Meeting documents
Environment Scrutiny Sub-Committee (DCC)
Monday 17 September 2007
Meeting: Environment Scrutiny Sub-Committee (County Hall, Durham - Committee Room 1a - 17/09/2007 10:00:00 AM)
Item: A4 Looking after the Environment 1st Quarter 2007/08
1. The purpose of this report is to provide an update of quarter 1 performance for the authority’s priorities and the Best Value Performance Indicators (BVPIs) relevant to our Corporate Aim, Looking after the Environment.
2. To gain maximum impact of performance management intelligence from Performance Plus, the Authority’s performance management system, tolerances and milestones have been set for 2007/08 targets./20070917/Agenda/Image.gif)
3. Performance and comments relating to indicators relevant to the Corporate Aim, Looking after the Environment are reported in Appendix A. An overview of performance is as follows;
| Direction of Travel since year-end 2006/07 | Number of measures | % of total |
/20070917/Agenda/Image 1.gif){kind=small} /20070917/Agenda/Image 2.gif){kind=small} | Improved | 1134% |
/20070917/Agenda/Image 3.gif){kind=small} | Maintained | 516% |
/20070917/Agenda/Image 4.gif){kind=small} /20070917/Agenda/Image 5.gif){kind=small} | Deteriorated | 412% |
| Data is unavailable (N/a) during quarter 1 | 12 | 37% |
| Total | 32 |  |
| Comparison to target | Number of measures | % of total |
/20070917/Agenda/Image 6.gif){kind=small} | Worse than | 928% |
/20070917/Agenda/Image 7.gif){kind=small} | Better than by <10% | 619% |
/20070917/Agenda/Image 8.gif){kind=small} | Better than by 10% or more | 516% |
| Data is unavailable (N/a) during quarter 1 | 12 | 37% |
| Total | 32 | |
| Comparison to target | Number of measures | % of total |
| Predicted to be on target at 2007/08 year-end | 13/14* | 93% |
4. 12 indicators aligned to Looking after the Environment are included in the authority’s priorities for improvement. Of these, 5 indicators were updated during quarter 1. The following table summarises the performance of these indicators.
| Achieved Q1 target | Did not achieve Q1 target |
| Improved from year-end | Household waste collected per head of population (84a) bus passenger journeys undertaken each year (102) | % household waste recycled (82ai) |
| Deteriorated from year-end | | % of household waste composted (82bi) % of household waste landfilled (82di) |
Areas of concern,
(indicators not achieving quarter 1 target with deteriorating performance since 06/07year-end)
· Waste
Minimisation campaigns and the permit scheme have contributed to a decrease in the amount of waste per head of population. The existing 2 towers of the digester facility have been out of operation for some of the time affecting both the recycling and composting rates. The construction of a third tower is now complete and is being tested. All three towers should be online soon. The third tower is anticipated to bring about a 3.5 percentage point increase to the recycling / composting rates. Waste tyres are now recycled. At this point it is expected that year-end targets will be achieved.
5. A summary of all other indicators reported during quarter 1 is shown in the table below,
| Achieved Q1 target | Did not achieve Q1 target |
| Improved from year-end | Days to repair a street lighting fault under control of authority (215a) Days to repair street lighting fault under control of DNO (215b) % change in household waste collected (84b) % major planning applications determined within 13 weeks (109a) | Tonnage of household waste recycled (82aii) % of household waste used to recover energy (82ci) Tonnage of household waste used to recover energy (82cii) Tonnage of household waste landfilled (82dii) |
| Remained static | Temporary traffic controls/road closures (100) Pedestrian crossings with facilities for disabled people (165) Planning indicators (200a/b/c) | |
| Deteriorated from year-end | | % of rights of way that are easy to use (178) Tonnage of household waste composted (82bii) |
Areas of concern,
(indicators not achieving quarter 1 target with deteriorating performance since 06/07year-end)
· BV 82bii - Total tonnage of household waste composted
See comments in paragraph 4
· BV 178 - % of the total length of rights of way in the local area that are easy to use by the general public
The sample survey for BV178 is a 5% random survey of the network carried out in 2 surveys in May and November. Analysis of the results does not indicate a particular problem area and a combination of factors is believed to have contributed to the result, i.e. small sample for our network of over 3000km, entirely random, the unseasonable conditions of the spring and early summer, staffing and budgetary constraints. An action plan for BV178 is in place and we expect the November survey to be an improvement on the May survey. However, it is unlikely that the 2007/08 target will be achieved and the year-end prediction has been reviewed to 70%.
6. Year-end predictions suggest that all indicators will meet their year-end targets except BV 178, % of the total length of rights of way in the local authority area that are easy to use by the general public. See paragraph 5 for further details.
7. It is recommended that Environment Scrutiny Sub-Committee Members:
(i) note the contents of this report
(ii) agree to receiving subsequent quarterly performance progress reports
Attachments
Env Scrutiny Q1 0708.pdf;
Q1 Presentation.ppt;
Q1 Appendix.pdf