Brent launches consultation on recycling and street cleaning as Veolia contract comes to an end - details

From Brent Council website

We want to hear your views on changes we want to make to recycling and street cleaning in the borough.

The contract we have to pick up your waste and recycling and to keep streets clean is coming to an end next spring. We have invited companies to bid for the new contract.

We want to take this opportunity to make some changes to the service you have received for the past few years. There are a few reasons for this:

1. The government is likely to change the way it asks us to provide recycling services over the next few years, to align with changes to national policy contained in the Environment Act 2021.

2. We are working together with local people to make Brent a carbon neutral borough by 2030. We know lots of you want to do your bit to live more sustainably and through the Let’s Talk Climate conversation, you told us that we could help by making it easier to do the right thing and recycle – including making it easier for you to know what can and can’t be recycled.

3. The council’s budgets have been stretched by the pandemic, rising prices, a growing population and a reduction in the funding we get from the government. We need to save money and so have to think differently about how these services are delivered in the future.

Proposed changes to recycling include separating certain materials in to weekly collections. The adjustment to the recycling service will save the council money and evidence suggests that it will also improve recycling rates within the borough.  

Councillor Krupa Sheth, Brent's Cabinet Member for Environment, said: 

 

These changes will mean that the council can save money and keep running service the residents need the most. This is so important after drastic funding cuts from the government since 2010. We all know that times are hard at the moment and difficult decisions have to be made to improve services in the present day, whilst also having a lasting impact for future generations.

Evidence from other councils show an increase in recycling rates when using this collection method. This is just one way of us improving in our fight against climate change.

The council has committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2030 and we are serious about making changes that will benefit the residents, the borough and the planet. 

I urge residents to share their views and help to shape how their recycling is collected.

This consultation asks for your views on the changes we are proposing, please complete the survey now.

Current process for collecting recycling

At the moment, you put all your cardboard, paper, plastic, tin cans and glass recycling into one bin and we collect it once a week.

Proposed changes

We’re proposing giving you a sack to separate out ‘fibre’ (mixed paper, cardboard, newspapers etc.) from ‘containers’ (e.g. plastic, tin cans, tubs).

We would collect the two sets of materials on alternate weeks. For example:

Week 1 - we collect your containers in your existing blue top bin.

Week 2 - we collect your fibre sack, and repeat.

You will therefore still have weekly recycling collections.

With this option, general waste would continue to be collected fortnightly and food waste weekly – remaining as they are now.

Other London boroughs have tried this and found that people recycle more – this is better for the planet and on balance would likely save the council money because it’s costly to dispose of general waste and we can sell recycling to providers.

We are also looking at introducing a new free bookable Small Items Collection Service to make it easier for you to recycle textiles, small electrical items, batteries, coffee pods and paint.

Changes to street cleansing

We are also looking at moving to an intelligence-led approach to street cleaning. This means that teams will be deployed where it is needed most, supported by rapid response teams who will be on call to clean areas when needed.

This will be a move away from the current approach that focuses on teams being deployed to different streets on a rota system, regardless of whether they need sweeping. 

There  are further details of proposed changes in a document on the consultation website site HERE

Wembly Central petition Brent Council for more action on rubbish and flytipping

The Green Party and Brent Fightback long ago forecast dirty streets LINK  as a result of cuts to street cleaning and other services and the decision to make the contractor Veolia responsible for monitoring its own performance.  More recently I have also had comments regarding the maintenance of parks which is also part of Veolia's empire.  As a result of the Veolia taking over Brent's Public Realm the Environment Department of the Council has been severely cut LINK.

Wembley Central residents have now launched a public online petition to Brent Council and Muhammed Butt calling for action LINK

The petition reads:
 

--> We the undersigned petition Brent Council to resolve the issue of unacceptable amounts of rubbish being dumped on our streets.  The dumped rubbish is anti-social, it causes potential health hazards by attracting rats and other vermin to our streets and it affects the well-being of responsible residents, whilst making the area unwelcoming to visitors.

We call on Brent Council to implement the following 6 point plan to clean up Wembley Central:

1.      We call on Brent Council to put in place measures which prevent rubbish being dumped on our streets and to fully publicise what these measures are.

2.      We call on Brent Council to strongly enforce existing laws and regulations against those who litter, those who dump rubbish/fly-tip and those who do not manage their waste properly on private land.

3.      We call on Brent Council to raise awareness of this problem, stressing that it will no longer be tolerated, through an education program including posters and leafleting, whilst engaging with local landlords, businesses, schools, colleges and places of worship.

4.      We call on Brent Council to respond to genuine complaints from residents in a timely and respectful manner.

5.      We call on Brent Council to pro-actively combat the effects of recent multi-occupancy housing on the existing local community.  Each landlord licence would generate £400 per property.  This income must be invested to regulate and enforce regulations.

6.      We call on Brent Council to issue financial penalties against Veolia where the service fails to meet the required standard.

For too long the Council have ignored our complaints about rubbish in our area and they need to take immediate and long term action to solve this problem.

On the petition sight Cllr Sam Stopp (Labour, Brent Central) writes:

The cleanliness of our streets is the measure of our community spirit.

To rebuild community spirit, we must first remove the blight of dumping from our streets.

Brent Council environment cuts break 'cleaner and greener' pledge

I reproduce below Brent Friends of the Earth's comprehensive response to the current Budget Consultation. I am sure that similar responses could be written on other areas of the proposed cuts making it clear that the level of cuts  now required is unacceptable and making no long-term economic or social sense.

Response to Brent Council Budget Consultation from Brent Friends of the Earth

Our members are concerned about the cuts to Council services overall, in particular cuts to vital front line services.  Whilst we recognise that Brent's income has been severely reduced, we do not wish to see vital welfare services axed, especially those for children. The vision of what will remain is stark and in some cases unrecognisable from the provision residents have come to know and expect as Council services.  However our comments as a group focus on the impact of proposed cuts to environmental services. We also question whether some of the cuts proposed will actually save money in the long run:

Brent Council announce blitz on dirty streets ahead of the local election

Brent Fightback protest in 2011

It is interesting how the forthcoming elections focus the mind of councillors. Up until now Brent Council has denied that the 2011 cuts in street cleaning  resulted in dirtier streets despite the evidence provided by local residents and political activists.

This interview with a street cleaner predicted a worsening service from  Nicola Newswizz

 Now, with 5 months to go before the election Brent Council has announced a blitz on street cleaning:

A major new blitz against the worst litter and flytipping spots in the borough will be launched in every ward in the new year as part of a new campaign to clean up Brent.

Brent Council’s campaign will focus on the spots most blighted by dumped waste, litter and dirt. For the first time street cleansing on Saturday and Sunday afternoons in town centres and residential streets will take place and all 21 wards will get their own dedicated street sweeper to focus on cleaning up the dirtiest spots in their area.

In total an extra 28 street sweepers in addition to the existing crews will be sent in to clean up the borough’s streets from 6 January. So far 147 of the dirtiest spots across the borough have been identified for immediate action as part of the campaign.

Brent Council is committed to delivering clean streets and high standards of cleansing for all areas, including removing any flytipping as quickly as possible.

It is not clear whether the 28 street sweepers are new employees or current employees on overtime and what the budgetary implications are for the move.

The fly tipping 'Hot Spots' identified by the council for action can be found on the table below:

 

Budget cuts, Veolia, Copland, racist letting agents and violence against women on Council agenda tonight

The most important item on tonight's Brent Council Agenda is probably the first reading of the budget which includes the cuts already listed on this blog LINK

Executive members will give reports as follows:

1. The opening of the LDO and update on appointmentof Ben Spinks (Cllr Butt)

2. New Public Realm contract (Cllr Mashari)

3. The future of Copland school (Cllr Pavey)

4. Integrated Care Pioneer bid and conference on adult safeguarding (Cllr Hirani)

5. Action taken on racial discrimination by local letting agents and private rented

 sector licensing (Cllr McLennan)

6. The live-streaming of Council meetings (Cllr Denselow)

7. Conference on khat (Cllr Choudry)

8. An update on parking (Cllr J Moher)

9. Regeneration tour of the borough by Deputy Mayors of London (CllrCrane)

10. Visit from the Mayor of Johannesburg (Cllr R Moher) 

Each party group has tabled a motion for this evening.  They are:

LABOUR

Tackling violence against women

This Council commends the work of the members’ task group on Tackling Violence against Women and Girls in Brent. This task group is committed to ending harmful practices by raising public awareness of issues such as female genital mutilation (FGM), forced marriages and honour-based violence. These practices, and all instances of violence against women, constitute illegal, intolerable acts and human rights violations.

This Council notes the positive influence members can wield within communities by encouraging individuals and groups to speak out against harmful practices, which impact on the wellbeing of women and girls in Brent. To ensure that members are fully informed on all these harmful practices and how to deal with them effectively, there will be a member development event held on Thursday 21 November 2013. Sessions will be led by the expert organisations FORWARD and the Asian Women’s Resource Centre.

Members also note the work of the White Ribbon Campaign day- a charitable organisation started by men which seeks to end violence against women. Members whole-heartedly support this cause and will sign the White Ribbon pledge to affirm that they will never condone or remain silent about violent acts against women. A Brent Council event marking White Ribbon Day – the internationally recognised day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women – will be held in the Civic Centre on November 25.

We call on all members to unite in the fight against these harmful practices, and resolve to end all practices which cause physical or emotional distress to women and girls in Brent within the 5-year target set by the Government earlier this year.

Councillor John

LIBERAL DEMOCRAT 

Cleaner streets in Brent

Council notes that Labour councillors have targeted street cleaning and waste collection for service reductions by:

        i.            Reducing the frequency of street cleaning in many residential streets from three times a week to once a week

      ii.            Reducing weekend street cleaning in High Streets

    iii.            Reducing refuse collections, even in areas with poor storage facilities for residual waste

     iv.            Introducing curtilage collections

       v.            Axing the streetwatcher scheme

Council further notes:

        i.            It is two years since Brent Council hit its target for tonnes of waste sent to landfill

     vi.            In five out of the last six quarters Brent Council failed to hit its target for the percentage of waste sent for recycling

   vii.            Brent Council has never (since the target was adopted as a KPI) met its target for Flytipping Enforcement: number of inspections and investigations

 viii.            Reported fly-tipping increased after Labour's street cleaning cuts, as dirty streets encouraged more people to dump waste

     ix.            There is considerable public concern about the cleanliness of our streets and the amount of fly-tipping in Brent

       x.            The failure to meet recycling targets has significant financial consequences

Council calls on the Executive to:

        i.            Improve Brent Council's recycling performance

      ii.            Step up enforcement in order to target more effectively those who disfigure our streets with litter and fly-tipping

    iii.            Use the resulting additional finance to increase street cleaning where it is most needed and work intensively with residents and managers of blocks of flats to address litter, fly-tipping and waste collection issues.

Councillors Lorber, Brown and Hopkins

CONSERVATIVE

Parking

This Council notes that the parking policy of this Labour administration is hurting Brent's economy as high parking charges on the local high streets and the abolition of visitor parking scratch cards continue to drive visitors away.

This Council also notes that as a result of these ill-thought out policies, shoppers are deserting Brent in favour of the cheap, easy and free parking that is on offer at Brent Cross and in neighbouring borough’s. 

This Council resolves to:

-          Introduce half an hour free parking on our High Streets

-          Ensure that event day parking restrictions only apply for 1hour before the event at Wembley Stadium

-          Continue the use of visitor scratch cards indefinitely,

Councillor Kansagra

You can watch a live feed of the meeting on computer, tablet or smart phone from 7pm HERE and tweet #brentlive

Brent to join with other boroughs to out-source 'Public Realm' including waste and parks maintenance

In a report to go before the Executive on October 15th LINK officers are recommending that the Council join with Barnet, Hounslow and Richmond in a 'super contract' see my previous blog HERE that will cover:

• Household waste collections and recycling
• Street Cleansing operations
• Graffiti clearance
• Winter maintenance
• Cleansing of public conveniences
• Grounds maintenance to parks and open spaces (including Brent Housing Partnership HP estates)
• Grounds maintenance to cemeteries and grave digging
• Highway verges and shrub beds
• Playground inspection and maintenance
• Warden service
• Commercial waste

Brent's contract with Veolia ends on March 31st 2014. The contract, across the 4 boroughs and BHP which may not all buy into all the services, would be worth £700m over the 16 year contract period..

In a controversial move the report recommends:

The Executive to give approval to an exemption from Contract Standing Order 88 to allow an advert to be placed and a pre-qualification process to be run without the approval of evaluation criteria and certain other pre-tender considerations, subject to approval of such matters at a future Executive

And further recommends, as a consequence of the problem of the lack of a Brent Council depot when the last contract was awarded to Veolia, that the Council acquire a depot. Andy Donald Director of Regeneration and Major Projects, appears to be leading on this:

That the Executive agree to an amendment of £6.2m to the Council’s capital budget for 2012/13 to procure a new depot as set out in section 3.6 of the report. If a suitable site is identified, due to the reasons set out in paragraph 3.6.6, that the final terms of any acquisition including the purchase price be delegated to the Director of Regeneration and Major Projects and the Director of Finance and Corporate Services in consultation with their respective Lead Members. Such purchase price to be contained within the amendment to the Council’s capital budget as set out within this report

As a lay person it seems to me that this is not a particularly transparent or accountable  process when the Executive is not fully involved in an exceptionally large contract.

The proposal has come as a surprise to people in Barnet where a large number of staff are involved. In Brent waste management and recycling are already out-sourced to Veolia and it is the Parks and Sports staff who are most affected. The report states:

For Brent, whilst the majority of staffing implications are for staff currently employed by the current contractor, there are implications for existing Brent staff in Sports and Parks and Highway Operations. The proposal is that in excess of 50 council staff providing grounds maintenance and a number of staff in other services are transferred to the successful provider. In addition, if the decision is to create a single client arrangement a small number of staff in waste and recycling would be affected,

TUPE will apply and presumably this will also be the case for the cleaning and grounds maintenance contractors currently employed by Brent Housing Partnership, which also comes under Andy Donald's umbrella.

Brent parks: charging and privatisation

Poster for recent Eid event at Fryent Country Park

Following the council's cuts in festivals and other events, and the subsequent use of the parks and open spaces by organisations putting on their own events, the September Executive will consider a range of charges to contribute towards the council's costs in assisting the groups meet health and safety requirements. Having lost their grants the community organisations will now face charges when they try and put on their own events to replace those cut by the council!

I can confirm my July prediction LINK that Brent Council appears likely to combine waste management, recycling, street cleaning and parks maintenance in one new 'super contract'. The Council's Forward Plan LINK lists these items under the heading 'Managing the Public Realm' and states that it is considering collaboration with Barnet, Richmond and Hounslow councils on the delivering of the services.  Consultation on this will only be internally within the council and the decision on procurement arrangements will be made at the15th October Executive.

This seems to rule out any public debate on whether the parks maintenance service should be out-sourced (privatised)..

Better news is the declaration of Masons Field, Kingsbury as a Local Nature Reserve, and part of Fryent Country Park.

Council report confirms Brent streets are dirtier but landfill reduced

 A council report LINK confirms that despite improvements in recycling rates and the amount of waste going to landfill, that Brent streets are dirtier than a year ago.

In October last year the council made the following changes in street cleansing:

• Reduced frequency of sweeping from 2 to 1 weekly in zone 5
• Reduced frequency of sweeping from 3 times per day to twice in zone 2
• Reduced frequency of sweeping in industrial areas from 7 to 2 weekly
• Removal of weekend afternoon shift
• Reduced weekday morning mechanical sweeping
• Reduced weekend morning cleansing.

The report admits:

The cleansing reductions led to deterioration in some areas.

Compared to 2010/11:

• • The number of streets showing a less than acceptable level of litter increased by 5 percentage points.
• • The number of streets showing a less than acceptable level of detritus increased by 6 percentage points 

Although Brent Council has focused on leafleting as a potential cause of litter during the Olympics (the statutory notices for the licensing scheme are currently posted around the borough) it is clear that there is a residual problem as a consequence of the cuts and what seems to me an increase in fly-tipping and street corner depositing of surplus residential 'grey bin' waste.  At the same time the council has cut the Streetwatchers Scheme through which local residents informed Streetcare of fly-tipping and uncollected waste.

The report concludes:

The consequence of less frequent cleansing in some areas is that streets are less tidy. Officers have embarked on a programme of engagement with councillors and community groups to understand local concerns and to develop solutions.

Would one solution be the reintroduction of more frequent street cleaning and the reinstatement of the Streetwatchers scheme? It is important that the council gets this right before the waste services contract goes out to tender next year.

The news is better on recycling although it would be useful to know the post-process figures as well as those given on pick-up rates from the blue bins. How much of the material in blue bins is ultimately recycled and how much after sorting still goes into landfill as the result of contamination or the inclusion of non-recyclables in the blue bins?

The council puts forward plans to increase the amount of waste recycled or composted from the present 41% to 52%:

High – High Output (+8 percentage points)

1. Improve recycling of collected bulky waste.

2. Maximise output from food waste collections by providing caddy liners/replacement caddies.

3. Bid for funding to introduce food waste collections at flats

4. Replace/remove excess landfill bins.

5. Introduce alternate weekly collections at appropriate flats.

6. Extend recycling provision at flats above shops.

7. Review and improve resident engagement programme.

8. Advertise availability of additional blue-topped bins.

9. Comprehensive communications plan for 2012/13, with more frequent reissue of collection calendar and service information.

Medium – High Input, Less Output (+3 percentage points)

10. Review and improve bring bank network.

11. Identify options for recycling street cleansing waste.

12. Remove trade waste from street cleansing waste.

13. Install in-cab devices to report non-collection issues.

14. Re-use shops / third sector collections

Low – Low Output (+0.5 percentage points)

15. Recycle waste collected at events.

16. Enhanced waste reduction initiatives – real nappies, junk mail, home

composting.

17. Investigate a borough-wide recycling incentive scheme.

18. Collect food waste from schools.

19. Take advantage of pan-London textile framework.

20. Dedicated Olympic recycling programme for the games period in August.

21. Provide collection points for small electronic equipment.

22. Improve collection arrangements and range of materials at Re-use and Recycling centre.