Agenda item

There will be a presentation on this item at the meeting.

The Director of Place Management introduced this item to the Panel and gave a presentation. A summary is set out below.

The Challenge

•  Neighbourhood (and Highways) Services are the front line of the Council

•  A range of statutory and legal requirements for the council to discharge

•  High profile and high reputational impact

•  What could we do differently?

•  With limited resources, where should we invest any additional funding secured?

Context (2008 and beyond):

•  Significant service efficiencies have been achieved

•  Insourced recycling services and changed the way we deliver services

•  Prioritised activity around the Council’s statutory duties and maintaining public health and safety

•  Recognised that there is a significant backlog of works required on the highway network

•  Implemented Fix My Street ‘report it’ system – Good scheme, looking to make further adaptions

Breadth of services

Highways

·  1200 kms of roads

·  17,000 streetlights

·  25,000 road gullies

·  1040 kms Footways and footpaths

Parks

·  270 Parks and Open Spaces managed

·  6 Heritage Parks

·  59 Play Areas

·  28000 Trees & 7 Woodlands (to date) 

Waste

·  Waste and recycling collections provided to 86,435 households

·  Every 4 weeks over half a million refuse and recycling collections take place

·  Cleansed over 1300 miles of highway

·  Emptied litter bins two/three times a week or over 90,000 times a year

The efforts of all staff must be recognised

The request:

•  Consider developing a Task and Finish group to help Cabinet and Officers:

  Identify what would success look like for our communities in:

•  The short term

•  2 years

•  5 years

•  Undertake a review of the opportunities considering both the local and national picture; and

•  Make recommendations to Cabinet Members on how any investment should be targeted

Councillor David Wood, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhood Services commented on how important it is for the Council to get the basics right and of how proud he is of the teams involved in this work.

Councillor Joel Hirst commented that it was a huge challenge and that he would like to see more promotion of Fix My Street to make members of the public aware of how to use it.

The Director of Place Management agreed that the more that Fix My Street is promoted the better and would look into how that can be progressed.

Councillor Joel Hirst asked if further street cleansing and other functions would be possible if a further precept was collected by the Council.

The Director of Place Management replied that he was unable to answer that question as he did not know how that process would work.

Councillor Dr Yukteshwar Kumar commented that recently we have seen an upward trend of not collecting waste on designated days. He said that residents are incredibly unhappy and that he had written to several officers and Cabinet Members regarding collections of waste from the newly built temple on around 25 May and had not yet had a response.

The Director of Place Management replied that they do try hard to deliver services on time and within budget and that staff were working to keep functions in place. He added that he would investigate the specific problem raised.

Councillor David Wood, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhood Services said that many officers are overworked at the present time and working within a challenging environment He added that he also would look into the issues raised by Councillor Kumar.

Councillor Lisa O’Brien said that she very much appreciated the work of the staff in refuse collection as it was an important service for residents. She asked what actions were being taken to address the shortage of refuse HGV drivers.

The Director of Place Management replied that the Council are in active contact with an agency for such drivers.

Councillor Shelley Bromley praised staff for doing an amazing job in a work area that has increased over the past 18 months. She added that she thought Fix My Street was an excellent service and welcomed further promotion of it.

The Chair thanked the Director of Place Management and his teams for their work and his presentation.

The Panel RESOLVED to agree to developing a Task and Finish group to:

i)  Identify what would success look like for our communities in:

•  The short term

•  2 years

•  5 years

ii)  Undertake a review of the opportunities considering both the local and national picture

iii)  Make recommendations to Cabinet Members on how any investment should be targeted