Agenda item

A report was presented detailing proposals for the expansion of the Council’s commercial waste collection service. It was stated that the provisions of the Environment Act 2021, with businesses being required to separate food waste (and microbusiness due to be required to do the same from April 2027), afforded increased opportunities for service growth, as there would be growth in demand for commercial food waste services.

It was highlighted that the Council’s Commercial Waste Collection Service had expanded considerably since its inception in 2015 and there was a risk that in excess of £800,000 annual income would be placed at risk if the Council could not provide a compliant service.

The Cabinet Member for Environmental Services and Community Safety addressed the Board and stated that this request for funding was well documented. The Cabinet Member stated that the commercial waste service had been a profit-maker for the Council and only recently saw increased costs as a result of wider fleet and maintenance issues within the service. The recommendations in the report were designed to address this with the purchase of two refuse collection vehicles (RCVs) designed to reduce reliance on hire vehicles in the long term. The requirement for businesses to separate food waste provided an opportunity to expand the commercial waste collection service.

Following the presentation, Members discussed some aspects of the report as follows:

·         The effect of Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) on service delivery – It was explained that the duty to collect commercial waste would be unaffected by LGR and a number of neighbouring authorities were also undertaking expansion of their commercial waste services in anticipation of additional requirements on businesses from 2026/27. It was reported that the Council’s commercial waste service had built a strong reputation with local businesses and this provided a good starting point for the LGR reorganisation when the independent commercial waste teams operated by District Councils in Worcestershire would be merged into either one or two considerably larger teams.

·         It was clarified that the figures included in the report were for Bromsgrove District Council only as of the two shared service authorities (Bromsgrove and Redditch) only Bromsgrove had a commercial waste service.

·         The reasons for Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council (DMBC) exiting the commercial waste market – Officers explained that DMBC was geared primarily towards general waste services and their pricing structure was low, meaning it would be unsuitable to replicate in Bromsgrove.

·         The space needed for additional fleet vehicles at the Council’s Depot – It was reported that Officers had considered how to better utilise space at the Depot and additional space had been found to accommodate the two Refuse Collection Vehicles (RCVs).

Following the consideration of the subject, the recommendations as set out in the report were endorsed by the Board.

RECOMMENDED that

1)    Capital Funding of £489,760 be added to the Capital Programme for 2026/27 to purchase two Refuse Collection Vehicles (RCV’s).

2)    The Council allocates capital funding of £35,000 annually in the Medium-Term Financial Plan from the 2025/26 financial year to fund wheeled bins for Commercial Services.

3)    The Council allocate £334,342 Revenue Funding in the Medium-Term Financial Plan to fund operational costs of providing the expanded service from 2025/26.

4)    The Council allocate £100,000 Revenue Funding in the Medium-Term Financial Plan across 2025/26 and 2026/27 for interim vehicle hire.

(During consideration of this item, Members discussed matters that necessitated the disclosure of exempt information. It was therefore agreed to move to exclude the press and public prior to any debate on the grounds that information would be revealed that included information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)).