Agenda item
Action List
Minutes:
The Chairman reminded Members that the Action List had been placed early on the agenda at the agreement of the Board at their previous meeting. A number of the action points were subsequently discussed in detail.
Quarterly Write Off of Debts Reports
Officers explained that the additional information that had been requested on 17th November would be incorporated into the following edition of the report.
Green Waste Collection
Members were advised that the green waste collection service had generated a surplus of approximately £200,000 since the inception of the scheme.
Concerns were raised about the potential for a fee of £35 per customer to cover the transportation costs for the green waste collection service. However, Officers confirmed that the costs of collecting garden waste were covered by the fee charged by the Council whilst the costs of disposal were funded by Worcestershire County Council.
Members also noted that in the recent past they had received complaints about residents continuing to receive the green waste collection service even when they were no longer paying the Council for that service. The Board was advised that these problems had been acknowledged by Officers and action had been taken to ensure that every brown bin used by residents who were no longer paying for the service had been recovered.
Advertisements were due to appear on the Council’s garden waste collection vehicles to encourage residents only to use the garden waste collection service if they were not in a position to compost. The potential for communal composting to be encouraged amongst allotment holders and residents with smaller gardens was briefly discussed and Officers suggested that this could be discussed further with Worcestershire County Council.
Bulky
Collections
As part of service transformation the Place teams had trialled a new process for bulky collections. Residents could book the collection of a single bulky item over the phone. In cases where numerous bulky items would be collected the Council quoted residents £30 per hour per operative. The new approach had helped to reduce costs for the Council involved in delivering the service. Officers confirmed that it was standard practice for most local authorities to charge customers for bulky waste collections.
Trade Waste Service
Members were advised that Officers were exploring options to make the service financially self-sustaining. This included considering working in partnership with a private sector company as well as retaining the service in house. The Council was not permitted to operate in a commercially competitive way and this would need to be taken into account when determining the best option for the delivery of the service.
There had been an assumption that the Trade Waste Collection service would be sold and this had informed the budget setting process in the previous year. However, during the year Officers had identified the potential for greater revenue to be generated by the service. In part this potential had been highlighted by an external company that compared the market for services such as waste collection and recycling and which had worked with other local authorities. Officers had concluded that based on this development at the national level the Council should investigate all options further before a final decision was made about the service.
Business Rates
Members were advised that further information about the business rates would be provided as part of the budget scrutiny process in the new year.
RESOLVED that the Action List be noted.
Supporting documents:
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