Agenda item

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 pickers, 1 litter bin emptying, 1 x mechanical sweeper between 06:00 and 09:00. 2 x operatives carry out duties in the town centre until 18:00.

Cleaning duties included litter picking, litter bin emptying, mechanical sweeping and manual sweeping, graffiti removal and bin washing. Manual sweeping with a brush/barrow is carried out in areas with restricted access where mechanical sweepers cannot operate.

Referencing key points within the report, the Assistant Director confirmed that the cost of the services reported within paragraph 3.1 identified the budget forecast for 2022/23 at £367.655 representing a cost per head of £5 per annum.  That would provide 9 full time equivalent employees.

Resources were directed to the areas in most need of cleansing with the town center receiving more attention than other areas.  The small team were split into tasks and did not operate as one team cleaning the town together, they were dispersed into various areas.   Support came from the Flyswat Team along with the BTAC town center operatives who also cleaned, painted and repaired the town area.

The Flyswat team was fully engaged in collecting fly-tips, having collected over 3000 tips in 2021/22 representing 13 fly tips collected by the crew each working day. An average of 97.5% of fly tips had been collected within 3 working days.

With pressure on services at the current time, concerns continued to be raised in respect of the build-up of detritus on both highways and in alleyways around the market place with bird droppings and staining on pavements both being raised regularly.   In excess of 1500 bags of rubbish were being collected per annum, from the town.  Moving forward the focus of enforcement needed to be directed at rental properties to try and reduce the number of black bags. 

Recruitment continued to prove to be difficult with some new employees leaving only after a few days in post whilst others simply did not like the job.  There was an issue with resilience with the service currently relying on temporary agency staff to cover illness and annual leave.

A new litter and fly tipping strategy was being produced and Boston Borough Council had been recognised for its good practice within Litter Strategy England and the strategy would be developed across the partnership

Significant member deliberation followed which included:

On questioning the environmental crime enforcement figures, a member was advised that a breakdown of FFPN’s issued for actual fly tipping and littering incidents was available.  Cameras’ had been trialed dotted around the rural areas however the only way of identifying was witness evidence or footage via camera.   Camera coverage was an issue being considered across the partnership to determine if the current provision was adequate. 

The Operations Manager confirmed he was working to develop a joint Enviro-crime contract across the partnership to include enforcement officers and camera surveillance.  That would lead to increased enforcement in line with members’ wishes.

Recognition of the on-going success of the work of the fly swat team was noted with members agreeing that the speed of collections did stop long term rubbish from attracting further rubbish.   Credit was further paid to the town center staff for their work in keeping the town tidy with recognition of the need to improve and keep the public realm tidy.

Questioning a need for further resources a member asked how the service would improve if they were acquired. The Assistant Director – Neighbourhoods’ advised that the current resource delivered the current standard provided, any additional resources would provide additional cleansing.  A Member suggested consideration by given by BTAC to the provision of additional funding.

Whilst recognising the reasons for the reduction of the service and subsequent build-up of detritus throughout Covid, the Chairman noted they were disappointed that the town still had lots of old waste build-up of littering in many areas, noting particular concerns in the area of Maud Street Car Park and around the crossing on John Adams way with lots of detritus in breeze blocks including old cardboard, moss and cigarette ends and in particular, down the lanes around the market place.  Further concern noted that from observing the operatives they appeared selective on what they actually picked up, sometimes picking a certain item up and then leaving other rubbish in the immediate vicinity.  Other concerns noted the build-up of detritus in the doorways of unoccupied businesses with a suggestion tabled that the owners of the premises be contacted to take responsibility of the rubbish as it was not the responsibility of the operatives to clear it. 

Members’ further voiced concern at the ongoing issues about vegetation along the roadsides with an apparent lack of any road sweeping and questioned the lack of pride in their work of some operatives.  Additional concern noted the area around the Railway Station and Station approach which appeared to be continually subject to littering with heavy build ups and reflected poorly on those arriving via rail with their first impression of the town being one of an unkempt area with significant rubbish including black bin bags.  A question asked it the area could be improved by the use of CCTV with follow on enforcement as it was a clear hot spot within the town.

Noting the constant high standard of cleaning with Pescod Square, it was agreed that whilst they had their own cleaning contract, it did reflect on the quality of the Council’s own cleaning regime, with the publics perspective questioning why the rest of the town did not reflect the same level of cleansing.  A suggestion noted speaking with Pescod Square to see if they could help the Council.

Overall members agreed the quality of the cleansing was key and that more regular deep cleans were needed especially along the lanes which were continually subject to ingrained dirt down their sides.

Referencing the operatives working hours, particularly within the market place, a member asked if the hours could be more flexible.  Whilst they cleaned early morning, when workers finished their shift patterns they arrived mid-morning at the Five Lamps and Ingram Memorial and stayed most of the day.  Unfortunately they created significant litter which was not cleaned until the evening, leading to those areas being littered throughout the day and being very visible to visitors.  Furthermore the last cleaning was 6pm in the evening and again a later clean on a Friday and Saturday evening after 6pm would reduce the volume of cleaning required the following mornings.

Members agreed the need for increased education and recognised that in certain groups, it would need to come from children educating parents.  As such, greater liaison was required with the schools as it was recognised by educating people, it would also instill a sense of pride in keeping their town clean and support the ongoing work of the volunteers who already worked tirelessly in ridding the town of litter.

Responding to the concerns the Operations Manager said he had taken on board the various comments and agreed they were fair.  The routes the staff had were lengthy and when looking at changes to the cleaning under the current staffing level, any change would always be at the expense of something else.  At the current time it was a dilemma in respect of current resources and allocation of what to clean and the scale of the work needed. 

The Assistant Director – Neighbourhoods’ further added that whilst pubs and restaurants had a responsibility to ensure cigarette butt ends were cleared from the front of their premises, it was not always the case and was something the enforcement team could take forward in putting that responsibility back on the owners.  They further noted that they could work with the economic development team to try and identify the owners of the empty premises.  Members were also advised that due to the need for ongoing use of agency workers to cover sickness and the problem of retaining staff, the service had not benefitted from the consistency of an established crew of Council employed operatives, which as a team would build a sense of pride in their work.  Whilst agreeing the suggestion of increased education within the schools, the Assistant Director – Neighbourhood advised that the team had no capacity at the current time and additional resources would be required to enable such a project. Noting the number of comments in respect of improved enforcement, members were further advised that the ongoing work noted previously, in respect of improvements to enable a single contract across the partnership, would result in greater flexibility with discussions including increased foot patrols and overt camera surveillance.  In addition significant work was being undertaken in respect of a ‘Caught on Camera’ campaign.

Concluding, the Assistant Director – Neighbourhoods’ advised that the service had made savings during the transformation programme over the last two years and was operating as well as it could within the existing budget.  If a greater level of service was required then it would require more resources. 

Suggestions made:

Contacting the owners of empty business premises to take responsibility of clearing the detritus from their shop doorways.

Improve education with working with schools.

Consider asking BTAC to provide additional funding for an increased resource.