Meeting documents

With effect from 15 March 2013, Councillor Mrs A Jones has stepped down from the Cabinet at WDC due to ill health. The Committee is therefore asked to appoint a Chairman.

The Constitution of the Joint Waste Collection Committee states that appointments shall be made for a maximum period of 2 years and the first Chairman shall be a Member of the Non-Host Authority (Wycombe) and the first Vice Chairman shall be a Member of the Host Authority (Chiltern). Thereafter, the Chairmanship and Vice Chairmanship shall alternate between the Councils.

The Chairman and Vice Chairman must be a Cabinet Member.

The Committee, after noting that Councillor Mrs A Jones had stepped down from the Cabinet at Wycombe District Council due to ill health, expressed thanks for her contribution to the Joint Waste Project and wished her a rapid return to full health.

The Committee was then asked to appoint a Chairman. Following a discussion and after noting the requirements of the Constitution of the Joint Waste Collection Committee, it was

RESOLVED -

1.            That Councillor P E C Martin be appointed Chairman of the Chiltern & Wycombe Joint Waste Collection Committee for the remainder of the Municipal Year.

2.            That Councillor Mrs J Teesdale be appointed Vice-Chairman of the Chiltern & Wycombe Joint Waste Collection Committee for the remainder of the Municipal Year.

To agree the Minutes of the meeting held on 21 February 2013.

The minutes of the Chiltern and Wycombe Joint Waste Collection Committee held on 21 February 2013, tabled at the meeting, were agreed as a correct record, subject to the removal of any commercially sensitive information.

It was noted that the minutes of Joint Waste Collection Committee meetings were publicly available at www.chiltern.gov.uk/democracy, and the minutes would also be noted at meetings of the Cabinet at both Councils.

Minute 5: Programme Report & Risk Register

An update on the Inter Authority Agreement (IAA) with the County Council was provided. BCC had advised that they would be writing to each district separately inviting them to enter into an IAA with the County Council on an individual basis. Wycombe District Council had not yet received correspondence from the County Council in relation to this. Correspondence had been received at South Bucks District Council and officers had asked the County Council to send correspondence to Wycombe. Clarification on the arrangements for tipping away payments had also been requested from BCC, but had not yet been received.

There were no declarations of interest.

To resolve that under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the Act.

Paragraph 3 - Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)

Paragraph 3 - Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)

Members considered a report providing an update on the joint waste collection programme and during which the following key points were made:

Procurement Project

The contract documents and service delivery plans had been finalised.

Mobilisation

The Joint Committee was pleased to note that the new joint waste contract had been successfully implemented on 4 March 2013 with minimal disruption to the service. Members reported that positive feedback had been received from residents regarding the smooth transition to the new joint waste service and the pleasant appearance of the new vehicles. The improvements in relation to street cleansing, including the visible reduction in litter, were also noted. A road closure was required on the Marlow by-pass to enable litter to be collected from the roadside and it was suggested that a schedule of road closures be developed. The Joint Waste Committee for Buckinghamshire recently received a report on the 'Love Where You Live' Bucks Little Campaign and Members were pleased to note that officers were working on further invest to save schemes.

Members noted that Red Kite Community Housing had been invited to be included in the joint waste contract during the procurement but had declined. As such, the joint waste service did not include areas of land owned by the organisation. It was agreed that correspondence would be sent to Red Kite Community Housing reminding them that they were not included in the joint waste service and to request clarification on the arrangements that they had in place for the areas of land which they owned.

The concerns regarding the service quality provided by the previous contractor during the final stages of the old contract were noted.

Customer Services

Members were pleased to note that the customer services and waste team had provided an excellent service during contract commencement when a large number of waste queries had been received, particularly in light of the significant internal changes. Details of call volumes were provided verbally; there had been a reduction in the level of abandoned calls. Following a request for recent headline data to be provided at forthcoming meetings it was noted that this information would be including in the performance dashboard report.

IT / Contender

The new joint contender system was successfully implemented on 4 March 2013 and work had started on preparing the system for the roll out of waste service changes.

Regarding the changes to waste policy it was noted that collection crews were asked to apply the policy with an element of judgement. Whilst most residents had accepted the changes to waste policy, and additional information would be provided to those households where issues were identified by collection crews.

The upgrade of the contender system in collection vehicles was identified as an import element of the roll out of the new joint waste collections.

Human Resources

An update was provided on the new joint waste team  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.