Agenda item

Each partner authority was provided with the opportunity to update the rest of the Partnership on any developments or updates which may be of interest to the Partnership.  The following was reported:

North Kesteven District Council – since the last meeting, the depot was now fully up and running, and the authority was starting to implement some of the planned changes.  A lot of these involved either back office or operational changes.  A new back office system had been introduced which was helping with efficiencies.  Officers were also starting to look at maintenance contracts and what that would mean for the authority in the future alongside the rest of the Partners.

South Holland District Council – officers had recently attended the PCC Fly Tipping Forum, which was very well received.  Officers were currently waiting to see what actions would come out of that.  There had been a presentation from a representative of the Hertfordshire Waste Group who were doing a lot of work around fly-tipping and litter and had developed a toolkit.  It was suggested it may be beneficial for someone to attend a future meeting of the LWP to give a presentation.  It was noted that the PCC forum was well-attended and one of the key actions was to start mapping hot spot areas for fly-tipping.

Boston Borough Council – it was reported that Boston had been very active in terms of enforcement.  The contract with 3GS had come to an end in February 2019 rather abruptly as they were not issuing sufficient fixed penalty notices to make it viable (leading to the assumption that Boston must be very clean).  Officers were looking at alternative options as there was not sufficient additional capacity for the authority to run the service themselves.  There had been a number of enquiries in terms of getting the service up and running.

It was also commented that the Fly-Tipping forum had been a very positive and worthwhile event and that a lot could be achieved by working together.

East Lindsey District Council – it was reported that the previous evening, the full council had agreed its capital programme for the new fleet of vehicles.

South Kesteven District Council – the authority had been carrying out on street enforcement and had employed its own enforcement officer.  So far it had been relatively successful bringing in £24k of income.  Payment rates had also been quite high.  Penalty notices were mainly being issued for dropping cigarette stubs and this was being promoted through social media.  The fine had been set at £100 slightly higher than the minimum of £75, but it was hoped that this would help people to behave better.  It was noted that officers would have conversations with the other partners as it was suggested it could be a good idea to have a 'hit squad' approach to enforcement.

It was also reported that a grounds maintenance company had been set up which would be delivering grounds maintenance services for South Kesteven District Council.

City of Lincoln Council – Waste management was part of the general street scene service and included street cleansing and grounds maintenance.  The current contract would be due for renewal in 2022 and so work was commencing now on what the authority wanted the contract to cover.  A lot of work would be taking place behind the scenes.

West Lindsey District Council – the green waste collection was now in year 2 and collection of payments had started in January 2019, and payments could only be made online.  A service redesign was being worked on to put the customer at the heart of everything they did.

There was due to be a session the following week with the Leaders Panel about the Waste Strategy.

It was reported that a representative of WLDC also attended the fly tipping conference, and it was thought it was very positive.

Partners were advised that a query had been received about the sack collection, and it was noted that currently 2000 sacks were collected, and large piece of work had been carried out around this.  It was determined that currently there was no better way to collect waste in this area and would stay in place.

Some of the Gainsborough schools had recently visited the Energy from Waste facility in North Hykeham, and it was hoped to hold a workshop and carry out some communications work around waste and recycling.  It had been suggested that a competition was held for school children to design a poster about contamination and the winning design could be put on the side of a collection vehicle.  It was positive that schools wanted to go on that environmental journey.

The following comments were made in response to the updates:

·         It was queried whether there was anything that could be done in relation to litter picking on the highways, and the amount of litter discarded on the sides of roads was shocking.  Members were advised that this was not just an issue of resources, it was also about keeping people safe on the highway, and there was also the issue of whether there was a need for road closures, or barrier vehicles.  It was queried whether there was a need for a working group to be set up to look at what alternatives there are.

·         It was suggested there was a need to make people of their responsibilities.  For example, in Scotland there were signs advising that throwing litter put the workforce in danger.

The Chairman requested that litter picking on the highways be added to the work programme for the Officer Working Group.

RESOLVED

1.    That the updates provided be noted

2.    That officers arrange for a representative of the Hertfordshire Waste Group to give a presentation on their fly-tipping toolkit at the next meeting of the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership

3.    That the Officer Working Group look into the options for litter picking on the highway.