Agenda item

To consider the biannual update on the work of the Depot Services Working Group. 

64.1          The report of the Head of Community Services, circulated at Pages No. 65-78, provided Members with an update on the progress of the Depot Services Working Group.  Members were asked to consider the report.

64.2          Members were advised that the Depot Services Working Group had been established in 2019 to enable Members to better understand the relationship between the Council and Ubico and how the latter operated.  The Working Group had met on two occasions during 2021/22 and a further two meetings were planned in accordance with its Terms of Reference.  A robust work programme had been developed and agreed at the first meeting which was attached at Appendix 2 to the report.  The main considerations at the first meeting had been the increase in fly-tipping, the national driver shortage; quarter one financial performance; in-cab/connected technology; and the Defra waste and resources strategy consultation which would potentially have significant financial and operational impacts for the Council.  The second meeting had focused on Ubico’s quarter one performance; the trade waste project; the depot project in partnership with Cheltenham Borough Council; and grass cutting.  An annual update would be brought to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in April 2022.

64.3           A Member noted from the Terms of Reference, attached at Appendix 1 to the report, that the Working Group was due to continue until contract renewal and he asked when that would be.  In response, the Head of Community Services explained that the contract had been renewed on 1 April 2021; however, the Overview and Scrutiny Committee had felt there were a number of projects which needed to be overseen and it had been agreed that the Working Group would continue on that basis.  The Committee would review the Terms of Reference again at its meeting in April 2022 at which point Members could decide whether there was a continuing role for the Working Group.  From his perspective, the Working Group had been productive with engagement from Ubico and Tewkesbury Borough Council Officers.  The Lead Member for Clean and Green Environment chaired the Working Group and was in attendance today to endorse the update; the Lead Member felt that the Group had been an excellent bridge between Members and Ubico which had helped to address many of the concerns about the services being provided.  There were still many challenges ahead, not least the need to consider the options for expansion of the depot, and it was imperative that the Group was able to continue.  Another Member of the Working Group expressed the view that there was really positive communication between Ubico and the Council and a sense of trying to help one another through constructive feedback. 

64.4           The Head of Democratic Services explained that the Terms of Reference had been approved when the Working Group was first established in 2019 and set out that the Group would comprise nine Members of the Council to include six Members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, one Member of the Audit and Governance Committee and the Lead Members for Clean and Green Environment and Finance and Asset Management.  Councillor Cromwell had been appointed to sit on the Working Group as a Member of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at that time; however, having now resigned from the Committee, he was no longer entitled to sit on the Working Group on that basis and, as he did not qualify under any of the other categories set out in the Terms of Reference, this left a vacancy on the Group with a number of options available which the Committee would need to decide upon.  The first option was to replace Councillor Cromwell with another Member; however, the Chair of the Working Group, Councillor Mason, was of the view that Councillor Cromwell was a valuable Member of the Group on account of the knowledge he had acquired through sitting on the Group from the outset.  Therefore, a second option would be to specifically name Councillor Cromwell as a Member of the Working Group on the basis of his knowledge and experience, thus reducing the number of Overview and Scrutiny Committee Members from six to five.  A third option was to increase the number of Members on the Group to 10 and to nominate someone else from the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to join the Working Group as well as including Councillor Cromwell.  It was noted that it was intended for the membership to be primarily from the Overview and Scrutiny Committee as it was a Scrutiny Working Group which reported back to that Committee.

64.5           The Chair of the Working Group made a plea to the Committee to allow Councillor Cromwell to continue to sit on the Group as he had a great amount of knowledge on the subject of waste and had previously chaired the Grounds Maintenance Working Group which had preceded the Depot Services Working Group.  As Chair, he would be more than happy for the membership to be extended to allow another Member of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to join the Working Group.  The Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee wished to echo the comments made about Councillor Cromwell’s background knowledge and endorsed the suggestion of extending the Terms of Reference to include another Member. 

64.6           It was proposed and seconded that the Terms of Reference be amended to include an additional Member, ensuring that the majority of Members were from the Overview and Scrutiny Committee whilst allowing Councillor Cromwell to remain on the Group, and that Councillor K Berliner be nominated as the additional Member.  It was subsequently

RESOLVED          1. That the progress of the Depot Services Working Group be NOTED.

2.That the Terms of Reference of the Working Group be amended as follows:

2.i) The Group shall comprise nine ten Members of the Council – the majority of which will be to include six Members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee – and will include one Member of the Audit and Governance Committee and the Lead Members for Clean and Green Environment and Finance and Asset Management.

3. That Councillor K Berliner be appointed as the additional Member of the Working Group.