Agenda item

          Councillor Keith Williams, Cabinet Member for StreetSmart, was in attendance and presented to the Committee a detailed report summarising progress and performance in respect of each of the following service areas within his portfolio of responsibility:

·       Waterside Depot Management

·       Streetsmart

·       Public Toilets,

·       Envirocrime,

·       Waste Disposal / Waste Minimisation

·       Street Lighting [maintenance]

·       Street Cleaning

·       Recycling

·       Refuse Collection – Domestic & Trade

·       Ground & Tree Maintenance and open spaces

·       Removal of graffiti and abandoned vehicles

·       Parks (Streetsmart services only)

·       Environmental Issues Landscape & Countryside (including Community Forest)

·       Playgrounds, including those that are not presently utilised.

·       Maintenance of Roundabouts and non-HRA verges

·       Cemeteries and Crematoria Assets

·       Building & Engineering

·       Building Services, cleaning, catering & security services

·       Gullies and drainage, minor road repairs, potholes

·       Digital by Design

·       IT Strategy and delivery

          At the request of the Chair, Councillor Williams, in his presentation of the report, commented specifically on those elements within his portfolio which he felt had been most successful, those where a different approach might have produced better results and the lessons that might have been learned as a consequence, and the challenges he expected to be faced by the Council in relation to these service areas in the coming year and beyond, particularly in relation to on-going budgetary constraints.  He referred to work being undertaken to maximise revenue, particularly by the EnviroCrime Team, the introduction of wake facilities and themed funerals at the Crematorium and the implementation of charges at the household waste recycle centre.

          Following his presentation of the report, Councillor Williams with the council’s Head of Streetsmart, responded to members’ questions and observations on the following matters:

·       Corporate Social Responsibility for both Council and local businesses.

·       Working with the community, particularly those with no access to transport, to discourage fly tipping.

·       The use of cameras at particular sites to discourage fly tipping.

·       Charging at the new weighbridge at Waterside Household Waste and Recycling Centre (HWRC) and confirmation that this site was only used for trade waste by commercial businesses.

·       Refuse disposal and enforcement in the town centre.

·       Raising community awareness that the Council was returning certain areas to a more natural environment to encourage the return of flora and fauna and that these areas were not fly tipping zones.

·       The impact of the weaker sterling on disposing recycled material overseas.

·       How Euro bins may reduce fly tipping and improve the local environment.

·       Benefits of paying for green waste by direct debit.

·       The importance of ensuring schools engage with the Enviro-Crime Team. 

·       Confirmation that a review of salt gritting operations in the borough would be taken in the new year.

          Resolved – (1) That Councillor Williams be thanked for attending the meeting to present this performance report and for his full and open responses to members’ questions and observations on the issues raised.

          (2) That the Head of StreetSmart be requested to liaise with the Director of Law and Democratic Services and update the Committee on the current Council position regarding Corporate Social Responsibility regulations.

          (3) That the Head of StreetSmart be requested to circulate information regarding:

          (a) The statutory and non-statutory services that would be transferred to parish councils. 

          (b) The recycling proposals and charging structure at Waterside.

          (c) The income generated from fishing rights.