Issue - meetings

(Report of the Scrutiny Review Panel) – To agree the conclusions and recommendations of the Review

Councillor Dawson gave an outline of the Review’s conclusions, stating that there are four areas – contractual requirements; contract-monitoring and enforcement; building on current good practice; and public education – that must be constantly borne in mind in order to effectively keep our streets clean. Under these headings we were developed a number of specific recommendations that will bring clear improvements. Development of the service should not be limited to the specific points identified here by members of the scrutiny panel. Nevertheless the Panel expects that these headings and the recommendations will provide strong guidance for the further development of the service beyond this review.

Councillor Dawson outlined the following 12 Recommendations for the Committee’s approval:

(i)                 That the contract specifications for the new Waste Management Contract be identified. 

(ii)               Additional future investment for:

·                  A dedicated detritus removal team.

·                  Borough-wide timed waste collections on main roads.

·                  A Saturday night refuse collection and street sweeping service.

·                  A review of the framework for the frequency of street sweeping based upon need across the borough.

·                  A requirement to sweep the area after large items of dumped rubbish have been collected. 

(iii)             That a Training Programme be agreed with the contractor for street cleaning operatives to ensure that the contractor is able to provide the appropriate quality standard of service.

(iv)              That the Waste Management Service seeks to negotiate with the contractor (Haringey Accord Ltd) to develop performance indicators and targets based on CPA requirements, customer satisfaction and the Best Value Performance Indicator 199. 

(v)                That Haringey Council Executive set a target to achieve top quartile performance of local authorities by 2009.

(vi)                       That Haringey Council, in partnership with the Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) responsible for the management of housing estates in Haringey, review the level of monitoring required to improve street cleanliness on housing estates. 

(vii)            That Haringey Council sustain and increase the level of litter enforcement. 

(viii)          That the Council maintain and develop systems to identify and target littering “hotspots”, in order to deal with the worst hit areas of the borough.

(ix)              That a Street Cleanliness Action Plan be developed to steer the delivery of strategies to deal with different kinds of identified litter problems. 

(x)                The Civic Pride campaign should highlight the measures being taken to improve the cleanliness of Haringey’s streets. In particular residents must be informed on how to access services and to report problems.

(xi)              That a targeted Street Cleanliness publicity campaign be developed, in line with Better Haringey publicity and using appropriate ‘Litter Prevention’ advice and resources from ENCAMS. 

(xii)            That the presentation and image of street cleaning staff and equipment be easily identifiable with Haringey Council’s Better Haringey Campaign. 

RESOLVED:

·                    That the report of the Scrutiny Review Panel: Street Sweeping and Cleanliness Review (February 2006) and the conclusions and recommendations of the review be endorsed; and

·                    that the report be referred to the Executive for its consideration.