Issue - items at meetings - An overview of the government’s forthcoming Waste Strategy; impacts and opportunities for BCP Council

April 2020 saw the creation of a fully merged BCP Council waste authority following Local Government Reorganisation in 2019. Since then, significant work has been carried out to align policies and services.

The emergence of the Government’s Our Waste Our Resources Strategy, associated national consultations and the imminence of the Environment Bill (anticipated Autumn 2021) have highlighted the potential need for significant changes to how current waste services are managed and funded going forward, and will greatly influence the development of a local Waste Strategy for BCP Council. This report summarises the latest consultation themes and outlines the likely impacts for the Council.

Supportive waste infrastructure is key to both delivering the Council’s statutory waste responsibilities and achieving the most financially advantageous operational and contractual arrangements. Consequently, ahead of 2027, and the tendering of BCP Council’s waste disposal contracts, it is prudent to review the Council’s waste assets and provision to bring forward business cases to deliver service efficiencies, security and wider transformational ambitions of the organisation. This report seeks approval to use existing grant funding to undertake a comprehensive feasibility review and supporting business cases to identify how best to meet the challenges ahead.

For BCP Council to respond to the challenges of the national waste landscape and legally comply with the requirements of the forthcoming Environment Bill, this report identifies a required growth in employee resource to evaluate, deliver and embed the required changes across the conurbation, by the Government’s proposed implementation deadline of 2023 through to disposal contract tendering in 2027.

RESOLVED that Cabinet: -

(a) approves up to £300,000 of an available £6.5m DCLG Waste Infrastructure capital fund, is utilised to undertake a feasibility study and develop a business case for disposing of, or repurposing existing operational depots across the Council, and building a modern single operational depot to meet future demand;

(b) supports the £260,000 of ongoing revenue funding requested from 2022/23 onwards, to sufficiently resource the Strategic Waste Team within Environment Services to meet statutory requirements;

(c) supports the £176,000 of ongoing revenue funding requested from 2022/23 onwards, to sufficiently resource the Commercial Waste Team within Environment Services to ensure there is no business failure;

(d) notes that £260,000 and £176,000 per annum from 2022/23 onwards will formally be recommended to Council as part of the 2022/23 budget and Medium-Term Financial Plan Update report in February 2022; and

(e) approves that, a comprehensive service review of commercial waste services is undertaken to identify priority areas for service growth, likely income contributions and associated resource requirements.

Voting: Unanimous

Portfolio Holder: Environment and Place

Reasons

1. To establish the feasibility of a single consolidated waste depot for BCP Council. The two main existing depots are not fit for purpose and need substantial investment.

2. To explore opportunities for combining depot provisions with other Council services, realising further asset rationalisation efficiencies and improved collaboration. Also, available site search will explore opportunities to address natural burial site shortage.

3. To ensure legal compliance with the Government’s Environmental Bill, and other relevant legislation, through sufficient staff resource to effectively design, plan, implement and promote the forthcoming service delivery changes.

4. To review the future development and rationalisation of existing waste infrastructure (Recycling Centres, transfer stations, ancillary depots) that BCP Council has inherited from the four legacy councils, and ensure legal compliance with the site-specific environmental permits.

5. To reduce reliance on agency staff currently utilised to meet commercial waste service demands for weighbridge, office based and operational staff resource.

6. Without these further staff resources, current service levels are not sustainable and a reduction in income generation from commercial waste is likely.

7. BCP Council commercial waste services currently generate £3.4m of income pa, from 3,000 customers on bin collections, commercial skips, underground bin collections, bulky waste collections and commercial weighbridge transactions. Areas for service expansion have been identified that have the potential to enhance the Council commercial waste offer, and further contribute to the MTFP.

The Portfolio Holder for Environment and Place presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'C' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

Cabinet was advised that April 2020 saw the creation of a fully merged BCP Council waste authority following Local Government Reorganisation in 2019. Since then, significant work has been carried out to align policies and services.

Cabinet was further advised that the emergence of the Government’s Our Waste Our Resources Strategy, associated national consultations and the imminence of the Environment Bill (anticipated Autumn 2021) have highlighted the potential need for significant changes to how current waste services are managed and funded going forward, and will greatly influence the development of a local Waste Strategy for BCP Council, and that the report summarises the latest consultation themes and outlines the likely impacts for the Council.

In relation to this Cabinet was informed that supportive waste infrastructure is key to both delivering the Council’s statutory waste responsibilities and achieving the most financially advantageous operational and contractual arrangements, and that consequently, ahead of 2027, and the tendering of BCP Council’s waste disposal contracts, it is prudent to review the Council’s waste assets and provision to bring forward business cases to deliver service efficiencies, security and wider transformational ambitions of the organisation. Cabinet was further informed that the report seeks approval to use existing grant funding to undertake a comprehensive feasibility review and supporting business cases to identify how best to meet the challenges ahead.

Cabinet was advised that in order for BCP Council to respond to the challenges of the national waste landscape and legally comply with the requirements of the forthcoming Environment Bill, the report identifies a required growth in employee resource to evaluate, deliver and embed the required changes across the conurbation, by the Government’s proposed implementation deadline of 2023 through to disposal contract tendering in 2027.