Scrutiny Committee voted last night not to refer back the proposed variation of the Veolia contract. Conservative and Labour councillors outvoted their Liberal Democrat and Green peers.
The call-in by Liberal Democrats and a Green member wanted a review of Veolia performance before implementation of the variation measures, as the Lead Member, Cllr Promise Knight, had not consulted with councillors over the issue. As the Lead Member was not present Cllr Butt substituted for her.
Cllr Paul Lorber presented the call-in and began by challenging the sum of £1.54m quoted as the cost of the 12 month variation. It included 20% VAT. As public bodies spending for the public good do not pay VAT or have it returned - the true cost was actually £1.2m.
Before the implementation of the additional measures he said there should be a Review that asked:
What is wrong? {with waste and litter system]
How do we improve it?
How much does it cost?
What can we afford?
After Cllr Lorber and other councillors had spoken about the level of complaints from residents about litter and fly-tipping the Chair, Cllr A.Patel, drew attention to the 'disconnect' between that experience and a procurement report that said that Veolia was performing well and feedback was positive, satisfying the contract's KPIs (key Performance Indicators). Cllr Mary Mitchell remarked that perhaps this meant that the KPIs were wrong.
Cllr Butt said that the contract in 2023 was devised at a time when there was limited funding and even now councillors could not expect a gold-plated service. Veolia could not be expected to do things for free. The Council were plugging the gaps with the variation operating over 12 months and then could evaluate and decide what was possible over the next period. He seemed a little confused because at one point he said, 'This is not a variation of the contract'. (2.41 in above video)
Environment Officer Chris Whyte pointed on that the latest contract came to an end in 2031 and that for such a large and complicated contract a review involving all parties would start in 2028 ahead of the procurement.
Cllr Butt said that the interim measures would address Brent's 'dirty weekends' when littering and flytipping took place but was not addressed until work resumed on Monday. Weekend and late night working would deal with some of the persistent problems. Chris Whyte said that the clear-up from weekend dumping lasted through to Wednesday so it was only on Thursday and Friday that Brent streets were really clean.
Questioning by Cllr Paul Ryan on the money available this year drew the information that an additional £3m, minus the £1.2m, for public realm was available in this year's budget. Members could make suggestions on how this could be used but the process for doing so was not clear.
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