Agenda item

Report of Corporate Management Team.

The Committee considered a report of the Assistant Chief Executive which presented progress against the council’s corporate basket of performance indicators (PIs) for the Altogether Greener theme and report other significant performance issues for the 2013/14 financial year (for copy of report and slides of presentation see file of minutes).

The Customer Relations Policy and Performance Manager provided an overview of performance along with key messages, achievements and challenges from 2013/14 and furthermore reported upon delayed actions for 2013/14 along with the updated position.

In relation to key achievements this quarter members were informed as follows:

• An improvement in street and environmental cleanliness – performance is better  than target.
• The percentage of waste sent to landfill is decreasing significantly and the rate is now half what it was at the end of 2012/13.
• There were 1,170 feed in tariff installations registered and approved exceeding the year-end target of 1,000 installations

The key performance improvement issues for the theme included:

• Household waste re-used, recycled or composted is below target.
• There were 8,999 fly-tipping incidents reported in the twelve month rolling period from April 2013 to March 2014 an increase of 40.1% compared to twelve months earlier.

Concerning key Council Plan actions that have not achieved target they include:

• To coordinate the development and implementation of a re-charging network for electric vehicles to provide 35 charging points across the County by March 2014 which has been delayed until March 2015.
• To produce a new Waste Strategy for Durham County Council by April 2014, now delayed until June 2014.

The presentation went on to highlight the key ongoing projects which were taking place across the County in respect of the built environment, carbon emissions, natural environment and the clean and attractive environment.

The Customer Relations Policy and Performance Manager further reported upon the 25^th year of the Environment Awards.

With regard to the Altogether Green theme and the basket of indicators it was reported that a number of new indicators had been included for 2014/15 and these were detailed within the presentation.

Councillor Adam raised a question regarding recycling and contaminates. In response the Head of Projects and Business Services advised that contamination was measured by sampling loads. In addition waste tonnage was measured when it arrived at the facility and again once the contaminants had been removed, this then provided the measures of contaminated waste.

The Head of Direct Services also pointed out that if operatives witnessed contaminants at the front line, then stickers would be placed on the bins and a follow up call would be made to discuss the issue with the resident..

Mr T Bolton commented that he noted that recycling performance was falling and questioned whether this was as a direct result of supermarkets and the way they were now packaging items. He further queried whether there was a similar trend across the country.

In response the Head of Projects and Business Services confirmed that the rate of recycling was now starting to level off however in order to instigate further change, significant investment would be required.

Councillor Clark asked whether a separate waste bin had been considered for food waste only. In response the Head of Projects and Business Services advised that this was something that had been looked at in the past and that DCC had submitted a bid for funding for a pilot scheme however the authority was not successful. The system does work very well in highly populated areas but implementation was very expensive.

Councillor Clark further asked what was being done to encourage local assets to come forward for inclusion in Heritage Open Days. The Customer Relations, Policy and Performance Manager advised that she was aware of work being undertaken by colleagues  to encourage more sites to open to the public however she would provide  detail of the work undertaken at a future meeting.

Further discussion then took place regarding HWRC and Councillor E Bell commented that he was aware that some residents had been turned away at recycling facilities who had arrived on foot. He further queried whether any consideration had been given to extending the powers to impose fixed penalties to other DCC staff.

The Head of Direct Services advised that Town and Parish Council’s did have the power to impose fixed penalty notices although none within County Durham had adopted those powers at this time. It was further noted that PCSO’s were also able to impose fixed penalty notices. With regard to the issues raised regarding access to HWRC’s, it was noted that these sites were designed for vehicles access only and access on foot was prohibited.  It was requested by Councillor Bell that this policy be reviewed by officers as this could encourage fly-tipping.

Discussion then ensued regarding whether DCC could track income from feed in tariffs from County Council buildings In response the Customer Relations, Policy and Performance Manager advised that figurers were reported in respect of the County as a whole but not just for the council. She advised that she would look into this with a view to including the information in future performance reports.

A query was further raised by Councillor Clare regarding permits for HWRC’s and the process by which they were obtained and monitored by the council. It was confirmed by the Head of Projects and Business Services that the permit system was introduced to stop the disposal of business waste at HWRCs.  The permit allows DCC to track how many times a vehicle is accessing the site.

Resolved:

That the content of the report be noted.