Agenda item

The Shared Waste Service Manager and the Leisure and Parks Development Manager submitted a report which provided an overview of the street cleansing service (shared with North Herts DC) and the verge maintenance service (delivered by East Herts Council on behalf of Hertfordshire County Council).

The Officers introduced their respective parts of the report, providing a brief description of each service function, an overview of performance, key challenges and areas for improvement, resource levels and key contacts.

The Chairman referred to additional papers that had been circulated to the Committee on a confidential basis and reminded Members that should they wish to discuss that information in detail it would be necessary for the Committee to move into private session.

Councillor Hollebon and Councillor Frecknall each stated that they had submitted questions in advance of the meeting and thanked the Officers for the responses provided.

Councillor Ward-Booth noted that the aim of 1,000 inspections across the contract each month was not being met and asked in the light of this how the Council could be assured that the contractor’s performance was satisfactory.   The Shared Waste Service Manager (Stevenage) responded that there had been some difficulty in recruiting permanent staff to the client team and in addition resources had been focussed on resolving teething problems in the area of waste collection.  However it was now a priority over the coming months to rebuild the inspection capacity.

Councillor McAndrew, Executive Member for Environmental Sustainability added that one of the key ways in which the Council was informed regarding service performance was via customer enquiries and he stressed the importance of service requests and issues being reported via Customer Services so as to be captured by the monitoring system.  

In relation to verge cutting, Councillor Goldspink and Councillor Symonds each referred to the ecological importance of wild flowers and asked whether this was taken into account when planning the length of cut and/or timing of the operations.  The Leisure and Parks Development Manager stated that this could be given further consideration but any change to the service specification would be a matter for Hertfordshire County Council.

Councillor Frecknall noted that there had been a marked increase in street cleansing enquiries in January and February 2020 and asked what may have caused this.  The Shared Waste Service Manager did not have this specific information to hand but reported that an increase in service requests was often experienced in periods of the year when vegetation died down. 

Councillor Crofton felt that it would be useful for Members to be provided with a structure chart showing which named Officers were responsible for particular service areas.  He also asked what could be done to improve services such as weed spraying and leaf clearance in rural parts of the district as in his view these were often inadequate and Members and others had to go to great efforts to get the services delivered. 

Councillor Bell stated that some bins on the outskirts of Watton-at-Stone were not being emptied regularly. 

The Shared Waste Service Manager drew Members’ attention to paragraph 5.4 of the report which included a staff structure chart, albeit without names.  She also reiterated that any concerns regarding service delivery should be reported via the Council’s Customer Contact Centre as this would ensure that the appropriate deadlines were issued to the contractor and their responses monitored. 

The Leisure and Parks Development Manager reported that weeds were sprayed twice a year and any increase in this frequency would be a matter for the County Council.  Councillor Stevenson asked which herbicide was used in the spraying operation.  The Leisure and Parks Development Manager reported that Glyphosate was used, in the minimum quantities necessary.

The Chairman pointed out that the report contained three different spellings of ‘Bishop’s Stortford’ and asked that these be corrected.  He also stated that in the chart of highway works Winding Hill, Much Hadham was erroneously listed under Bishop’s Stortford. 

It was moved by Councillor Devonshire and seconded by Councillor Stevenson that the recommendation in the report be approved.  After being put to the meeting and a vote taken, this motion was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED – that the update report be received and noted.