Decision details

The Head of Environmental Services submitted an annual report detailing the current performance of the three main contracts for refuse and recycling, street cleansing and grounds maintenance. 

The Committee was advised that 2010/11 provided a full year of operation of the Alternate Refuse Collection (ARC) Scheme.  The previous year, 2009/10 was only 6 months of ARC, which commenced in November 2009. Members were advised that performance had exceeded targets in relation to the numbers of missed bins per 100,000 collections.  Members were also advised that such data also covered periods of severe weather.

The Head of Environmental Services, responded to a question about how waste collection information was disseminated during last year’s severe weather around the festive season and stated that the Council’s website had been heavily utilised during this period.

He stressed that it was very difficult to decide what to tell residents until the changes to conditions were known as the Authority always sought to avoid promising collections that the contractors could then not meet if the adverse weather continued.

The Head of Environmental Services stated that Street Cleansing Complaints had fallen by 19% and although there had been a 25% increase in small fly tips, these mostly arose from the new recording criteria used by our contractors.  The smaller fly tips, such as items the size of a standard black sack or less, would be collected by the Council’s street cleansing contractors as part of their normal duties.

The number of larger fly tips had decreased by 2% but there had been a trend of increasing fly tipping for the last few years.  Members were advised that prosecutions on most fly tips were very difficult to achieve.  Officers had carried out 124 waste related investigations last year and it was necessary for the Authority to be tough on any offenders that were caught.

The Head of Environmental Services referred to a 12% increase in recycling and composting since the introduction of the ARC scheme.  He stressed that this exceeded the Authority’s performance target for last year.  Officers also expected this to be the case at the conclusion of the current year.

Members were invited to scrutinise the performance of the Authority in respect of each of the services covered by the Environmental Operations.  The Head of Environmental Services referred to a Hertfordshire Waste Partnership target of 50% for recycling.  He advised that the Authority was on course to achieve that target.

In response to comments from Councillor R Beeching in respect of permission for residents to issue free literature, the Head of Environmental Services advised that the Authority had the powers to require anyone distributing free literature in designated areas to seek permission.

The Authority also had powers to confiscate literature and issue fixed penalty notices where an individual did not have authority to hand this out.  The purpose was to discourage littering by ensuring distributors took responsibility for any discarded material. Permission is not granted for placing literature on car windscreens.

In response to a query from Councillor P Gray, the Committee was advised that the Authority charged approximately £32 for an official permission to distribute literature.

Councillor J Wing stated that unlike at some other Local Authorities, the ARC scheme had been implemented with relatively little controversy.

In response to a comment from Councillor Wing in respect of Ware in Bloom and grounds maintenance standards in the Town, the Head of Environmental Services stressed that, whilst the Authority supported Ware in Bloom with officer and contractor time, limitations in funding meant that it was not possible to support the scheme financially.

Councillor Wing acknowledged the hard work put in by Officers.  He stated that more could be done in certain areas of performance covered by the contracts referred to in the report now submitted.  The Head of Environmental Services encouraged Members to inform Officers of any particular issues.

The Chairman congratulated Officers for all of their efforts to date.  The Committee received the report.

RESOLVED – that (A) the performance of the Council’s main environmental management term contracts be received.