Agenda item

Craig Thorpe firstly apologised for a few minor errors within the report. He highlighted the following areas:

·        Waste Services; successful pick up after Christmas, project work begun on bulky waste charges, waste haulage efficiencies, refresher training for frontline staff, installed digital radio systems

·        Waste Development; ‘No food waste’ stickers on every household residual bin has resulted in an 85 tonne increase in food waste in the month of March. In February, a team of 16 Environmental Operatives from the Clean Safe and Green team litter picked and collected 10.5 tonnes of litter and bulky rubbish form the A41 in six days. The Clean Safe and Green Department encouraged 1,336 people from across the borough to take part in Keep Britain Tidy’s biggest ever clean-up of the country for Her Majesty The Queen’s 90th birthday in April.

·        Clean, Safe and Green; work on the Phoenix roundabout has begun, a number of housing landscapes have been completed. A New ‘Reactec’ system has been installed and is working. This is used for monitoring of Hand Arm Vibration

·        Personnel & Sickness

Questions & Answers

Councillor C Wyatt-Lowe was encouraged to see the improvements to the sickness

figures.

Councillor Adshead asked how much was spent on collecting fly tipped items.
Craig Thorpe explained that there were 2 staff on rapid response, however if none are reported then they are allocated to littler picking. There are no further charges for disposal of these items.

Councillor S Hearn asked the regularity of patrols along the A41 for the removal of animal casualties. He believed that some could be there for up to 3 days. He also asked how often laybys are attended to.

Craig Thorpe explained that the removal of animals from the carriageway was HCC’s responsibility.

With regards to the laybys, Dacorum teams did travel along the road daily and litter picked on a weekly basis. They are trialling ‘big belly’ bins, which have a satellite to give notice when it needs to be emptied.

Councillor C Wyatt-Lowe added that members could help by reporting fly tipping to the correct departments. This could also enable members to monitor performance of such teams.

Councillor Hicks referred to the sickness figures and he expressed great sympathy for the teams.  He asked how much of the improvement was permanent or seasonal.
Craig Thorpe found it difficult to comment on, he was sympathetic to crews however trends can now be monitored through the First Care process. 

Councillor Howard asked if the return to work interviews had made any difference.
Craig Thorpe noted that there had always been return to work interviews, however they had not always been stringent in monitoring them. He now has regular meetings with HR to highlight any areas of concern.

Councillor Riddick asked if there was any cover for bank holidays and weekends in order for people to call to notify of roadkill.
Craig Thorpe said there was no cover available for weekends. If however the roadkill was on a highway then this would be HCC’s responsibility as DBC only dealt with verge issues.

Councillor Hearn asked if it was permitted for a refuse lorry driver to get out to help the crew.
Craig Thorpe explained that historically the driver was part of the crew and would help.  Nowadays you would find that drivers usually stay inside the cab. They are advised to always stay near the vehicle if they do have to get out.

Councillor C Wyatt-Lowe asked if there were any benchmarking figures for sickness, with other neighbouring authorities.
Craig Thorpe replied that a project had recently looked at sickness figures for surrounding authorities however he had not yet seen the results.

Councillor C Wyatt-Lowe felt that it would be useful to see these results at a future meeting.

Outcome

The committee noted the report