Issue - meetings

The Service Manager – Neighbourhoods provided an overview of the Streetwise contract highlighting:

·         the colourful summer bedding display in West Bridgford

·         the efficient removal of fly tipping despite an increase in cases

·         the illuminated Christmas trees in West Bridgford

·         the support of many large events in Rushcliffe.

The Service Manager – Neighbourhoods introduced John Scott-Lee, Managing Director of Streetwise, and Nigel Carter, Finance Director, who jointly delivered a presentation to the Board summarising the performance of Streetwise during 2018/19.

Mr Scott-Lee started by providing Members of the Board with some contextual information such as the number of square metres of open spaces maintained, the kilometres of roads swept and the tonnage of litter and fly-tipping removed each year, before outlining the company’s performance against its key measures for the last year.

Members of the Board were informed about key initiatives Streetwise had undertaken to develop the company in the past year including the multi-skilling of staff to give them the ability to address multiple problems in one visit. Other examples focused upon improving the local community including the introduction of a graffiti wall, village litter pickers, allotments, and Christmas collections.

Councillor Beardsall raised a question about the financial information contained in section 6.1 and Mr Burch explained that the increase included standard inflationary increases as well as additional sums to cover the increase in fly-tipping and additional land acquisitions that will need covering as part of the prime contract. Councillor Chewings enquired about the timescale for vacating the depot and was told that the company was aiming for September / October but no firm date had been set by the Council. The Executive Manager – Operations and Transformation explained to the Board that the Council had been successful in gaining external funding to develop the site which may need to be returned if certain conditions linked to redeveloping the site for housing have not been met by March 2020. In order to meet these requirements, it was planned that Streetwise should vacate by September.

Councillor Jeffreys asked if there were any laws pertaining to the number of dogs a single dog walker could walk. She passed on observations from her own ward. Mr Burch said that he did not know of any law relating to this matter but would look into it.

Questions about litter on the A52, detritus on the A453 and overflowing litter bins on the A6- outside Asda were directed at Mr Scott-Lee, who responded accordingly.

Councillor Walker questioned how the four street cleansing KPIs were calculated and Mr Burch informed the Board that these calculations were based on the old national indicator which graded 25m sections of road against four levels of cleanliness on a rolling schedule.

It was RESOLVED that:

a)    the performance of Streetwise Environmental Ltd for 2018/19 as outlined in this report  and the accompanying presentation be noted.

b)    information about dog walkers to be sought and reported back to the Board.