Agenda and minutes

There were no disclosable pecuniary interests declared.

a)  To agree the minutes of the previous meeting held on 4 November, 2015

b)  Matters arising

The minutes of the meeting held on 4 November, 2015 were signed as a true record.

Briefing Note appended to which is a presentation of the Executive Director of Place

The Scrutiny Board received a Briefing Note, appended to which was a presentation which provided performance information for Waste Services for the year to date.

The presentation highlighted the following key information:-

  ?The service makes 273,100 collections a week from 136,500

  Households. Over 13 million bins are emptied a year

?Of the 273,100 bins collected per week, on average 158 bins are 

  reported as missed a week which is equivalent to 39 bins a day, or 

  0.001% of all bins collected

?The annual costs are £7m for collection and £8.26m for disposal. This

  equates to a cost of £2.13 per household per week

 The presentation also detailed comparisons of recycling rates with other local authorities, tonnages collected, complaints received and details of the Coventry Recycling Club, an incentive scheme launched in 2015 as a tool to improve recycling through education and rewards. The Scrutiny Board were also provided with details of the following new improvements to the service which were in the process of being introduced:-

?In cab technology which would enable live reporting, issues to be addressed with crews and provide better communication with the Contact Centre and residents

?Contamination tags which would be attached to recycling bins to explain why their binc had not been collected

The Scrutiny Board questioned officers on aspects of the presentation, particularly in relation to:-

  ?National and local recycling targets

  ?The number and type of complaints received

?How the new in cab technology will assist in reducing the number of missed collections and complaints

  ?What training and support will be offered to the workforce in relation

 to the introduction of the new ways of working

?The average length of time it takes to replace missing or stolen bins

Officers indicated that they would be able to arrange visits for members of the Scrutiny Board to the Materials Recycling Facility and/or the Waste to Energy Plant.

RESOLVED that the Communities and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Board (4):-

(1)  Notes the information contained in the Waste Services presentation, together with the additional information provided by officers at the meeting.

(2)  Requests that members of the Scrutiny Board be provided with a

detailed analysis of the complaints received in relation to the

service.

Briefing Note of the Executive Director of Place

The Scrutiny Board considered a Briefing Note of the Executive Director of Place which provided an overview of the School Crossing Patrol service in Coventry, including an outline of recent service changes.

The Briefing Note outlined:-

  ?The legislative framework for the establishment of school

  crossing patrols.

?Historic information in relation to the number of authorised sites in the

  City and the impact that the review of the service in 2015 had on

  the number of those sites.

?Consultation undertaken with schools in relation to the service review,

  which had results in savings of £300k per year and had effectively

  meant that the service was now self financing.

?How the transition of schools paying for school crossing patrols had

  been subsidised for the first two financial years, with participating

  schools only being required to pay the full costs from 2017/18

  onwards.

?How the management of staff affected by the service review have

  been dealt with.

Appendices to the report listed those schools crossing patrol sites that schools are funding and so will continue, together with a list of those sites that schools have chosen not to fund and have therefore been deleted.

The Scrutiny Board questioned officers on aspects of the Briefing Note, including:-

  ?Risk assessments undertaken at all deleted sites

  ?Work undertaken with schools and private businesses to identify other

  sources of funding

?The length of time to recruit and train new members of staff

?Secondary measures introduced around sites, such as 20mph zones

RESOLVED that the Briefing Note be noted.

All outstanding issues have been included in the Work Programme

The Scrutiny Board noted that all outstanding issues had been included in the Work programme for the current year.

Report of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator

The Scrutiny Board considered the Work Programme for 2015-16.

RESOLVED that the following items be added to the Work Programme for 2015-16:-

  (1)  Street Cleansing

  (2)  Flood Management

Any other items of public business which the Chair decides to take as a matter of urgency because of the special circumstances involved.

There were no other items of urgent public business.