issuing of invoices and reminders during the period of the suspension of the service.  

RESOLVED: to note the report of the Head of Housing and Environment to Council at its meeting on 21 September 2021 and the current position with the Garden Waste service.