Issue - meetings

Neighbourhood Services (highways maintenance, waste, cleansing, fleet, parks & grounds) has delivered significant cashable service efficiencies during the past 10 years. This has resulted in a risk-based approach to delivery of a number of functions and in some cases, decisions have been taken to stop services.  The Council has invested additional funding in street cleansing in 21/22 and would like to invest further in Neighbourhood Services to improve standards and reinstate some services. 

This report provides options for future investment in these high-profile front-line services for 22/23.  The Climate Emergency and Sustainability Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel (CES PDS panel) has been consulted on these proposals and will be further engaged as the proposals are developed to be considered through the budget setting process

Councillor David Wood introduced the report by saying that for ten years Council Tax bills have been going up and service levels had been going down due to severe cuts from central government. 

One of the first actions from the current Administration was to reverse cuts to city centre cleaning and to leaf clearing in the autumn. Last year more cuts were reversed to keep our streets cleaner and to litter pick A and B roads in North East Somerset. This year the Council would spend an extra £100k on keeping our streets cleaner.

In April next year the Council would trial £950k of investment in frontline services from street cleaning to graffiti, from repairing roads to banning glyphosate for street weeds with immediate effect.

Councillor Wood concluded his statement by saying that the Administration would be looking to reverse even more cuts, balance the books and give residents the services they deserved.

Councillor David Wood moved the recommendations.

Councillor Alison Born seconded the motion by saying that Neighbourhood services were cut significantly during years of austerity budgets, leaving gaps in service that impacted on the day to day experience of all residents and visitors to the area.  This Administration have taken measures to mitigate these cuts over the past two years with positive effects. This targeted investment would build on those improvements and would extend them.

RESOLVED (unanimously) that the Cabinet agreed to:

1.  Agree that the Council will no longer use glyphosate to control street weeds and will prioritise funding to mechanical and manual weed removal for street weeds in 22/23 whilst continuing to research viable alternatives.

2.  Agree the areas to be considered within the Neighbourhood Services portfolio for further investment as a 12-month pilot, making a commitment against the council’s £2m Covid contingency budget that has been earmarked to manage council priorities and backlogs on operational services.  This money to be released from 2022/23.  At the completion of the pilot, the outcomes will be reviewed to ensure they deliver the necessary service improvement and considered as part of the council’s financial planning processes for long term service investment in the 23/24 budget.

3.  The Cabinet is asked to take into account issues raised by the Scrutiny Panel when they report back on their findings.

4.  Delegate authority to the Director of Place Management, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, to develop the most operationally effective and value for money delivery arrangements.