Agenda item

(To provide an opportunity for Partners to update the Partnership on any issues which may be of interest)

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 noted:

South Kesteven District Council

It was reported that the second wave of Covid-19 was starting to have an effect on activities.  However, the partnership working and the officer working group had helped with the resilience of the team.  Officers and crews had been affected, which had had an impact and the authority had had some live positive cases, but the arrangements which had been put in place had helped to manage this, and with the testing arrangements, people were able to return to work quicker.

It was also reported that capacity for booking bulky items had needed to be doubled as demand had increased by 35 - 40%.  There had also been a 42% increase in the volume of fly tipping.  Green Waste had managed to continue and had been well received by the customers.

Lincolnshire County Council

The Energy from Waste facility successfully completed its annual scheduled shut down for maintenance. 

A lot of hard work was carried out during the first lockdown to set out safe working practices at facilities, waste transfer stations etc., had all been reinstated to protect the workforce as much as possible and maintain services.

Continuing to Progress detailed work on potential sites for replacement recycling centres in the capital programme.

It was also reported that some preparatory work had commenced in relation to the second round of consultations coming out from Defra.  The authority would be looking at the technology choices there would be for Anaerobic Digestion, and that work would be starting shortly.  The first sampling and composition audits on waste streams arising in Lincolnshire had taken place at the waste transfer station at Boston.  Officers were currently in the process of recruiting full time staff, to be able to carry out this work which would give full and detailed information on the waste and recycling in Lincolnshire, which would help to inform the decisions going forward, particularly in light of the changes due to be introduced by the Government in 2023.

West Lindsey District Council

The value of the partnership working which had taken place was reiterated, and it was noted that there had been good work from the officer working group.

 It was reported that there had been two confirmed cases of Covid-19 within the operational staff.  It had been possible to isolate both individuals and the vehicle they used.

In relation to the new depot, ground would be broken the following week, and it was expected that the build would be completed in late summer/early autumn 2021.  Operations would be moved their immediately.  Photo voltaic cells had also been added to make it as sustainable as possible.

In relation to the paper and card trial, a report would be brought to members in January/February with a decision expected to be made mid-2021.

It was reported that all services were currently running as normal, bulky uptake and garden waste uptake had increased.  Fly tipping rates remained very high, but seemed to have flattened.

City of Lincoln Council

The comments around joint working were echoed, particularly the Officer Working Group, and particularly in respect to all the health and safety implications around Covid-19. Cases within the authority remained extremely low which allowed all the services to continue as normal.

Fly tipping remained high and remained an issue, and it had been flagged up through the Strategic Officer Working Group.

South Holland District Council

It was reported that bulky waste collections for the last three months were up 170% so capacity had been doubled.  Fly tipping had increased by 112% overall, and the figures for October showed that fly tipping was up by 156% compared to the previous year.  The garden waste service had also been expanded to enable the district to support residents further with kerbside collections.

As part of the district council's network, work had taken place with Defra on the Environment Bill and sharing this with the Officer Working Group.

North Kesteven District Council

It was reported that the district had not seen any impacts of Covid-19 in terms of the ability to deliver services, kerbside collections had continued.  Partners were advised that a report was due to be considered by the Executive regarding paper and card collections with an ambition of starting this in autumn of 2021.  The report would be looking for member buy in for this and would also include how local communities would be consulted.  It was hoped to have these results by March/April 2021.   A route review of rounds was also planned and it was hoped that this would be integrated with any changes to collection regime. 

An Environmental Crime Partnership Working Group meeting had been organised for the following week, involving the public sector, police, environment agency and other agencies.  The aim was to take the SCRAP campaign and positive messages forward.  Very good responses had been received.  It was noted that it was likely that the Police and Crime Commissioner would organise a follow up meeting in 2021.

East Lindsey District Council

At the last full Council meeting, members agreed to bring the fleet maintenance in-house.  A workshop had been leased from LCC and it was hoped that equipment could be purchased from the current contractor.  An agreement was also reached to purchase two additional RCV's to cover when current fleet were in for service and maintenance.  Officers were working towards the commencement of this operation from April 2021.

There were some staffing issues similar to other authorities, it was hoped that these absences could be covered due to the garden waste programme entering its winter phase.

An increase in bulky item collection had also been seen, however, there had not been as much as an issue with fly tipping as other authorities had experienced.

The Chairman commented that the Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRC's) had continued to remain open during the second lockdown.  In relation to complaints, since the sites had reopened, the numbers had jumped from 1 last year to 70 this year, due to changes that had had to be made to continue the services.  However, this number was small compared with the number of transactions that had taken place.

It was acknowledged that major changes had taken place at the Household Waste Recycling centres and it was queried whether it was planned to carry out any customer satisfaction work.  It was noted that this would be covered under one of the other papers on the agenda. 

A discussion took place regarding the booking system at the HWRC's and it was noted that it was this system which had allowed the sites to reopen and continue operating through the pandemic. 

It was confirmed that the HWRC at Boston had had to close for a day due to covid-19 related staffing issues.  It was also suggested whether the introduction of a late night opening at HWRC's could be considered, and it was confirmed that this would be looked into when operations were being planned for 2021 onwards.