Agenda item

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Transformation and Partnerships that presented progress towards achieving the key outcomes of the Council’s corporate performance framework (for copy of report, see file of minutes).

The Corporate Scrutiny and Strategy Manager and Strategy Officer were in attendance to present the report and deliver a presentation using live data that included a map of the area that provided information on incidents such as fly-tipping which could also be broken down further to show waste by type.

The Corporate Scrutiny and Strategy Manager advised that 18% of waste put into recycling bins cannot be recycled due to contamination, this was largely due to recyclable being placed in black bin bags and put into the recycling bin. An education programme to ensure the public knows what can and cannot be recycled and that recycling materials such as metals, paper and cardboard should be placed directly into the recycling bin. There was an ongoing ‘Know your Metals’ campaign and leaflets had been distributed and were available, however officers believe that not everyone was recycling metals and there was more that members of the public could recycle.

Councillor Jopling referred to contamination materials and indicated that she had a label advising what you could recycle, and aerosols and tin foil was included on the list as recyclable items.

The Corporate Scrutiny and Strategy Manager responded that these items were being placed in the general waste bin rather than recycling by some members of the public.

Councillor Hicks sought clarification if items were not washed then would they be classed as contamination. The Strategic Manager responded that they asked for them to be washed for hygiene reasons, but it was not necessary.

The Corporate Scrutiny and Strategy Manager went on to advise that Durham County Council had been unsuccessful in its bid to the Department of Transport ADEPT Innovation Fund for further road surfacing trials using plastic materials.

Councillor Jopling asked for further information on plastic roads in particular, why the scheme was not continuing.

The Corporate Scrutiny and Strategy Manager responded that the scheme was not continuing due to the failure of the innovation fund bid but the use of plastics on roads had been successful.

Councillor Howell referred to the figures for ‘How clean and tidy is my local environment?’ and asked if they had any more recent national figures.

The Corporate Scrutiny and Strategy Manager responded that the national figures were no longer available, so the comparative data will not be included in future reports.

Councillor Howell referred to the percentage change in carbon emissions from local authority operations which had dropped 9% compared to 14% the previous year and asked what figure this was based on.

The Sustainability and Climate Change Team Leader responded that the meeting to be held on 30 April 2019 would be looking at carbon emissions and would provide an answer to the question.

The Corporate Scrutiny and Strategy Manager advised that following a number of member’s questions in relation to fly tipping at the January meeting work had been done to provide members with a demonstration of a new system that could provide intelligence data on fly tipping. The Strategy Officer provided members with a demonstration using a product called Microsoft Power BI that showed the types of fly tipping, the capacity of the load, and the location down to detail as to whether the fly tip is in an alley way, commercial land, private land, council land, footpath or highway. Members were advised that the data used was the most up to date.

Councillor Jewell asked if the live data system would be available to Members. Members were advised that the system could be available to Members in the future.

Councillor Avery referred to the charge for bulky collections and asked if this generated much income as he found in his area fly tipping increased when the charge was introduced and asked how this compared to the cost of cleaning up incidents.

The Corporate Scrutiny and Strategy Manager responded that the implementation of the charge was introduced some time ago and the data only goes back to 2016 so they were unable to show a trend, but he could look at income compared to the cost.

The Strategy Officer indicated that there was a 2.5% increase in bulky waste requests and the price had increased last year.

The Chairman indicated that this question had previously been asked by the Committee and were advised that the implementation of the charge had made little difference. An income was now generated but this had no impact of fly-tipping.

Councillor Patterson indicated that the cost to collect rubbish were high, so a true reflection could not be made and there were other varying factors to take into consideration.

Mr Bolton referred to fly-tipping on private land and asked how this was identified and when fly-tipping occurred on private land did Durham County Council contact the land owner.

The Corporate Scrutiny and Strategy Manager responded that it depended on how the report was made, for example if an incident was reported online the person reporting indicate the location by dropping a pin on the online map. However, this can be difficult unless you know the exact location, if the incident was reported via the telephone and a postcode was known then a team would go out to determine land ownership. Where fly tipping had occurred on private land some landowners would sort out the fly-tipping themselves but if it continued to be an issue then the Council would work with the landowner.

Councillor Jewell asked how accurately the figures reflected the problem as not all incidents were reported.

The Strategy Officer responded that all wardens had hand held devices that allowed them to instantly report incidents they come across that goes onto the same system as the public use to report fly tipping incidents but there could be a small number of incidents that they were not aware of.

Councillor Jopling referred to private tenants moving out of properties and leaving behind rubbish such as mattresses and asked who paid for the removal of these items.

The Corporate Scrutiny and Strategy Manager responded that it was up to the landlord in the first instance, but the council would arrange for the removal if necessary. Wardens often identify where fly tipping has occurred in back yards, the first point of call would be to the tenants or owner of the property and ask them to clear it up. Ultimately, Durham County Council would clear up and forward the bill to the landlord.

The Chairman referred to the registered landlord scheme and how this was vital for these situations.

Councillor Patterson commented that if the tenant asked for the removal of rubbish it would cost £20.00 but if the landlord made the request it would cost £140.00. The Economy and Enterprise OSC has in its work programme the Housing Strategy and this committee should be mindful of the overlap.

Councillor Howell commented on the tremendous amount of data asked how well the data was used and what was done with it.

The Corporate Scrutiny and Strategy Manager indicated that the Microsoft Power BI tool could be used on any data set and can link data sets and overlay them for example against areas of deprivation, where Household Waste Recycling Centres are located and compare them with population desnities. The tool allows officers to look at key areas all clean and green activities could be put onto the system and link to data which could be used to take actions.

The Chairman commented that the tool was similar to a new members’ portal which would be rolled out to members in the near future which included a dashboard that allows for comparisons to be made with other Durham County Council divisions.

Councillor Dunn asked if the system would allow you to identify who reported the incident and if training would be provided to members.

Members were advised that the system would identify who reported the system and members would be provided with training on the use of the new portal.

The Chair advised that in relation to the members’ portal training was given but from a member point of view there was a need to be IT literate but it was a good system.

Councillor Howell advised that knowing who had made the report was important and knowing the location was important too as members judge whether area campaigns had been successful.

In response to a question from Councillor Jewell the Strategy Officer confirmed that the system was able to show hot spot areas.

The Chair thanked the Corporate Scrutiny and Strategy Manager and the Strategy Officer for the demonstration.

Resolved: That the report be noted.