to consider the following questions received in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 8:
(a) From Cllr Hodgson to Cllr Baldry, lead Executive Member for Environment
‘With regard to the many public concerns that have been raised regarding the delays to the roll out of kerbside collections and the potential impact on recycling rates the continued use of single use plastics until September 2020, would it be possible to implement a temporary arrangement with vehicles that WDBC commission to enable some of the new elements of the proposals including the switch from single use plastic bags to reusable collection bins to be implemented without further delay?’
(b) From Cllr Hodgson to Cllr Baldry, lead Executive Member for Environment
‘Please could the portfolio holder for the commissioning of waste services at SHDC report on the current levels of collection / missed bins and customer satisfaction with the new services to date?’
(c) From Cllr Hodgson to Cllr Pearce, Leader of the Council
‘Given the recent Declaration of a Climate and Biodiversity Emergency, can the contract with Fusion be amended to require that PV panels and / or Solar hot water panels be erected on the south facing roof of the Totnes Pavilions to reduce the impact of this facility on climate change and to ensure its resilience to rising energy prices and potential energy scarcity?’
(NB: a similar question was raised by myself some years ago at O&S – forerunner – when the renewal of contract was discussed and assurance was given then that this would be written into the new contract as and when it was due for renewal. TOTSOC – Totnes Renewable Energy Society – has informed me that they would like to support such an opportunity).
Minutes:
It was noted that three questions had been received in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 8.
From Cllr Hodgson to Cllr Baldry, lead Executive Member for Environment
(a) ‘With regard to the many public concerns that have been raised regarding the delays to the roll out of kerbside collections and the potential impact on recycling rates the continued use of single use plastics until September 2020, would it be possible to implement a temporary arrangement with vehicles that WDBC commission to enable some of the new elements of the proposals including the switch from single use plastic bags to reusable collection bins to be implemented without further delay?’
In response, Cllr Baldry stated that the date of 28 September 2020 for the introduction of the Devon aligned service was agreed by Full Council on 26 July 2018. This date had been put forward as it allowed sufficient time to procure the appropriate collection vehicles and the necessary infrastructure to be implemented. The vehicles used by West Devon Borough Council, made by Romaquip (the vehicle manufacturer), were highly sought after and were built to individual specification. The order for the new recycling vehicles was placed at the start of this year and had been agreed with Romaquip, however the earliest possible delivery date was September 2020.
Moreover, Cllr Baldry advised that to implement a temporary arrangement would still take several months and would cause unnecessary confusion amongst residents and affect the impact of the service change as a whole. In addition, an annual order of recycling sacks had already been placed to ensure that the Council had sufficient stock up until the time of the new service.
In reply to a supplementary question, Cllr Baldry reiterated his explanation for the project timescales.
From Cllr Hodgson to Cllr Baldry, lead Executive Member for Environment
(b) ‘Please could the portfolio holder for the commissioning of waste services at South Hams District Council report on the current levels of collection / missed bins and customer satisfaction with the new services to date?’
Cllr Baldry replied that performance of the new contract with FCC had improved (as expected) month on month. The missed collections rate per 100,000 since the contract had started was as below. The contract key performance indicator for missed collections per 100,000 was set at 80. FCC had been given a period of three months in which to achieve the required Service Level Agreements without any contractual penalty points being deducted:
April 2019 – 102 missed collections (per 100,000);
May 2019 – 129 missed collections (per 100,000);
June 2019 – 92 missed collections (per 100,000); and
July 2019 – 75 missed collections (per 100,000).
Cllr Baldry also informed that the online waste survey suggested that customer satisfaction was still high with 89% of customers advising that they were happy with the service. This was also corroborated by the recent Waste and Recycling Advisor report that indicated: ‘There were many compliments about the crews regarding how polite and helpful there were’. The Waste and Recycling Advisor had been in the South Hams from 24 May 2019 to 22 August 2019 speaking to residents about the recycling service and answering any queries that they may have. The recent report was circulated to the Waste Working Group on Monday, 16 June 2019 of which Cllr Hodgson was a Member.
From Cllr Hodgson to Cllr Pearce, Leader of the Council
(c) ‘‘Given the recent Declaration of a Climate and Biodiversity Emergency, can the contract with Fusion be amended to require that PV panels and/or Solar hot water panels be erected on the south facing roof of the Totnes Pavilions to reduce the impact of this facility on climate change and to ensure its resilience to rising energy prices and potential energy scarcity?”
In her response, Cllr Pearce advised that, whilst the contract between Fusion and SHDC did have targets requiring it to reduce its energy consumption year on year, the leisure centre in Totnes was not leased to Fusion. It was leased to Tadpool who, in turn, had an operating contract with Fusion. The lease to Tadpool did not have any obligations in it around solar and could not be changed without the consent of both parties.
Cllr Pearce did however advise that there was nothing stopping the Council from trying to work with Tadpool and Fusion to promote solar investment and that offer had been made at the highest level and was being reviewed. There was also an opportunity to discuss this further with Fusion and Tadpool as part of the future investment of £1.5 million in the Totnes Leisure Centre previously approved by Members.
Whilst not asking a supplementary question, Cllr Hodgson did wish to put on record her gratitude that a meeting had been arranged earlier that day that she had found to be useful.