Agenda and minutes

In accordance with the Code of Conduct, Members are invited to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests, Other Registerable Interests and Non-Registerable Interests including the nature and extent of such interests they may have in any items to be considered at this meeting;

19/22                    

Members were invited to declare any interests in the items of business to be considered during the course of the meeting but there were none made.

‘in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 3.1(f), five Members of the Council have requested that a Special Meeting of Full Council be called to provide for ‘the attendance by a representative of FCC, the Council’s Waste Collection Contractor, for the purposes of presenting a report to Members on its performance in the delivery of the waste service following by Questions and Answers.’

20/22                    

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 3.1(f), five Members of the Council had requested that a Special Meeting of Full Council be called to provide for ‘the attendance by a representative of FCC, the Council’s Waste Collection Contractor, for the purpose of presenting a report to Members on its performance in the delivery of the waste service followed by Questions and Answers’.

(a)      Chairman’s Introductory Comments

In introducing the agenda item, the Chairman made the following comments:

‘Members, before we begin the main item of the business this afternoon, I want to make some introductory remarks.

This is a special meeting of the Council.  It has been called for the purpose of allowing FCC to attend to present a report on its performance in delivering the waste service, followed by Questions and Answers.  Mr Steve Longdon and Mr Brian Ashby are here representing FCC.  I understand that they will be making a statement and that Cllr. Keith Baldry will then make a short response setting out the council’s position, followed by the Leader of the Council in her capacity as the chair of the Waste Working Group.  I will then open the meeting to Members to ask their questions of Mr Longdon and Mr Ashby.  I would ask that Members ask questions rather than make statements and confine themselves to the purpose why the five Members requested a meeting to be called.

Before I invite Mr Longdon and Mr Ashby to address the Council, I must remind Members that the Council has a contractual relationship with FCC.  Consequently, the Council is required to comply with the obligations and procedures provided for in that contract.  To that end, Members should follow the advice given previously and should refrain from saying or doing anything that might cause the Council itself to be in breach of contract.’

(b)      Statement from FCC Representative(s)

The FCC Representative(s) proceeded to make the following comments:

-        FCC Environment understood South Hams residents’ frustration and annoyance with the continued disruption to the waste and recycling services and wished to sincerely apologise for the failure to deliver the service that was expected and deserved;

-        In particular, the representatives wished to say sorry for the difficulties experienced with the reintroduction of the garden waste collection service.  There were reasons for this but it was clarified that, when the service was rolled out, FCC had recruited sufficient staff required under the contract to deliver the service.  However, since then staff had left the contract and the organisation had been unable to replace them.  FCC was operating an average absence level of 14% and, along with other issues which had made ongoing recruitment challenging, this had made delivering the service problematic. Notwithstanding these issues, residents had a right to expect a good and reliable service;

-        At all stages, FCC had sought to work with the Council to improve and resolve the situation and this remained the case;

-        Finally, FCC remained fully committed to ensuring that everybody had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20/21