Agenda item

Members of the Economy and Enterprise Overview and Scrutiny Committee had been invited to attend the meeting for this agenda item.

Members considered the report of the Corporate Director for Neighbourhoods and Climate Change that provided Members with an update in the actions that the teams within Neighbourhoods and Climate Change had taken, working with partners to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic (for copy of report, see file of minutes).

The Corporate Director for Neighbourhoods and Climate Change was in attendance to present the report and deliver a presentation (for copy of presentation, see file of minutes).

The presentation set out details of Refuse and Recycling; Parks and Open Spaces; Impact on Bereavement Services; Community Protection; Technical Services and the Government Roadmap.

Members were advised that Refuse and Recycling was the most important service for them to keep going during the pandemic which they had achieved. It was a key priority for the service to ensure that bins were emptied. Social distancing measures had necessitated that more vehicles were used which had an effect on the productivity of the service, but it had remained operational throughout the pandemic. The Garden waste service was disrupted during the first lockdown and a month of service was missed and this had been recognised in the price of the service being reduced for those signing up to the service for 2021, again to compensate for the service reduction last year. The Garden Waste service had operated on a Saturday and Monday during 2020 but would return to the usual collection days of Tuesday to Friday in 2021.

The Corporate Director highlighted that Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) continue to be extremely busy and had social distancing measures in place which had led to traffic management plans in operation at some Household Waste Recycling Centres to ensure road safety. He confirmed that this had resulted in queues at some Household Waste Recycling Centres and the service was looking to address this with the introduction of a live tracking feed for residents to access via the Durham County Council website prior to heading out to a Household Waste Recycling Centre to check the levels of the queues. The service was also looking at trialling a booking system for Household Waste Recycling Centres. Members were reminded that work on multi local authority waste procurement was also progressing. The Corporate Director highlighted to members that at the beginning of the pandemic it had been necessary to remove some play equipment from various parks to encourage social distancing and that the equipment would be replaced when it is safe to do so. The cafes at Hardwick and Wharton parks were closed but would reopen for a takeaway only service and all toilets in parks were open for those using the parks for exercise.

Members were advised of the work of bereavement service throughout the pandemic and that in order to maintain the service staff from other areas had been redeployed to provide support. The service had retained the capacity to cope during the pandemic whilst providing a sensitive service but had also experienced technical issues relating to cremators which were having to be managed by staff.

Members were also advised that the government had just announced further monies available for the Safer Street initiative and the council would be trying to access the money, so that further work could be undertaken around the county.

The big issue with Technical Services was coping with the hardest winter maintenance season that they had seen for a number of years. In higher parts of the county crews dealt with substantial snow fall while at a lower level crews dealt with issues of ice. This was not just the length of the cold weather but also the variation between some cold weather then some very warm weather creating freeze thaw situations, that were difficult to manage. The Service had focused winter maintenance measures to ensure that all GP surgeries, testing centres and vaccination centres were kept clear. An update was given in relation to the work that was continuing on New Elvet Bridge and it was confirmed that Witton Park Bridge was now open to the public.

The Corporate Director then referred to the four-step roadmap out of lockdown that the Corporate Management Team were looking at closely. Government had not produced any draft legislation or government guidance for each of the steps other than the general guidance. The rule of six would apply again on the 29 March 2021 that would have an impact on the service. They would be able to start supporting a limited number of community activities as they had missed some activities such as the big spring clean and community litter picks. Step 2 of the roadmap would be a busy stage for the community protection team as this was when outdoor hospitality would be allowed and the licensing teams would be working closely with licensed premises, they would also see indoor leisure return. Step 3 of the roadmap allowed indoor hospitality so there would be a lot of work to do with businesses to get this right and planning for a spike in town centre issues such as litter and community protection. The fourth step of the roadmap would hopefully see the removal of most of the controls.

The Chair thanked the Corporate Director for his presentation and indicated that it had been a difficult and very unusual year that had brought many challenges for staff and the corporate team, but overall the situation had been handled very well. He asked that thanks be conveyed to staff for their hard work and the effort they had put in.

Councillor Wilkes thanked the Corporate Director for all his work and commented that there were a number of officers behind the scenes who were working extraordinary hours beyond the normal hours you would expect someone to have to work. He then referred to the access to GP surgeries and advised that for surgeries in his area gritting had not taken place and this had resulted in himself and residents gritting the roads and he asked why this wasn’t the case for some other areas in the county. He also commented on the proposed booking system for the Household Waste Recycling Centres and the use and cost of traffic management system at the Household Waste Recycling Centres and asked if a booking system could not have been introduced earlier. He continued by commenting that last year he had asked if a booking system could be introduced for the household waste recycling centres as it would be cheaper and more sensible with less queuing and highlighted that he was aware that other local authorities had introduced a queuing system. He commented that during lockdown the amount of recycling had increased so people were using the household waste recycling centres as they could not get everything into their recycling bins. However, due to the size of the queues at the household waste recycling centres people were using alternatives such as recycling stations at supermarkets for instance and gave the example of Sainsburys at the Arnison Centre where the recycling facilities had been overflowing since last year. He had asked officers if some temporary recycling facilities could be made available to assist the public and reduce the problems at the household waste recycling centres and noted that Sainsburys at the Arnison Centre had spent a considerable amount of money to remove the waste deposited at their facility.

The Corporate Director for Neighbourhoods and Climate Change thanked Councillor Wilkes for his appreciative comments and the priority had been to keep these services going and commented that the supply chains for the recycling centres were still not back to normal. He then referred to the gritting of GP surgeries and advised that they had a priority footpath schedule that was agreed with public health and the NHS so he did not understand why the GP surgery mentioned was not on that priority list and would pick this up outside of the meeting. With reference to the household waste recycling centres consideration was given to a booking system last year and an assessment was made but indicated that there would be little benefit due to the size and number of Household Waste Recycling Centres. Durham County Council was in a different position to other local authorities in the area who only had one or two household recycling centres. Other authorities who had a similar geography to Durham and a similar household waste recycling network had followed the same path as Durham. The number of sites where they had to have traffic management restrictions related to the highway such as Potterhouse Lane, Seaham and Annfield Plain where the queues risked interfering with the highway and traffic management was put into place to ensure the safety of the highway and its users. When social distancing requirements reduce, they hoped that the necessity to protect the highway from queuing would reduce.

The Chair referred to the difficult situation around household waste recycling centres and the work done to keep the service open was very well planned and commented that some Local Authorities that had a booking system had still experienced queues.

Councillor Wilkes indicated that in relation to the gritting at GP surgeries that the footpaths at the GP surgeries in his area had been gritted, it was the access roads to them that had not been gritted.

Councillor Sexton also wished to thank the teams and referred to traffic management costs and asked if it was legislation which required that the traffic management schemes were manned and suggested the use of a static barrier to stop traffic. He also asked apart from the booking system what other strategies had the service considered.

The Corporate Director for Neighbourhoods and Climate Change responded that in Chester-Le-Street they had reopened the Hett Hills site for extended hours which would reduce the pressure on other local Household Waste Recycling Centres and that this site was now open seven days a week instead of weekends and bank holidays. The nature of the traffic management at Potterhouse Lane Household Waste Recycling Centre was that it was to assist with traffic movements and it was not possible for a permanent barrier across the road as vehicles still needed to use that road to service the site during working hours which was the reason why it had to be manned.

Councillor Sexton wished to confirm that the road closures were legislative and asked why the vehicles that serviced the site could not use the diversion to access the site.

The Corporate Director for Neighbourhoods and Climate Change confirmed that Highways legislation states that the local authority has a duty to protect the highway. He referred to Potterhouse Lane site and stated that the vehicles that service the site cannot use the diversion as they are heavy good vehicles and the diversion route was inappropriate for this type of vehicle.

Councillor Avery wished to thank the Corporate Director for Neighbourhoods and Climate Change and his team for their fantastic work during this difficult period in particular the bin crews.

The Corporate Director for Neighbourhoods and Climate Change thanked Councillor Avery for his words and commented that it had been a massive team effort across the service.

Councillor Dunn echoed Councillor Avery’s comments regarding the bin crews who had been outstanding. He commented that the need for the household waste recycling centres and the use of them had increased massively through the pandemic. He disagreed with the comments regarding the traffic management system as the Coxhoe site was located on a 60-mph windy road and had large queues. The traffic management system used had prevented accidents and protected road users and staff and he believed that the measures in place, certainly at his local centre were absolutely necessary. The queues were still large and welcomed the live feed tracking system on the website to show how busy the centres were and thanked all those involved.

The Corporate Director for Neighbourhoods and Climate Change thanked Councillor Dunn for his comments. He indicated that the council have 12 sites across the county all in different positions and in the past they have had many challenges managing the sites due to historical issues resulting from a wide and diverse estate when it comes to the recycling centres and that traffic management was put in place to ensure highway safety.

The Chair indicated that all members appreciated the work and effort that had been accomplished by the teams over the past twelve months and wished to show their appreciation from this committee to those staff as well as the corporate team.

Resolved: (i) That the contents of the report and presentation be noted.

(ii) That a further update be included in the 2021/22 work programme.