24/22
As highlighted above (Minute
22/22 refers), the Chairman reminded those in attendance that he
had agreed for an urgent item to be raised at this meeting titled:
‘Waste and Recycling Services Contract
Update’.
In light of the item being
considered to be exempt, it was then PROPOSED and
SECONDED and when put to the vote declared
CARRIED that:
RESOLVED
In
accordance with Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972,
the public and press be excluded from the meeting during
consideration of the following item of business as the likely
disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of
Schedule 12A to the Act is involved.
Consideration was then given to
an exempt report that provided an update on the status of the Waste
and Recycling Services Contract. It was
noted that a version of this report had also been considered by the
Executive at its special meeting held on 12 July 2022 (Minute
E.27/22 refers). At this meeting, the
Executive had unanimously recommended approval of each of the
report recommendations.
In the ensuing discussion, an
amendment was PROPOSED and SECONDED
as follows:
1. That
Council be RECOMMENDED that, subject to the agreement of Full Council
at its meeting held on 22 September 2022:
(a) It
terminates the contract with FCC by mutual agreement, resulting in the
transfer of all services currently provided under the contract back
to the Council with effect from 3 October 2022.
3.
That the Section 151 Officer be requested to bring a report to
Council in September 2022 on the ongoing revenue costs of
delivering the service in-house (after the transitional period and
the impact on the Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy
(MTFS));
4.
That Leading Counsel’s advice be obtained on the merits of
reaching a mutual agreement with FCC as opposed to terminating the
contract together with all its consequences.
During debate on the amendment,
it was confirmed that, irrespective of the vote, the Section 151
Officer would still be providing a report to the Council meeting to
be held on 22 September 2022.
Following a lengthy debate, in
accordance with Council Procedure Rule 17.5, a recorded vote was
then called for on the amendment. The
voting on the amendment was recorded as follows:
For the motion (4):
Cllrs Abbott, Birch, McKay and Pannell
Against the motion (18): Cllrs
Austen, Baldry, Bastone, Brown,
Chown, Foss, Hawkins, Holway, Hopwood, Jones, Pearce, Pennington,
Pringle, Reeve, Rowe, Smerdon, Spencer
and Taylor
Abstentions (6): Cllrs Brazil,
Hodgson, Jackson, Long, Sweett and
Thomas
Absent (3): Cllrs Kemp, O’Callaghan and Rose
and the vote on the amendment
was therefore declared LOST.
Upon the conclusion of the
extensive debate, Members expressed a wish to re-admit the public
and press to the meeting in advance of the vote on the motion being
taken.
As a result, it was
then:
RESOLVED
That
the public and press be re-admitted to the meeting.
It
was then:
RESOLVED
1. That it
be agreed that:
a. with
effect from 3 October 2022, the Waste and Recycling Services
Contract be terminated by mutual agreement, resulting in the
transfer of all services currently provided under the contract back
to the Council;
b. authority be
delegated to the Head of Paid Service (Chief Executive) and
Director of Customer Services Delivery, in consultation with the
Leader of the Council and lead Executive Member for Waste and
Recycling Services, to:
(i) conclude the negotiations based
on the outline of draft settlement terms (as set out in Appendix A
of the published exempt agenda report) and to finalise the
settlement agreement and any other necessary
arrangements;
(ii) formulate and
implement a mobilisation plan for the Council’s delivery of
the service; and
(iii) keep the Waste Working
Group informed on progress;
c. the value
of the 2021/22 deductions be transferred to the Sustainable Waste
Management Earmarked Reserve, as part of the closure of the 2021/22
accounts, in order to contribute to anticipated set up costs of
bringing the service back in house (as outlined in section 4 of the
report presented to the Executive meeting held on 12 July
2022);
d. all additional
payments from the waste contractor in 2022/23 be allocated to
contributing to the anticipated set up costs of bringing the
service back in house (as outlined in section 4 of the report
presented to the Executive meeting held on 12 July
2022);
e. the use of the
Business Rate Retention Reserve be approved to fund the anticipated
revenue costs during the transition period (as outlined in section
4 of the report presented to the Executive meeting held on 12 July
2022);
f. a budget
for one-off set up costs be allocated (as outlined in Section 4 of
the report presented to the Executive meeting held on 12 July
2022);
2. That
authority be delegated to the Director of Customer Service
Delivery, in consultation with the Leader, Lead Executive Member
for Waste and Recycling Services and the S151 Officer to grant an
exemption from the Council’s Contract Procedure Rules
(procurement rules) for:
i)
technical and professional services; and
ii)
plant and equipment (such as extra vehicles);
(NB.This was due to the critically
short timescales for bringing the service back in-house and the
need for continuity with the Council’s existing suppliers in
these service areas.
Resolution 2 is conditional upon these goods and services not
having already been procured under the terms of a framework
agreement and being below the UK threshold for the purposes of the
Public Contracts Regulations
2015).