Agenda item

to consider business (if any) brought forward by the Chairman;

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).