Agenda item

To consider the progress made in relation to the 2018/19 Gloucestershire Joint Waste Committee Action Plan.

106.1        The report of the Head of Community Services, circulated at Pages No. 37-74, gave an update on progress against the Joint Waste Action Plan 2018/19 as adopted by the Gloucestershire Joint Waste Committee.  Members were asked to consider the report.

106.2        The Head of Community Services drew attention to the additional Appendix, circulated separately, which provided a Tewkesbury Borough Council specific project plan and he apologised for this being omitted from the original report.   He pointed out that Page No. 39, Paragraph 4.0 of the report discussed the future of the Gloucestershire Joint Waste Committee and the Joint Waste Team and he was now able to speak openly about the fact that Cheltenham Borough Council had given notice of its intention to withdraw from the Committee in December 2019.  This left a number of options for Tewkesbury Borough Council including remaining in the partnership with fewer partners, dissolving the partnership or continuing in a less formal partnership arrangement without a formal Committee.  An options appraisal was currently being carried out, the outcomes of which would be presented to the Council in due course.  It was noted that the future of the Joint Waste Team was also part of the consideration with one possibility being that staff would be employed by the individual organisations.  The Head of Community Services advised that himself and the Lead Member for Clean and Green Environment had made representations to the Joint Waste Committee expressing their preference for a Gloucestershire-wide strategy which they felt was more beneficial than working individually. 

106.3        The remainder of the report gave an update on the Joint Waste Team and the elements that were specific to the Borough Council and particular reference was made to Page No. 72 which outlined the Javelin Park Energy from Waste project and the street cleansing review.  In terms of Javelin Park, a successful solution had been reached through negotiation which would mean that 30% of Tewkesbury Borough residual waste would be delivered directly to Javelin Park – Gloucestershire County Council had commissioned a waste transfer station within Tewkesbury Borough at Wingmoor Farm where the remaining 70% waste would be tipped.  This would avoid vehicles having to travel from the north of the borough all the way to Javelin Park which would take a considerable amount of time and subsequently put pressure on the Council’s waste services.  This had been a significant piece of work and it had taken a long time for the Council, Joint Waste Team and Ubico to secure a beneficial deal.

106.4        A Member raised concern at the late circulation of the appendix as it gave very little time for the Committee to scrutinise the information.  He was immediately struck by the absence of any ‘red’ projects and raised concern that this was not a true reflection.  He drew attention to Page No. 56 of the report which included a street cleaning operational review which had been given a target date of March 2019 and pointed out that this was included on the appendix with a new date of October 2019 but had been given a ‘green’ status.  In his opinion, the original delivery date of March 2019 had been missed and therefore it should be red or amber – this was just one example and he questioned how many more had not been picked up.  The Head of Community Services took the point regarding the late circulation of the appendix and undertook to ensure that it was provided to Members in good time in future.  With regard to the comments on the street cleaning review, he clarified that, although work had commenced during 2018/19, Javelin Park had taken considerable Officer resource which had meant that it could not be completed and had to be added to the new 2019/20 work plan which Members had before them.  The Member indicated that he had no problem with the fact the project had moved, rather that it had not been correctly flagged as having slipped.  This point was taken on board by Officers and it was accepted that the action plan needed to clearly show when particular projects had not been delivered within the original timeframes.

106.5        A Member indicated that he was very concerned about the future of the Gloucestershire Joint Waste Committee; in his view the Committee was a positive thing and he hoped its future would be considered carefully.  The Head of Community Services assured Members there was an absolute will to continue to work in partnership across the county, but it was a question of how that happened and what the mechanism for governance would be.  In response to a question as to whether the business plan would be obsolete if the Committee was dissolved, confirmation was provided that the work contained within the plan still had to be delivered no matter what, although clearly there would be some changes.  In response to a query regarding the roles of the Joint Waste Team, Members were advised that the Environment and Waste Policy Officer was responsible for dealing with the issues which came up on a daily basis; the Contracts Manager was Line Manager for the Environment and Waste Policy Officer and also looked after the Forest of Dean District Council.  It was intended for the team to work on larger projects across the county, for instance, there was a will to align waste services in Tewkesbury Borough, Cheltenham Borough and Gloucester City to ensure that residents who were living on opposite sides of the road, but fell within different local authority areas, were receiving the same level of service, and the Joint Waste Team worked closely with both authorities on cross-boundary issues.  The Contracts Manager explained that, when the Joint Waste Team was established, the Officers working for each individual authority had been put into the team – the Officer from Tewkesbury Borough Council continued to be the resource for Tewkesbury Borough.  The Joint Waste Committee comprised two members from each of the partner authorities and was responsible for delivering the work plan.  She stressed that this was no different from each authority having its own action plan but the work was shared in order to make the best use of resources.  She and the Environment and Waste Policy Officer were also responsible for contract procurement and management on behalf of Tewkesbury Borough Council and they regularly fed back any issues to the management team in order to work together to make improvements.  She confirmed that she had sight of the other authorities’ contracts which allowed comparison and sharing of best practice; however, there were differences as everyone worked on different systems.  The main point was that the same people would be responsible for delivering the service for each of the local authorities regardless of whether they were in a team. 

106.6        A Member raised concern that there was currently no consistency between the waste services offered by Tewkesbury Borough, Cheltenham Borough and Gloucester City Councils; Tewkesbury Borough Council’s waste collection service was very good and he was concerned that this would be compromised should there be a move to align services and also questioned whether the budget was adequate for the forthcoming year.  The Head of Community Services reassured Members that there would be no drop in services as the plan was to look at those elements the authorities were already doing similarly and to add consistency to those services with benefits such as fleet procurement etc.  Whilst Tewkesbury Borough Council prided itself on its recycling and would not want to see any reduction in levels, Stroud District Council was virtually the best performing authority in the country in relation to recycling so if any lessons could be learnt to further improve the service this would be welcomed.  In terms of finances, he reminded Members that the Joint Waste Team’s finances were separate from Ubico and the team had not contributed to the Ubico overspend.  The Head of Finance and Asset Management confirmed that the Ubico budget was £3.87M which was an increase of £200,000 and he explained that a 5.5% contingency had been incorporated to cover justified costs, for example, agency staff, and should ensure there was no impact on the Council’s bottom line. 

106.7        It was noted that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee was due to receive an update from the Gloucestershire Joint Waste Committee in October and the Head of Community Services indicated that he was happy to continue to report back to the Committee; if Tewkesbury Borough Council was not involved in the Joint Waste Partnership, the report would be more concise and specific to the Borough Council and any other areas that might impact upon it.  Having considered the information provided and views expressed, it was

RESOLVED          That the progress made in relation to the Gloucestershire Joint Waste Committee Action Plan 2018/19 be NOTED.