Councillor Sue Dann (Cabinet Member for Environment and Street Scene), Councillor Mark Coker (Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Infrastructure), Phillip Robinson (Service Lead, Street Scene and Waste), Katrina Houghton (Head of Service Street Scene and Waste), Kat Deeney (Head of Environmental Planning) and Phil Rudin (Strategic Contracts Manager) presented the Street services report to the Committee –

The 2019/20 budget allocated to Street Services was £18.237 million, split between the three areas detailed below. This included:

·         £27.659 million allocated to supplies and service costs

·         £14.132 million allocated to employee costs

·         £37.738 million expected in income.

There were 344 employees (335.59 FTE) across the two areas of Street Services – Street Scene and Waste, and Plymouth Highways, which was 13.2% of the total Plymouth City Council (PCC) workforce.

6.82% staff turnover (rolling 12 months) – this was lower than the PCC overall turnover rate of 10.73%

There were 12.43 days lost due to staff sickness per FTE on average (rolling 12 months) and the most common cause of both short and long term sickness absence was musculoskeletal

203 staff had completed training by toolbox talks in Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS).

Street Services was the most complimented service between 1 April and 31 August 2019, receiving 44% (94) of all compliments received by PCC;

1,973 complaints received by Street Services between 1 April and 31 August 2019, the majority of which related to waste services. This is a reduction of 42.7% on the number received in the same period last year (3,441);

84.4% of complaints were closed within the service level agreement (SLA) timeframe of 10 working days;

Almost half (49.7%) of all complaints were upheld, representing a fault with the service delivered by PCC;

The most common reason for a complaint being upheld was the standard of service not meeting customer expectations (39.3% of all upheld complaints);

Street Services offered a universal service that was used by more than 120,000 households in the city. Therefore, the proportion of complaints received was approximately 0.3% of the customer base each month;

235 Stage 2 complaints were received (84.0% were closed within the timeframe; 70.7% upheld);

14 Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) complaints were received – this was 36.8% of the total LGO complaints received by PCC

The key areas of questioning from Members related to –

Whether Wheelie Bins could be used to collect garden waste as this would be easier on the crews and could save money in the long run having to replace Garden Waste Bags;

The Weed strategy and the timeline for seeing improvements and savings as part of this plan;

Raised concerns about Glyphosate Weed Killer and discussed the policy/ guidelines for using this product;

Reassurance that the improvements that were being put in place for the Mayflower 2020 event would be sustainable long term;

Why vehicle maintenance costs had fallen significantly considering it had been identified as an ageing fleet. Members requested this item returned for further scrutiny;

How Plymouth could improve their street cleanliness to ensure they were no longer below the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) average?

The high volume of complaints received by Street Services between 1 April and 31 August 2019 (1,973) , the majority of which related to waste services;

The benefits the department were seeing from using In-cab technology and whether it would save the council money in the future;

What challenges Plymouth faced in improving recycling rates to meet the national average.

The benefits of having service standards defined and communicated clearly to members and members of the public to cut down the number of complaints;

Concerns were raised about the number of complaints/issues outstanding regarding trees and what plans were in place to reduce this;

Problem hotspots for flooding in the city and if a document could be circulated outlining the main areas;

The guarantee Plymouth City Council have that work undertaken by South West Highways would be inspected and if standards were not met they would be repaired again with no additional cost.

Members noted the report and requested that -

The Grass Cutting schedules and Flooding Hotspots be circulated to all Councillors.

Clear communication be provided about what we do provide as service and what the service standards are for work being completed.

The Fleet and Garage Services Review/ update on in cab technology be added to the Work Programme for further scrutiny.

Blue badges be added to the Work Programme