Issue - meetings

Report of the Director - Neighbourhoods

The Service Manager Neighbourhoods introduced the Streetwise Report which provided a high level overview of the insourcing of Streetwise, future focus and performance information. He introduced the Streetwise Manager appointed a year ago who presented an update to the Group

The Streetwise Manager said that initial tasks of the Council had been to review various operations of Streetwise, including the management structure, the existing business including asking customers for feedback, scheduling of works, forward planning of works, the consistency and quality of work and the embracing of technology to improve and streamline operations.

The Streetwise Manager explained that a focus for the Council was Health and Safety due to the number of high risk works carried out by the Teams and as such it had created eight golden rules, which included new floor markings to segregate vehicles and pedestrians, a new induction and onboarding process, refreshed Toolbox Talks and regular staff briefing sessions, updated risk assessments and working practises, creating a competency matrix for different departments, investment in training, investment in machinery and equipment servicing and implementation of electronic driver checks to monitor compliance.

The Streetwise Manager said that the Council had invested in depot improvements, such as creating an open plan office to help with communication, closer working and sharing of best practice. This was also well used as a central base for recent flooding responses. He said that Streetwise also had a new website which allowed it to streamlined enquiries through the Customer Contact Centre and create a resource for all Streetwise related information. He said that it also provided facility to report problems online which then came directly to the Team.

In relation to the works programme, the Streetwise Manager said that Streetwise were carrying out splitter cleansing removing weeds from roads and were about to apply for funding to support chewing gum cleansing which would be focused on town centres within the Borough.

In relation to high speed road cleansing, the Streetwise Manager said that the Team were working in partnership with agencies such as Highways England to close roads overnight to allow work to take place as much as possible. He said that Streetwise were supporting litter picking through the Rushcliffe Litter Champions providing equipment to community groups and school volunteers. He said that Streetwise had also purchased five 2 Minute litter picking stations which provided litter picking tools for residents to use, which were currently being trialled in Ruddington, Radcliffe on Trent and Bingham.

The Streetwise Manager informed the Group about successful grounds maintenance work and noted that there 30 no mow areas across the Borough and that the Teams managed the grounds for the new Rushcliffe Oaks crematorium and Bingham Arena. He said that the Tree Team had reduced to one team of four which had allowed it to focus on Rushcliffe work. He also noted the successful unscheduled and more reactive work carried out by the Teams, such as delivering sand bags or dealing with paint spills and fly tipping.

In relation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19