Environment Scrutiny Panel
23 April 2010
ENVIRONMENT SCRUTINY PANEL
A meeting of the Environment Scrutiny Panel was held on 23 April 2010.
PRESENT:
Councillor Kerr (Chair), Councillors Carter, Davison, C Hobson, McPartland
and Purvis (substitute for Clark).
OFFICERS:
A Crawford, S Harker, I Parker, T Punton and P Robertson.
** APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE were submitted on behalf of Councillors Clark and Hubbard.
** DECLARATIONS OF MEMBERS’ INTERESTS
There were no Declarations of Interest made by Members at this point in the meeting.
** MINUTES
The Minutes of the Environment Scrutiny Panel meeting held on 29 March 2010 were submitted
and approved as a correct record subject to the following amendment:
Page four, paragraph six, point three, line two, replace “are” with “area”.
NATURES WORLD
The Chief Executive provided Panel with a verbal update on Natures World. Natures World
operated as a charitable trust independently of Middlesbrough Council. The Council owned the
land and rented it to Natures World for a peppercorn rent. The Council had an outstanding loan
of £110,000 to Natures World and also acted as guarantor for its bank overdraft. The Chief
Executive and two Elected Members were currently members of the Management Board.
In 2008 it had been identified that the business model for Natures World needed addressing to
ensure the future of the facility. It was acknowledged that Natures World needed to be refocussed as it had several different elements including show gardens, a model of the River Tees
and a hydroponicum, all of which required some revamping.
The venue’s primary source of income was from paying visitors with a secondary income from
the on-site café, hiring of meeting rooms and also from various grants. Consultants had been
appointed to produce recommendations on a sustainable way forward for Natures World and
their study had been completed recently. The report would be considered in detail at the next
Board meeting on 4 May 2010.
It was suggested that the Council might be able to contribute to the future of Natures World in
terms of additional personnel or other resources for a limited period.
AGREED as follows:1. the information provided be received and noted.
2. the Chief Executive would write to the Management Board of Natures World to inform them
of the Panel’s scrutiny investigation.
3. the Panel would receive an update report from the Management Board following its meeting
on 4 May 2010.
REVIEW OF SIDE WASTE COLLECTION POLICY
The Head of Streetscene Services presented a report to seek the Panel’s views on a proposal to
introduce a Side Waste Collection Policy with effect from September 2010.
Wheeled bin collections were introduced by Middlesbrough Council in 2000 and residents were
allocated 240 litre bins, as the standard size bin for domestic collections, with larger 360 litre bins
available for households with large families. At that point in time, the Council was only recycling
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very small amounts of domestic waste from ‘bring site’ facilities, and since no firm policy
guidance was in place, collection crews continued to collect additional ‘side waste’ left alongside
wheeled bins. Residents who received collections from back alleys continued to present black
bags for collection, however these had predominantly been replaced by communal wheeled bins
over the last three years.
The Council had now rolled out a wide range of recycling collections and a great deal of material
that originally went into the wheeled bin was now recycled through the appropriate separate
collection systems. An analysis of the kilogrammes of waste per household collected within
Middlesbrough showed a continuing decline in the amount of waste placed in wheeled bins and a
corresponding increase in kerbside recycling weights.
Further initiatives were being
implemented to offer facilities for residents to recycle more materials through the new kerbside
recycling contract. Plastic and cardboard recycling was the latest collection to be rolled out.
It was therefore timely to consider the implementation of a policy to ensure that residents did not
overfill their bin or place additional waste in bags alongside their bins on collection day. The
proposed policy criteria for consideration included:
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Residents would not be permitted to place any other waste for collection other than that
contained within their wheeled bin.
Any side waste left out would not be collected but would be recorded by the collection crew
for appropriate enforcement action to be considered. Where possible, side waste would be
placed in the emptied bin to avoid spillage or litter problems.
No waste should be placed on top of the bin, either on top of the closed lid or on top of an
open lidded bin.
Where possible, if excess waste was placed on top of the bin, it would be removed and the
bin emptied. The excess waste would be placed in the emptied bin and the incident
recorded by the collection crew for appropriate enforcement action to be considered.
Properties where more than one bin was placed out for collection would only have a single
bin emptied, with any additional bins recorded by the collection crew and subsequently
removed by the Council.
The assisted collection service would still be available for those residents unable to present
their bin for collection for reasons of age, illness, disability etc. However the policy criteria for
side waste would still apply.
To support the process, a dedicated enforcement procedure would be placed in operation,
through colleagues in the Community Protection Enforcement Team.
Enforcement action would include warning stickers being placed on bins by collection crews,
warning letters, or the service of a Section 46 Environmental Protection Act 1990 warning
notice on the resident.
Usual practice was to warn residents before enforcing, however if the resident did not comply
with the warning then the Council could prosecute (maximum £1000 fine) or issue a fixed
penalty notice (£110 reduced to £60 if paid within ten days).
A leaflet drop would be carried out to all households in advance of the introduction of a side
waste policy, and stickers would be carried by all refuse collection crews, to inform residents
as to why bins might not have been emptied or side waste collected.
The above criteria would also apply in areas where communal bins were used, and
enforcement staff would, where evidence was available, actively pursue residents who did
not comply with the policy.
With regard to enforcement it was highlighted that the majority of residents were keen to recycle
and action would only be taken against residents who persistently failed to comply. It was
clarified that the larger 360 litre bins would not be forcibly removed from residents, but in future
would not be issued. An Officer would be available to provide information and advice on
recycling when a request for a larger bin was made. The 240 litre bin would provide sufficient
capacity for most families when used in conjunction with the various recycling opportunities.
AGREED as follows:1.
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The Council should implement a Side Waste Collection Policy.
There should be an emphasis on educating residents with regard to the new policy and
re-cycling before any enforcement action was taken.
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The issue of 360 litre bins would be restricted and recycling advice would be provided where
appropriate.
The Committee would receive an update report on the implementation of the Policy at a
future meeting.
JUNK JOBS CHARGING POLICY
The Head of Streetscene Services presented a report to seek the Panel’s views on a proposal to
introduce a charge for the removal of non-domestic junk jobs, or fixtures or fittings, whilst
retaining a free service for domestic junk job collections.
As part of the refuse collection services, Middlesbrough Council offered a free pre-booked
appointment service for the removal of junk jobs or items of bulky household waste that were too
large to be collected by the normal refuse collection team. This was a non-statutory service
available to all residents of Middlesbrough and in addition to the statutory weekly domestic refuse
collections. The service was free of charge, but many other authorities applied a charge. The
service received an average of 2500 requests for service every month, and had a ‘Service
Promise’ of collection within five working days. The service was currently averaging three days
from request to collection.
There were currently very few items that were not included in the service, some hazardous or
specialist wastes such as paint, oil, tyres, asbestos, and car batteries were not collected and
customers were advised that these could be disposed of at the Haverton Hill Household Waste
Recycling Centre.
In some cases, requests for the service were being received for the removal of items of nondomestic waste/fixtures and fittings. These items were not to be included as part of the free
service, which should be restricted to domestic/household waste.
In simple terms, non-domestic waste was best described as items that would not be removed
when leaving a property and would be deemed as fittings and fixtures, such as fitted kitchens,
bathrooms, doors, windows, radiators etc and external fixtures such as coal bunkers, sheds etc.
Many of these requests were received following building works to properties where waste
materials should have been removed by the contractor who carried out the work.
It was clarified that commercial businesses should pay to get their waste removed. The Council
tried to ensure that all commercial properties had a duty of care in place to get rid of their
rubbish. All building companies were required to have a Waste Carriers Licence.
During 2009 there were 23,232 requests for the removal of junk jobs, generated from 13,490
properties, an average of 1.66 collections per property which utilised the service.
It was proposed in future to introduce a charge for the removal of non-domestic junk jobs, or
fixtures and fittings, whilst retaining a free service for domestic junk job collections. In future up
to 5 unwanted items of furniture, household items and fixtures and fittings would be collected at
any one collection via the junk job system. It was proposed that there would be a standard
charge of £10 per collection, for up to 5 items of non-domestic waste, or fixtures or fittings.
A specific appointment day/date for the removal of the items would continue to be given at the
time of booking. Items would need to be made available from 7.00 am on the day of collection,
with payment for non-domestic items or fixtures and fittings to be received prior to collection.
A table showing the items that could be collected and whether they were chargeable or nonchargeable was included in the submitted report. Each collection could consist of a mixture of
chargeable/non chargeable items up to a maximum of five. Any items not listed would be
referred to the service provider for clarification and requests for house or garden clearances,
sheds or garages for example, would be priced as individual jobs.
It was highlighted that it would be beneficial to introduce a charging system as soon as possible,
in order to ensure the Council had a clear policy distinction between the statutory collection of
domestic waste, and the non-statutory collection of non-domestic waste. If a policy was
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approved, residents would be informed of the changes to the junk job collection service, along
with the reasons for the implementation of charges for non-domestic waste and fixtures and
fittings.
It was noted that in other authorities where charges had been implemented there had not been
any significant increase in fly-tipping. In Middlesbrough over the last three years there had been
approximate 2300 incidents of fly-tipping. However this would continue to be monitored.
In response to a concern raised by a Member it was clarified that Contact Centre staff would be
fully trained to enable them to deal with queries regarding charges for junk job collections.
Contact Centre staff could contact depot staff for advice if they were unsure.
With regard to payment this would have to be made in advance of collection. If a resident was
unable to pay over the phone or at the Contact Centre, arrangements would be made to collect
payment by alternative means. The income generated by the scheme had been estimated at
approximately £30,000 per annum. No additional staff would be required.
AGREED as follows:1. The Council should implement a Junk Jobs Charging Policy.
2. The Committee would receive an update report on the implementation of the Policy at a
future meeting.
SCRUTINY REVIEW – IMPLEMENTATION OF RECOMMENDATIONS
The Scrutiny Support Officer presented a report to inform the Panel of the progress achieved
with the implementation of agreed Executive actions resulting from the consideration of scrutiny
reports. As agreed by the Overview and Scrutiny Board, Scrutiny Panels received quarterly
updates on the progress of scrutiny recommendations and in particular the actions that had not
been implemented.
The reviews contained a total of 139 recommendations, of which 114 should have been
implemented by February 2010. The agreed Executive actions that had not been implemented
by the proposed target date were presented at Appendix A to the submitted report.
Of the 114 Executive actions that should have been implemented by February 2010, 111 had
been implemented and 3 were partially complete. The report on the Allotment Strategy had
been deferred for a period of one month.
AGREED that the submitted information be noted.
OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY BOARD UPDATE
The Chair requested that the Panel note the contents of the submitted report which provided an
update on business conducted at the Overview and Scrutiny Board meeting held on 6 April 2010,
namely:
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Attendance of Executive Members at the Overview and Scrutiny Board.
Executive Member for Community Protection, Councillor Barry Coppinger, to address the
Board.
Executive Feedback.
Budget Consultation Process.
Recycling and Packaging Reduction – Final Report of the Environment Scrutiny Panel.
Energy Reduction – Final Report of the Environment Scrutiny Panel.
Community Justice Courts – Final Report of the Community Safety and Leisure Scrutiny
Panel.
Blue Badge Parking Scheme – Final Report of the Social Care and Adult Services Scrutiny
Panel.
Scrutiny Review – Countryside Matters – Tree Policy Update Report.
Scrutiny Reviews – Implementation of Recommendations.
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Scrutiny Panel Progress Reports.
NOTED
ANY OTHER URGENT BUSINESS
The Scrutiny Support Officer reminded Panel members to let him have any suggestions for topics
for inclusion in next year’s Work Programme.
NOTED
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