Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors Bray, Wallace and Williams with the substitution of Councillor Witherford for Councillor Bray authorised in accordance with council procedure rule 4.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 24 April 2017.

A member referred to minute 446 of the previous meeting and asked that the requested report on the standard of housing in the borough includes privately owned housing as well as private rented.

It was moved by Councillor Bill, seconded by Councillor Crooks and

RESOLVED – the minutes of the meeting be confirmed subject to the above amendment and signed by the chairman.

No interests were declared at this stage.

Scrutiny review into the provision of refuse & recycling services.

Members received a presentation from Paul Morgan of Amec Foster Wheeler which provided performance and value for money benchmarking data. During the presentation, the following points were made:

·         Across the East Midlands, HBBC had the fifth lowest cost of waste collection

·         HBBC’s net cost of refuse collection was significantly lower than average (around 60%) and around 64% of the average cost for recycling collections. For refuse collection costs, HBBC was second lowest out of 15 and for recycling costs, third lowest out of 11

·         Comparing costs of service delivery to the size of the authority (based on household numbers), the analysis indicated that HBBC’s service was one of the lowest cost for its size. In addition, it was shown to have a lower cost than a broadly comparable outsourced service

·         The report recommended insourcing the recycling service based on the fact that the current in-house residual and garden waste collection services were well managed and provided value for money. It was suggested that providing all three service in-house would further improve operational efficiency

·         Customer satisfaction with waste collection at 91.2% was higher than four other East Midlands authorities sampled in the report.

During the ensuing discussion, the following comments were made:

·         The residual waste collection service generated a significant saving as a result of bringing it in house. Similarly, a saving could be made by bringing the recycling service back in house compared with outsourcing

·         In relation to residual waste, issuing smaller bins would only result in a marginal saving on collection and would involve a large initial outlay, so was not recommended

·         The need for an additional collection round in response to housing growth

·         Moving to a co-mingled recycling collection would generate savings

·         Investigations were required into flexibility of items collected for recycling, for example the ability to recycle black plastic and plastic bags

·         The cost of providing a food waste collection service was prohibitive and not recommended

·         The hard work and achievements of the refuse & recycling service over the years should be acknowledged.

Mr Morgan highlighted the performance of the refuse and recycling services and stated that this stood out as very positive, particularly in comparison to many of the reviews he had undertaken.

Councillor Bill moved that “Scrutiny Commission notes the report of the external consultant and considers that the authority has been shown to provide good in house services for refuse and recycling in terms of value for money and customer satisfaction. The Scrutiny Commission recommends to the Executive that the current residual and garden waste services should continue and the dry recycling service should be brought in house from April 2018. It also supports the maintenance of the current frequency of collections, the move to co-mingled recycling and the further development of the commercial trade waste service”

Councillor Lay seconded the motion and proposed additional recommendations to the Executive in relation exploring options for increasing items that could be recycled, presentation of the report to Council and celebrating the performance of in-house services by inviting  ...  view the full minutes text for item 476.

Report outlining performance of street cleansing and grounds maintenance services.

Members received a report which provided a value for money assessment of the street cleansing and grounds maintenance services. During presentation and discussion thereon, the following points were raised:

·         Street cleansing was a top priority of residents

·         In order to decrease fly tipping around recycling banks, work was focussed on regular emptying of the banks

·         Play areas had improved greatly over the last ten years

·         As the service was in house, resources could be redirected when necessary

·         More campaigning was required to reduce littering – although it was acknowledged that educational events in schools had helped to educate not only the pupils, but their parents too

·         Hinckley in Bloom should be pursued via Hinckley Area Committee

·         The work undertaken in Argents Mead had increased footfall in the town

·         The level of fines for littering and dog fouling should be increased

·         Success in relation to street cleansing and grounds maintenance should be celebrated.

It was reported that the Leicestershire District Chief Executive’s had complimented the Head of Service for her work leading on a countywide fly tipping project. Members requested a future report on levels of fly tipping in the borough. It was also asked that the Executive be asked to review the level of fines.

RESOLVED –

(i)            The high performance and value for money offered by the in house services be noted and endorsed;

(ii)           The continuing provision of these services in house be endorsed;

(iii)          The Executive be RECOMMENDED to review the level of fines;

(iv)         A report on fly tipping be brought to a future meeting.

Consideration was given to the 2017/18 work programme for overview & scrutiny bodies. A performance report on housing repairs was requested, and in response it was noted Finance & Performance Scrutiny was scheduled to receive a report on this to a future meeting, which all members would be invited to attend.

A report was requested on powers of the authority to require tenants to maintain their property.