Agenda and draft minutes

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were tabled by Councillor Peter Bedford with Councillor Stephen Woodliffe substituting, and also from Councillors Paul Goodale, Neill Hastie and Judith Welbourne.

To sign and confirm the  minutes of the previous meeting.

With the agreement of the committee the Chairman signed the minutes of the previous meeting.

To receive declarations of interests in respect of any item on the agenda.

None tabled.

To answer any written questions received from members of the public no later than 5 p.m. two clear working days prior to the meeting – for this meeting the deadline is 5 p.m. on Monday 17^th October 2022

None tabled.

Attendance By Councillor McNally in respect of Boston HWRC.

The Chairman welcomed Councillor McNally and thanked him for accepting her invitation to attend the meeting to address a number of ongoing issues at the Boston Household Waste Recycling Centre.

Prior to Councillor McNally addressing the meeting, the Portfolio Holder provided an overview on the recent issues.  Members were advised that the number of complaints had reduced significantly and that during a recent visit she had undertaken with the Local Member of Parliament they had both been delighted to see that so many of the problem areas including waste being turned away, had been fixed and that a new container for light bulbs had been installed. One area that they had both agreed needed consideration was the identical opening hours of all sites within the County, with a view to changing the individual site opening times to enable an alternative site for residents on the days their local site was closed.  It was hoped when discussion came forward in respect of the new contracts, the suggestion would be taken into consideration as such a move could potentially impact on Fly Tipping.

A further suggestion had been made for a tyre skip at the site (in line with the one at East Lindsey) to again alleviate the fly tipping of tyres which would be at no cost to the Council as Enviro-tyre would collect for disposal. The Portfolio Holder advised East Lindsey District Council did not have such a skip at their site, but the Assistant Director – Neighbourhoods advised it did, but it was only for the Council’s fly tipped tyres that were collected, it was not available for public disposal of tyres.

Councillor McNally advised that there was no intention whatsoever to install a tyre skip at the Boston site, stating it was commercial waste and as such the responsibility of residents to dispose of their own tyres and it was not for tax payers, to fund other peoples’ tyre removal.  

Further comments arose in respect of the disposal of tyres including charging for dropping them off at the centre and concerns at the location of the Enviro-tyre at Sutterton in the South of the Borough,both for the public to go to and also how unfair it was on the litter pickers who too had to take any tyres they collected to Sutterton.  A further suggestion by a member questioned the possibility of setting up a facility to produce Red Diesel from the tyres along with other by-products which could in turn be used for the Council’s own fleet, reducing existingcosts.  Councillor McNally stated he felt if it was an economically viable business then Enviro-tyre would have already introduced it, and that the centre was only for household waste and not vehicle waste.  It was agreed the member would forward the information onto Councillor McNally after the meeting.  Referencing the reason the site did not accept commercial waste, a member questioned why it accepted car batteries which were clearly commercial waste, but not tyres, as both came  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.

A report by the Assistant Director – Neighbourhoods.

TheAssistant Director – Neighbourhoods presented the report and confirmed that The Council is defined as ‘the principal litter authority’ under Section 86 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, with responsibility under Section 89, to keep ‘relevant land’ and highways clear and clean of litter and refuse, so far as is practicable. ‘Relevant land’ is defined as ‘land that is open to the air and is land which is under the direct control of such an authority to which the public are entitled or permitted to have access with or without payment’.

The Council could determine the standards of street cleansing as required (Section 89(3)), based on the character and use of the land and the measures which are practicable in the circumstances.  Their duty to keep land clean extended to 494 miles of adopted highway, or in cleansing terms 988 miles of highway with 500 litter bins sited across the Borough including 361 litter bins located in the wider town centre area. 

The Council had reviewed its street cleansing service in 2020 as part of its Transformation Savings Plan.  Efficiency savings of £70,000 per year had been achieved, removing 1 x mechanical sweeper from the fleet and implementing a new staffing rota providing a 7 day service. The budget forecast for 2022/23 is £367,655, representing a cost per head of population of 10p per week, or £5 per year.

There were currently 9 full time equivalent employees (FTE) in the team; 3 x FTE mechanical sweeper drivers and 6 x FTE streetscene operatives. Employees work a 7 day rota over 37 hours per week. The rota ensures employees work no more than 10 days consecutively, working across weekdays and weekends. The start and finish times weekdays for sweeper drivers 05:15 to 13:15/14:15, litter pickers and litter bin operatives 06:00 to 15:00. Weekends 05:30 to 11:45 and 11:45 to 18:00. The rota is included in table 1.2 and 1.3.

The service operated 1 x 15 tonne large mechanical sweeper, 1 x 4.2 tonne mini sweeper and 3 x 3.5 tonne light commercial cage vehicles. Manual sweeping brushes, spades, long reach litter-pickers and 2 x wheeled barrows are also used. 

Other resources employed in the town centre who contributed to cleansing standards, included the Flyswat Team (2FTE), the BTAC Operatives (2.4FTE), and Enviro Crime Enforcement Officers (3FTE) from the outsourced service.

The current street cleaning regime placed a higher priority on areas with higher footfall and less priority to areas with lower footfall.   Appendices A and B showed a map of the town centre with the area of highest demand highlighted.

The town centre was cleaned every day.    Weekdays - Monday to Friday; 2 x litter pickers, 2 x litter bin emptying and 2 x mechanical sweeper deployed between 06:00 and 09:00 carrying out litter picking, litter bin emptying and mechanical sweeping to accessible spaces. Following the morning sweep, employees divert to less priority areas across the Borough to carry out work duties.    Weekends - Saturday and Sunday; 2 x litter  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.

Standing Item to consider the future schedule of reporting.

The Assistant Director - Corporate presented the Quarter 4 report confirming that when the targets had been set, they were not an aim for easy gains but to stretch the performance in services to the best they could be.  Members were advised that whilst all planning indicators were all red, had they been set against national measures they would have been green, it was local targets they were not achieving.  There were also a number of red indicators relating to PSPS which has also been addressed and now showed green in the latest performance reporting.

Concern was tabled at the lateness of receiving the performance reporting, with notification advised that the other two Councils’ had already received Q1 for this new year with Q2 being finalised too.  Committee based their questions and concerns on the information tabled, a lot of which had already been addressed and it also depicted misleading information to the public.

It was agreed that with Q1 scheduled for the November meeting, Q2 would also come – enabling the committee to have an up to date report on which to base its deliberations. 

Concerns were noted at the ongoing loss of car parking income and a member questioned using the reason for as such as Covid, when in fact it was well known that ticketing machines in various car parks did not work.  A further concern was the lack of enforcement which appeared to be part time only in the morning, with many knowing they could park almost anywhere in the afternoon for free.  Further commenting noted that a further reason for the loss of income was down to the main shopping base for Boston was now a Wyberton Fen, following the loss of Oldrids and Marks and Spencer in the town centre. 

The Chairman supported the comments and formerly noted her wish for a report on car parking, to include the situation with broken machines and also with enforcement.  The report would be scheduled to the January meeting.

A member questioned the number of rough sleepers noted in the figures, noting that they had seen an increase recently in the town centre and asked if the Council could look into the situation as they felt it would continue to increase with the number of immigrants now in the town with no UK Status which could result in actual groups of people sleeping rough.

Reassurance was offered to concerns in respect of Council Tax and Housing Benefits processing, confirming the Q2 figures were both within target now and the historic issues has been addressed.

The Assistant Director – Regulatory (Lead Office for Committee) advised that there were no updates to the work programme tabled.   Confirmation was provided that the annual ASB and CCTV reports (both of which were very historic in nature but would be back on scheduled for May 2023), would be tabled at the 15 December meeting of BTAC.  The Police were confirmed to attend that meeting as a one item agenda, together with the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.