Agenda and minutes

There were no Declarations of Interest made by Members at this point in the meeting.

G Field, Director of Environment and Community Services, had been invited to the meeting to address a number of issues raised by Panel Members on behalf of residents and in relation to media articles regarding the roll-out of the new garden waste bins.  The issues raised included the procurement process in relation to the new bins and communication with residents regarding transformation plans and how this would be dealt with going forward.

The Director advised that it had been just 40 working days since the commencement of the new garden waste bin roll-out.  To date, the following had been achieved:-

·        Movement of 45,518 bins in Middlesbrough.

·        A total of 19,897 new garden waste bins had been delivered.

·        A total of 25,621 old green ‘diamond’ waste bins had been collected.

·        41% garden waste subscriptions reached – double the estimated figure.

·        Income target had reached £790,000.

The following queries were raised:-

·        It was queried whether the 19,897 new bins issued and the 25,621 old garden waste bins that had been collected was the final total.  It was clarified that residents with an old green waste bin had been given the option to keep it if they so wished and many had kept them for composting, etc.  In addition there was a further two weeks remaining for residents to subscribe to the new green waste collection service.  In addition, the income target to be achieved for the paid collection service of £790,000 had been achieved and was now more than £800,000.  The assumption at the start was that £406,000 would be achieved.

·        A Member asked, in terms of value for money, whether the cost of the purchase and roll-out of the new bins would be covered by the income achieved.  The Director advised that the bins had been purchased from the capital budget and that during the budget-setting process for the current year, an assumption was made that an income of £406,000 would be achieved for this financial year.  To date, a further £400,000 had been achieved (£806,000 so far).  Should residents who had signed up to the paid for service renew their subscription next year, a similar figure would be achieved for next year and this would begin to narrow the budget gap.

·        It was acknowledged that subscribing to the service had been a challenge, however, it would be much simpler next year for those wishing to re-subscribe as it was planned to provide an auto-renewal facility for existing subscribers.

·        A query was raised in relation to whether money originally allocated for traffic lights had been used as part of the budget spent on the new bins.  It was clarified that the money for the purchase of the bins had been from the capital budget and that the capital funding allocated to traffic lights had subsequently been funded from an additional capital fund allocated to the Council through the TVCA.  This had allowed the Council to use the money originally set aside for traffic lights for the purchase of the bins and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23/52

There were no other urgent items to be considered.