To receive declarations of personal and prejudicial interest (if any) from Members/Officers in accordance with the provisions of the Members Code of Conduct adopted by Council from 1 September 2008 (including whipping declarations)

None.  

To receive for approval the minutes of a meeting of the Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committee 3 dated 13 September 2017

RESOLVED:           That the minutes of the meeting of the Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committee 3 of 13 September 2017 be approved as a true and accurate record.  

The Scrutiny Officer reported on items which had been prioritised by the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee which included the next item delegated to this Committee to consider.  She also presented a list of further potential items for comment and prioritisation requested the Committee identify any further items for consideration using the pre-determined criteria form.

Conclusions

1. That the Committee approved the feedback from the previous meeting of this Committee and noted the list of responses including any still outstandingand accepted the feedback from Officers on their recommendations for Developing Bridgend as a place to work, live and visit.  Members asked for further clarification on the following points:

·         The proposal by Cabinet to procure an external company to take on the role of prosecuting offenders who drop their litter and fly tip their rubbish. 

·         Members sought clarification as to when this was going to happen and if any further information could be provided to them and if it was financially viable to keep the service in house;

·         Members requested that the light review of the Destination Management Plan is fed back to Members;

2. That the Committee identified additional information it wished to receive on their next delegated to them in the Forward Work Programme (FWP) and determined that it wished to invite representatives of BAVO and Pencoed Town Council to attend to assist in their investigation of Community Asset Transfer and representatives of Pencoed Town Council be invited to attend to assist in the investigation of Town Centre Regeneration; 

3. The Committee considered the completed criteria form and determined that it wished to add to the Forward Work Programme the budgetary impact of Parc Prison on the Council; 

4. That the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee be requested to prioritise items on Dementia Care; School Modernisation Band B; Emergency Housing  and Prevention, Wellbeing and Local Community Coordination from the FWP; 

That the item on Dementia Care be put forward as a suitable item for webcasting from the overall Forward Work Programme. 

Invitees:

Mark Shephard – Corporate Director Communities

Zak Shell – Head of Neighbourhood Services

Joanne Norman – Finance Manager

Cllr Hywel Williams – Deputy Leader

Cllr Richard Young – Cabinet Member Communities

Maz Akhtar- Regional Manager Kier

Julian Tranter – Manager Director Kier

Claire Pring – Contract Manager Kier

The Scrutiny Officer presented a report which summarised the current position with regard to the new Waste Contract.  She requested the Committee consider asking questions of the invitees based on the themes within the report.

The Corporate Director Communities informed the Committee that the report attempts to answer the questions of Members in relation to the Waste Contract, which had undergone a significant change programme.  He stated that for a short time in June 2017 following the mobilisation of the new contract, both the client (the Council) and the contractor, Kier had faced performance issues in the delivery of services.  There had since been an improvement in service delivery and this improvement would need to be continued going forward.

The Committee received a presentation by Zak Shell, Head of Neighbourhood Services and Maz Akhtar, Regional Manager of Kier on the waste collection service.

The Head of Neighbourhood Services informed the Committee that the waste contract was now in its third mobilisation, with the driver for change being ever increasing Welsh Government recycling targets.  Work had been undertaken with WRAP Cymru (Waste and Resources Action Programme) to limit residual waste householders can present; require pre-sort of household recyclables at HWRC’s (stop displacement) and maximise trade recycling.  He informed the Committee of the steps taken by other local authorities in Wales to restrict the amount of residual waste.  He outlined the key steps taken which led to the start of the new contract on 1 April 2017, with full contract mobilisation taking place on 5 June 2017. 

He highlighted the challenges since contract mobilisation which had seen an increase in requests for food caddies, which had not been predicted and had put an additional burden on Kier.  Location specific and repeat issues had been experienced in Wildmill.  He also highlighted the successes which had seen compliance with the 2 bag rule, revised garden waste collections, the acceptance of change of Community Recycling Centres and a current missed collection rate of 0.2%.  Recycling performance in Quarters 1 and 2 in 2017 were 63.81% and 73.45%.  He stated that the next challenges were continuing improvement in service levels; Christmas / New Year collections; new vehicles and round adjustment, a hard line 2 bag rule, with sticker and leave and a rolling delivery of sacks and bio bags. 

The Regional Manager, Kier informed the Committee of the staff improvement plans, in that Claire Pring is currently the dedicated Interim Business Manager.  He stated that the recruitment of a Business Manager had concluded and an appointment made.  The recruitment for the position of Supervisor had completed and the recruitment of front line staff was ongoing.  Staff training was taking place in PDA usage and recycling container placement, with full induction for all recycling staff taking place in January.  He outlined further service improvement plans with new high capacity recycling vehicles to arrive from November which had resulted in a £2m investment made by Kier and unique to Bridgend.  The new vehicles will be equipped with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

To consider any item(s) of business in respect of which notice has been given in

accordance with Part 4 (paragraph 4) of the Council Procedure Rules and which the person presiding at the meeting is of the opinion should by reason of special circumstances be transacted at the meeting as a matter of urgency.

There were no urgent items.