Agenda item

The report of the Executive Manager – Neighbourhoods is attached.

The Managing Director, John Scott-Lee will attend the meeting and provide a presentation to the Board.

The Service Manager – Neighbourhoods presented the report of the Executive Manager – Neighbourhoods to provide information on the performance and the partnership with Streetwise Environmental Ltd on their delivery the Council’s street cleansing and grounds maintenance functions under a prime contract arrangement. It was noted that following its launch in September 2014 Streetwise had continued to perform strongly in all key performance and qualitative performance aspects. A full list of Streetwise’s performance against key performance indicators (KPI’s) was included as an appendix to the officer’s report with particular highlights including:

·       The summer bedding display in West Bridgford continuing to provide significant visual benefits in the Town Centre and its popularity with local residents and businesses.

·       Efficiently dealing with an overall increase in the number of fly tipping cases in 2017 and some particularly large and difficult cases involving unauthorised encampments.

The Service Manager advised of a number of areas of performance that the Council had been working on with Streetwise including:

·       A review of mechanical sweeping schedules to ensure a sustained focus on detritus cleansing in key locations across the Borough.

·       Closer collaboration with Highways England and Amey on trunk road cleansing to allow sharing of lane closures to allow for litter picking to safely take place on trunk roads

·       A review of autumn leaf sweeping to ensure an efficient and effective autumn leaf fall cleansing programme for 2018 to ensure residual problem areas were addressed.

John Scott-Lee, Managing Director, and Emily Neary, Business Development Manager, Streetwise Environmental Ltd, attended the meeting to provide presentation to the Board on the performance of Streetwise over the last year and on the Company’s future plans and initiatives. The presentation covered:

·       Expansion of Services

·       Services delivered to RBC

·       Key Performance Indicators

·       Achievements

·       Training and Equipment

·       Social Values and Initiatives

·       Expansion and Growth, future plans

Councillor Mrs Males noted the excellent service provided by Streetwise and asked about the frequency of road sweeping in the Borough. The Service Manager advised that all roads were currently swept at least twice a year as a minimum standard but that some roads were swept much more frequently. He went on to explain that it was important that Streetwise ensured their resources were appropriately used in the right areas rather than just clean ‘clean’ roads as they were on a set schedule. Members of the committee welcomed the amount of advertising activity that they had seen for Streetwise and the Managing Director provided further information on advertising and social media campaigns. Councillor Lawrence noted the cleanliness of his ward and advised that he had not received any complaints from residents in the past year regarding street cleaning. The Managing Director noted the high level of expectation with regard to service levels that the Council and residents had and advised that Streetwise always aimed to achieve maximum performance levels and not just to meet minimum levels of performance in order to meet contractual KPI’s.

Councillor Plant noted how quickly Streetwise was growing as well as how the cleanliness of streets in the Borough had improved which many residents had commented to her about. Councillor Plant asked about Streetwise’s Business Plan and where this would take the company. The Managing Director advised that the company’s five year business plan had been approved by the company’s Strategic Board and that it aimed to maximise growth for the company by bidding for, winning and delivering larger contracts.

Councillor Thurman asked about the move of operations from the Abbey Road Depot in West Bridgford to Bingham, how this would affect staff and the opportunities for growth that it would enable. The Executive Manager – Operations and Transformation provided information on the phased transfer of services to Bingham from Abbey Road. The Managing Director emphasised that the move would not negatively affect Streetwise’s ability to deliver services across the Borough and that it would also provide opportunities for growth, service effiencies and smarter ways of working.

The Chairman asked about the contract that was held with Nottinghamshire County Council for weed spraying. The Business Development Manager advised that Streetwise had again been awarded the contract and that weed spraying schedules had been prepared for the year and that information on when weed spraying would happen would be provided to Town and Parish Councils. Councillor Chewings asked with regard to KPI’s why there was not a KPI for sickness days and accident reporting. The Managing Director advised that accidents were rare, but those that did happen were reported to the Health and Safety Officer and that there were low levels of days lost to sickness. The Executive Manager advised that the Council could provide Streetwise with benchmarking data for sickness reporting, if required.

The Chairman thanked John Scott-Lee, Managing Director, and Emily Neary, Business Development Manager for attending and answering their questions.

It was RESOLVED that:

a)    the report and presentation be noted.

b)    a link to the Streetwise video showing how it worked with partners to offer opportunities to individuals who needed additional support  in the workplace be circulated to members of the committee.