Local democracy

Agenda item

STREET CLEANSING - SERVICE REDESIGN AND DEPLOYMENT OF RESOURCES

The report of the Strategic Director, Place (Document “Y”) provides information on the service redesign of Street Cleansing and options for operational deployment of resources.

 

Recommended –

 

(1)       That the service redesign for gateways is adopted.

 

(2)       That Bradford West Area Committee selects its preferred delivery         model.

 

(3)       That Bradford West Area Committee will review any option          chosen after a 12 month trial period.

 

(Damian Fisher – 01274 437062)

 

 

Minutes:

The report of the Strategic Director, Place (Document “Y”) provided information on the service redesign of Street Cleansing and options for operational deployment of resources.

 

The Shipley Area Co-ordinator was in attendance and with the permission of the Chair presented the report to the Committee. During synopsis he highlighted that at the meeting of the Bradford West Area Committee held on 28 November 2018, a report was presented outlining future changes to Street Cleansing and Warden services in the Bradford West area, in particular the 25% reduction in the district-wide Street Cleansing budget which would mean the loss of 28 frontline staff and five mechanical sweeper vehicles.

 

It was further explained that the operational changes to Street Cleansing within the District would see the creation of 23 new gateway routes that would cover busy gateway and arterial routes. He referred to Appendix A, a list of highways in Bradford West that would be on this daily route Monday to Friday backed with example maps of each ward. Furthermore, it was estimated that the prescribed routes would last 2-3 hours and require crews to start earlier at 0600. Upon completion of these routes, crews would be able to move in to their constituency areas for deployment.


He then confirmed that it was the full attention of the service to work alongside Members at point of commencing with the proposed operation through consultation in order to establish whether any operational changes were needed, and to make amends, as necessary, to the proposed street cleansing programme in the coming months.

 

The Committee expressed its disappointment to the lack of information in the report, despite the fact that the Committee clearly requested information at the previous meeting, that a further report detailing outline of schemes and how they would specifically relate to each individual Ward. This report failed to contain information as requested. Furthermore, officers who attended the previous meeting were not present to report back on findings following thoughts previously expressed by the Committee.

 

In response, the Shipley Area Co-ordinator highlighted that the Shipley Area Committee considered the reduction of resources by appointing a sub-group of a select number of elected Members from its Committee to maintain a healthy relationship with its cleansing service and to assist in the direction of implementation.

 

A question and answer session ensued:

·         What was the reason in regards to option 1b, some zones would be done twice weekly and other zones would be attended once every 4 weeks?

o   Some estates did not require a weekly street cleansing and therefore resources could be pooled into areas that did. In addition, there were areas in the Bradford West area that only needed cleansing twice a year;

·         In terms of behaviour changing, what did the service have for future plans?

o   It was not just a one answer response but at present, the service was relying on being notified. Occasionally, cleansing teams would knock on doors to establish the person responsible for the fly tipping; and,

·         Had the service undertaken a trial period of either option proposed?

o   The proposals were based on knowledge and experiences of officers, however these could be changed.

 

During the discussion, the following points were made:

·         There was no clear explanation on how Members would be given the opportunity to engage in this process in order to make changes. Whether engaging would be through Area Committee meetings or on a ward level basis;

·         The report highlighted flexible arrangements but without an adequate explanation of the mechanism for this proposal working;

·         The example maps presented were an old copyright of 2008. Since then, there had been significant housing developments and many highway changes;

·         There were specific areas in particular Wards that a 4 weekly streetcleansing would not be suffice;

·         Irresponsible fly tipping attracted further careless disposable of waste hence the importance of behaviour change through education;

·         Inner city Wards were demonised for being inundated with litter;

·         Two proposals, as highlighted in the report presented to the previous meeting were not included in this report;

·         Prior to reduction of financial resources, Wards were immersed with litter and therefore it was difficult to comprehend how the service intended to make the streets cleaner with the 25% reduction in the district-wide Street Cleansing budget which will mean the loss of 28 frontline staff and five mechanical sweeper vehicles;

·         It was discussed whether similar to Shipley Area Committee, a Sub-Group be formed with a Councillor from each Ward to assist in this Committee moving forward with one of the options;

·         Councillors were acquainted with their respective Wards better than officers;

·         Councillors may be better acquainted but it was not they who carried out the practical operational aspects of street cleansing hence it was paramount that this Committee ensured the correct mechanism before it would be too late;

·         Through experience of meetings, officers were familiar with areas in most need of targeting; and,

·         As a matter of principle, an explanation was sought on the proposed changes, giving details of the impact on a Ward by Ward basis.

 

The Committee concluded by stating that the insubstantial options presented in this report were not adequate for the Bradford West area and it seemed that the Committee was being indirectly coerced into selecting an option for operational deployment of resources that was clearly not viable for implementation, therefore:

 

Resolved –

 

(1)       That an additional meeting of the Bradford West Area Committee          be arranged on Wednesday 6 March 2019 to consider the issue of Street Cleansing and the proposed changes to the Warden Service within the Bradford West area.

 

(2)       That the impact of the proposed Options 1a and 1b, as set out in Document “Y” be presented in a further report by the Assistant Director, Neighbourhoods and Customer Services to the above meeting, setting out the broader impact of the options/proposals on a Ward basis.

 

(3)       That the proposed future changes to the Warden service and the impact of the proposal on individual Wards be detailed in a further report to be presented by the Assistant Director, Neighbourhoods and Customer Services to the above meeting.

 

(4)       That the invitation to the above meeting also be extended to the alternate members of the Bradford West Area Committee, in order to gauge the views of Members on the proposals that will be set out in the respective reports.

 

ACTION: Strategic Director, Place

 

 

Supporting documents: