To receive a verbal update from the Area Managers from Technical Services and Neighbourhood Services in attendance about any key recent, ongoing and/or future planned Local Services work for the attention of members of the Local Area Council, who will also then have the opportunity to raise issues with the Area Managers.
The Area Managers have principal responsibility for highway services and environmental services, such as refuse collection, street cleansing and grounds maintenance, within the geographic boundaries of the Local Area Council.
Minutes:
Members received the following updates from the Area Managers from Neighbourhood Services and Technical Services:
Neighbourhood Services:
• Grass cutting had been completed as the surface was now too wet and damage would be caused by the machines if there were any further cuts. There had been some challenging warms and wet conditions, but the correct number of cuts and standard had been achieved.
• Winter maintenance of shrubs and hedges was underway.
• Street cleansing would be concentrated around war memorials ahead of Remembrance Sunday. Leaf clearance was a priority until the end of the year and they were working through a list of known hot spot locations, but would also respond to reported areas of concern.
• The number of incidents of fly tipping in the Tynedale area had fallen from 97 to 68 for the period April to October when compared with the same period in the previous year. Over 90% of these had been removed within the 3 working day target.
• The grounds and cleansing teams supported the winter gritting rota of roads and town centre footpaths.
• Residual, recycling and garden waste collection services were mainly operating well.
• Access problems due to road works or parked cars had resulted in a few missed waste collections which were normally revisited the following day.
• Income from garden waste and bulky waste collection services had exceeded targets. An annual review of garden collection rounds would be undertaken to assess capacity of the service. The kerbside glass collection trial was proposed to be extended until March 2023 to gather more data. A small number of additional households were also to be included.
• Green Flag status had been awarded to 11 of the Council’s parks including Hexham and Eastwood Park, Prudhoe.
Responses to issues raised by Councillors included:
• Mild weather late in the growing season had resulted in some weed regrowth; areas of concern to be reported.
• Demand for the garden waste collection service had been very high which had mean that the income target had been exceeded.
• The kerbside glass collection trial was to be extended to provide more robust data. It was likely that legislative changes would require a broader range of materials to be collected at the kerbside, including food waste, proposals were being developed for a separate food waste trial, but this would be subject to the normal budget approval process. It was understood that these changes would be funded by the Government and would therefore be rolled out when new burdens funding was received.
• They were working with the Climate Change team to determine the carbon footprint of waste collection services. As these were statutory services, the Council was obliged to provide them, but would design efficient routes to minimise the carbon impact.
• The garden waste collection service was at capacity and would require additional resource to enable it to be expanded further into additional locations. The outcome of the Government’s consultation was awaited to determine whether the garden waste service would become a mandatory statutory service and whether a levy could continue to be charged.
• Officers were analysing the results of the alternative methods of weed removal and a report would be included in the Forward Plan in due course.
Technical Services:
• Highway Inspections were being carried out and were up to date in the Tynedale area with actionable defects being repaired within the specified timeframe. The number of defects had reduced in recent months.
• The gully wagon and drainage gang continued to work on routes and in areas identified following inspections or reports through CRM. 110 miles of ditching works had been undertaken in the Tynedale area in the previous 12 months.
• Work continued on the Local Transport Plan which included completion of surface dressing works at 33 locations, 22 of 28 highway investment schemes had been completed to date and included footway permanent repairs.
• Members schemes issued to date had been programmed.
Winter Services Preparedness and Resilience:
The following issues were discussed:
• New larger gulley wagons with capacity for jetting and suction were due to be delivered in December. It was understood that an additional machine had been ordered. Information was currently being gathered regarding any additional resources required in advance of the budget setting process.
• Officers were requested to address surface water issues at Whiteside Bank on the A68.
• Urgent works by the utility companies resulted in LTP works being postponed and needing to be reprogrammed.
• Information on a scheme at Wall Village Green to be provided to Councillor Morphet.
RESOLVED that the updates be noted.