Agenda item

Joint scrutiny committee is asked to consider Biffa Municipal Ltd (Biffa) performance in delivering the household waste collection, street cleansing and ancillary services contract for the period 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022 (2022 calendar year) and make any comments before a final assessment on performance is made.

Cabinet members for Environment and Waste Services (Vale) and Environment (South) presented the report. Also in support were the Environmental Services Technical Team Leader, Head of Housing and Environment, and the Environmental Services Manager. Biffa representative Francis Drew was in attendance.

This contract was of great importance and affected all residents. There were three key areas of performance measured within the report. The overall rating was considered ‘good’, but there were weaknesses that shall be monitored, such as street cleansing. The report was an assessment of performance, and contractual developments and purchase of waste vehicles was not a subject of this particular report.

Discussion was as follows:

• Street cleansing was discussed by members as being of significance and they discussed what the challenges were. For example, road edges – road sweepers can’t get around parked cars. Also, verges tend to be the issue. How do we prevent people from littering, for example, throwing rubbish from their car. There were complexities to cleaning A roads (A34). When the summer comes, longer grass hides some of the litter and it becomes more apparent in the colder months. Cabinet member for South explained that due to driver shortages, resources would be given to priority tasks – household bins. Biffa representative explained that there were more workers after a pay increase for staff, and at the end of 2022 they were in a better position and were currently nearly at full deployment.
• A member asked about communications and the role this played – for example, do the public know who to contact for various issues. Cited example of fly tipping and the clear communications that mean these issues were reported correctly. Multi agency issues for example, it is either County, District, Thames Water - who is responsible for the infrastructure?
• A4130 issues over spring. Lots of complaints received. A member asked about the independent assessors and what their criteria was, noting that resident’s feedback was likely to differ from the inspector’s report. It was explained that Keep Britain Tidy assessed roads every three months and took photos.
• Can we tie in Christmas waste collection timetable changes communications with other waste contacts. Officer considered that we could tie in with the Keep Britain Tidy litter pick.
• Discussed the two complaints over the year, and an officer added that this was a very low complaint rate comparatively.
• Members discussed use of ‘Fix My Street’, which was independent. Head of Corporate Services added that this was being looked at with the environment team, and what was the best customer experience.
• Can we liaise with OCC timetable for cutting back vegetation?
• Discussed the reasons behind missed bins, and how this was rectified.
• Discussed blocked drains and flooding and who was responsible (confirmed to be OCC) – noting issues after grass cutting, which blocks drains.
• Can CCTV on roads help catch littering?
• A member thanked Biffa for excellent responsiveness. Biffa representative added there would be a comms piece on litter picking on the A34 – and they had been working with OCC, and it was considered that working together will bring improvements and more opportunity to get out onto the road for cleaning.

Committee were asked to “consider Biffa Municipal Ltd (Biffa) performance in delivering the household waste collection, street cleansing and ancillary services contract for the period 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022 (2022 calendar year) and make any comments before a final assessment on performance is made”.

Resolved:

Committee considered the performance report and provided their comments. Biffa and officers were thanked for their work and the report was well received. The main comment from committee was that they supported strong communication with residents to improve resolving of reported issues. Members discussed the need to identify responsible parties which can be complex for residents to navigate (for example, County Council, Thames Water, District Council) for different provisions (such as street cleansing, drain emptying, public bins, roads). Committee acknowledged that work was ongoing for this and supported this continuing. Street cleansing was a highlighted concern, but members recognised that work was progressing in this area.