As item above in relation to the Streetscene service plan.
Minutes:
Andrew Hancock introduced this item and made the following points;
- Streetscene is EDDC’s largest frontline service area, accounting for over half the total general fund budget at around £9m.
- Streetscene is one of the council’s services that affects every resident and visitor through the broad range of service areas it covers.
- It covers Beaches (visitor economy, seaside awards, tourist draw), Grounds Maintenance, Parks and Gardens, with 2 award winning Green Flags at Connaught and Manor. Public toilets and public realm maintenance, Engineers who look after all of the built infrastructure outside such as bridges, coastal defence schemes and flood alleviation. Street cleansing helping to maintain the outstanding environment and making the landscape an area people want to live in, visit and enjoy.
- The largest single area of spend is the Recycling & Waste contract with a net cost of £3.5mil (all figures rounded). This achieves an income of around £1.5 mil through recycling sales and credits. Green Waste is set to achieve almost £100k in income in 2019/20.
- There is a large staff base with 107 FTEs, 80 of these are frontline service operatives.
- StreetScene services underpin many of the council’s aims and objectives. This is done directly by delivering, promoting and protecting the outstanding environment through keeping things clean and green, providing award winning beaches and parks; or by supporting other objectives such as outstanding communities and economies by providing opportunities for health and wellbeing activities, great beaches and public spaces that help to support the visitor economy and the ability to support corporate projects such as Queens Drive Space to make them a success.
- When the work goes well, it goes largely unnoticed, and this is the case most of the time.
- It is known that residents are largely satisfied with the services provided; the recent Viewpoint survey feedback has scores around 70% and above for the services EDDC provides. Some headlines are:
o 90% satisfaction with the recycling green box collection
o 83% satisfaction with the rubbish bin collection service, after moving to 3 weekly. This really shows the success of leading with the improved recycling service, meaning residents can cope with their rubbish being collected every 3 weeks, as so much waste is now able to be recycled.
o 75% satisfied with parks and gardens.
o 85% satisfaction with beaches.
o 71% think litter is not a big problem.
- Full viewpoint feedback is available on the website.
Comments and questions included the following;
Question relating to the replacement of litter bins. Bins are not in the current plan but will be in the next plan for 2019/20. E.g There will be metal bins for Barbecues and more public information signs.
Question relating to Seaside and Blue Flag awards. The response was that a Seaside award will be sought for Sidmouth and a Blue Flag award will be sought for Exmouth. The latter does not just rely on water quality, but infrastructure issues such as lifeguards being available and so the bid will be taken forward carefully.
Question relating to district-wide public toilet provision. Has consideration been given to the implications for charging for their use, given the tourist population and age profile of residents?
The response from Councillor Tom Wright was that public toilets cost a lot to maintain but there will be no changes until all relevant considerations have been taken into account. The review may take longer than April 2019 but will be included in the forthcoming service plan.
The Chair asked what will be different in the next service plan. Andrew Hancock stated that business as usual will continue despite the financial constraints. Engineering projects will continue, there will be a pro-active tree planting objective and nature corridors. The plan will formalise a schedule of tree planting in more areas. Section 3b of the current service plan refers to managing the current tree stock.
John Golding stated that it is intended to expand the green waste scheme and review the recycling facilities at Greendale so that more items can be separated, which will increase income generation. The Parks offer will also be improved and the potential to run more events. Andrew Hancock is keen to trial the use of robotic mowers.
There is also work being undertaken in relation to the Health & Safety of Streetscene staff, because the nature of activities such as litter picking and tree cutting are inherently dangerous.
Councillor Bailey asked about the possibility of producing a video on the recycling process. Andrew Hancock confirmed that there was already a video on recycling and its end products on the website, with further plans to produce clips on the Woodbury trial; how the food waste process works and the green waste process. This will be included in the draft service plan and covered in the section on digital communications.
Question relating to keeping the public informed on a regular basis. Cllr Wright stated that recycling rates are included in reports to Cabinet every month and are published on the website. In terms of where the waste goes, it is dependent upon cost. There are about eight different locations for recycling by EDDC and SUEZ will determine the location based on ongoing commercial pressures.
Question relating to the contributions of Town or Parish Councils to grounds maintenance works, such as grass cutting and weeding. Andrew Hancock stated that any Town or Parish Council could enter a contract with EDDC to undertake additional works, but the issues in Exmouth, for example, relate to contracts which Devon County Council (DCC) had withdrawn from during the austerity measures in 2010. EDDC is unable to work on land they do not own or pick up the work previously done by DCC within its existing resources.
John Golding referred to the Nature Recovery Corridor which was about allowing things to grow back in places which have not been allowed to previously. This is a new development which will be included in the forthcoming Service Plans for the Countryside and Streetscene teams, and will be undertaken in partnership with organisations such as the Devon Wildlife Trust and developers amenable to such an approach.
Question relating to SUEZ waste trucks depositing waste on the roads as a result of speeding and keeping their doors open instead of closing them. John confirmed that this spillage had been discussed with SUEZ as an issue, and they were trying to incentivise their staff to alter their practices accordingly. Cllr Wright suggested encouraging people to make complaints and take photos when they see this happening because SUEZ take it very seriously.
Question relating to the training of HGV drivers – are provisions in place to redeem the costs of training if drivers leave their jobs? The response was that training arrangements are put in place with penalties attached if an individual leaves within a certain period of time. Cllr Wright confirmed that SUEZ employ drivers who are contracted to work for at least two years after being trained.
The Chair asked if Performance Measures were appropriate to the service. John Golding responded that the majority of measures were appropriate but could always be refined. Some were defined by legislation whilst others were enshrined in contracts. Andrew Hancock confirmed that the measures were good, but were not likely to change very much.
In terms of gaps in services, Andrew stated that there were predictable pressure points and challenges in the future.
With increasing property growth, increased visitor economy and staycations, rising expectations and a longer season length due to climate change, EDDC resources are under continuing and increasing pressure. The challenge is to maintain standards set against financial constraints. The service continuously looks at technology to help (for example an autonomous mowers trail and new sweepers) to get more for less, but it is considered that soon there will be a need to increase the staff resource. The Medium Term Financial Plan includes items for this set against property growth in key towns such as Exmouth, Axminster, Seaton and Cranbrook.
In relation to the Recycling & Waste service, the biggest single service area, collecting from over 69,000 properties and projecting to reach 70,000 properties by June 2019.This will trigger the contract tipping point, increasing the amount EDDC pay to Suez to operate the service.
EDDC are now making over 525,000 collections a month.
EDDC has a recycling rate of 57%, but reaching 60% for the last 3 months.
There is a lot of work for a very small officer team of four to keep participation high, keep pushing education to increase our recycling rate. £1.5m of income is tied to recycling performance, and a 1% increase or drop equates to roughly £20k of income.
Recycling income is extremely volatile, tied to global markets and is currently depressed and not forecast to increase next year.
In relation to recruitment, especially agency/seasonal., there is a buoyant employment market making it difficult to recruit, especially to lower paid role and seasonal vacancies. EDDC relies on agency and seasonal workers to bolster teams in the summer when visitor numbers are high. Due to 10 years of budget pressure Streetscene are very finely resourced,
so that if there is long term sickness (operations or injury), as occurred this summer and then an inability to recruit agency workers to back fill, it has a direct impact on the standards of cleanliness EDDC is able to provide. This is an area which may be further impacted by Brexit, although the proportion of non-UK nationals in the workforce is low.
The Chair asked about preparations for Brexit. John Golding referred to a variety of issues which may be affected including Emergency Planning, fuel shortages, the impact on Environment Agency monies available for coastal defence work.
The Chair wished to record the thanks of the committee to Andrew Hancock, John Golding and Cllr Tom Wright for attending and discussing the future service plan.
Recommended to Cabinet
1. that this committee seeks endorsement for the new approach in developing Nature Recovery Corridors across the District.
2. that this committee seeks the continuing support of Cabinet to expanding the Green Waste Service.