Meeting documents

            Meeting: Environment Scrutiny Sub-Committee (County Hall, Durham - Committee Room 1a - 17/12/2007 10:00:00 AM)

                  Item: A4 Looking After the Environment 2nd Quarter 2007/08 Performance

         

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Report of the Head of Corporate Policy

1. The purpose of this report is to provide an update of quarter 2 performance for the authority’s priorities and the Best Value Performance Indicators (BVPIs) relevant to our Corporate Aim, Looking after the Environment.

2. KEY CHART

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.

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;


*1 measure does not have a year-end prediction. 4 indicators have year-end predictions but as they are annual there is no quarterly data to report.

4. 12 indicators aligned to Looking after the Environment are included in the authority’s priorities for improvement. Of these, 6 indicators were updated during quarter 2. The following table summarises the performance of these indicators.

Areas of concern,
(indicators not achieving quarter 2 target with deteriorating performance since 06/07year-end)

· BV 82bi - % household waste sent by the Authority for composting treatment
Unseasonable weather has resulted in a reduced tonnage through the Household Waste Recycling Centres. It is expected that performance will improve as the year progresses. The rolling total reflects the problems with the digestion facility experienced during quarter 3, 2006/07. These problems have been rectified so at this point it is expected that year-end target will be achieved. 14.7% of household waste was composted between 1 April and 30 September 2007.

However, Durham County Council performs well when compared to other authorities within the region for the percentage of household waste composted.

5. A summary of all other indicators reported during quarter 2 is shown in the table below,

Areas of concern,
(indicators not achieving quarter 2 target with deteriorating performance since 06/07year-end)

· BV 82bii - Total tonnage of household waste sent by the Authority for composting
See comments in paragraph 4

· BV 200b - has the local planning authority met the milestones which the current Local Development Scheme (LDS) sets out?
Milestones have not been met during quarter 2. This is due to a combination of staff turnover and staff being diverted to other priorities. Due to this the year-end target of meeting all of the milestones which the current Local Development Scheme sets out is unlikely to be achieved.

6. Year-end predictions suggest that 7 indicators will not meet their year-end targets. They are;

· BV 178 - % of the total length of rights of way in the local authority 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%.

· BV 223 - % of local authority principal road network where structural maintenance should be considered / BV 224a - % of non-principal classified road network where maintenance should be considered / BV 187 - % of category 1, 1a and 2 footway network, where structural maintenance should be considered
Following on from last year’s downturn and due to reduced funding in 2007/08 (both revenue and capital) the year end outturns of the above indicators have been revised.

· BV 200b - Has the local planning authority met the milestones which the current Local Development Scheme (LDS) sets out?
See comments in paragraph 5

· BV 82c - household waste arisings that have been used to recover heat, power and other energy sources
The Contractor is unable to identify suitable facilities. Therefore, it is unlikely that the County Council will make progress on energy recovery until the new waste management contract has been procured

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

Contact: Debra Kitching Tel: 0191 383 4186

TO VIEW ANY CHARTS/GRAPHS AND APPENDIX A PLEASE REFER TO THE ATTACHMENT OR ALTERNATIVELY REFER TO HARD COPIES HELD IN CORPORATE SERVICES OR THE COUNTY RECORD OFFICE

Attachments

 Env Scrutiny Q2 1712.pdf;
 Env Q2.pdf