Agenda item

To receive a written report from the Cabinet Member for Environmental Services and to question the Cabinet Member thereon, provided any such questions are registered in accordance with the timescales and procedures set out in Standing Order 8.2.1.

Council received a written report from Councillor Levene, Cabinet Member for Environmental Services.

 

Notice had been received of twelve questions on the report submitted by Members in accordance with Standing Orders.  The first eight questions were put and answered as follows and Councillor Levene undertook to provide Members with written answers to the remaining questions:

 

(i)      From Cllr Richardson

 

“Regarding the planned Spring Clean, can you compare the amount of rubbish collected, in general figures, during last year’s campaign with the amount of rubbish collected annually prior to the closure of Beckfield Lane and the restricted hours at Towthorpe Recycling Centres?”

 

The Cabinet Member replied:

“Specific tonnages arising from the Spring Clean were not collected. However, the trend of the cost for dealing with flytipping is actually going down:

 

08/09                   £69.5k

09/10                   £43.3k

10/11                   £52.5k

11/12                   £44.6k

12/13                   £49.4k

Latest figures for 13/14         £31.5k”

 

(ii)     From Cllr Aspden

 

“Would the Cabinet Member agree that the fall in recycling levels is a regrettable consequence of this administration’s policies?”

 

The Cabinet Member replied:

“I do not agree that the change in recycling levels is a consequence of this administration’s policies.”

 

(iii)     From Cllr Jeffries

 

“Why does the Cabinet Member give such a low priority to maintaining environmental standards in the City’s sub-urban estates?”

The Cabinet Member replied:

“The City’s suburban estates are not given a low priority. Resources are deployed based on the needs of individual areas, not location, or indeed the fantasies of opposition councillors.”

 

(iv)    From Cllr Reid

 

“What performance targets have been set for the “Smarter York” team and when can we expect the new structure to provide measurable improvements in the local environment?”

 

The Cabinet Member replied:

“Whether it’s the almost 100 events going on as part of this year’s Spring Clean, the 32 different projects being supported across the city, or the growing number of residents and businesses signing up to the Smarter Charter, Smarter York has already made measurable improvements to the local environment.

 

The team is still becoming established and objectives will therefore evolve, however the primary objectives of the Smarter York officers will be around increasing the number of volunteering opportunities, publicity for those opportunities, and engagement with those opportunities.”

 

(v)     From Cllr Richardson

 

“What were the “skill gaps” which prevented staff from being able to operate the new city centre cleaning equipment and what could have been done to prepare the staff more effectively for use of the new equipment?”

 

The Cabinet Member replied:

“As tasks in this role have historically been mostly manual, there was not the need to posses a driving licence, as we move to the use of machinery to help us improve standards; this means a driving license is required. We are funding driving lessons where applicable.”

 

(vi)    From Cllr Orrell

 

“What additional resources are being put into the restarting of green bin collections to ensure that bins containing garden waste accumulated since October is collected within normal schedules?”

The Cabinet Member replied:

“We are confident that we will be able to collect garden waste within normal schedules on resumption of the service. As usual, in the small number of cases where a collection has not taken place as it should we will return the next working day.”

 

(vii)    From Cllr Richardson

 

“How will you address a perception on the part of residents that the increase in penalty notices for parking enforcement is as much a mechanism for collecting additional revenue as an appropriate sanction for bad parking, given the concern which has developed over the number of penalty notices having been given out on Lendal Bridge?”

 

The Cabinet Member replied:

“It is important that following past industrial action we saw an improvement in the service and I welcome that improvement - residents are right to expect that parking restrictions are properly enforced.

 

Cllr Richardson has repeatedly called for additional parking restrictions in his own ward – is he saying this shouldn’t be enforced, or is it one rule for him and another for the rest?”

 

(viii)   From Cllr Reid

 

“Can the Cabinet Member confirm what the winter maintenance budget was for 2013/14 and whether the department came in under or over budget?”

 

The Cabinet Member replied:

“The winter maintenance budget is projected to overspend by £107k – this would have been at least £20k more had the changes to the winter service not been implemented. For comparison, this was £479k in 9/10 and £250k in 10/11 under the previous administration.”

 

There is clearly an issue with historic overspending on the winter service and this will be dealt with by the Rewiring Public Services transformation.”

 

 

 

(iv)    From Cllr Richardson

 

“Further to your recognition that maintenance on the unclassified road network has deteriorated, why is your new investment of £2.3m targeting footway maintenance when these are the roads which, particularly those linking our rural villages, have no defined footways and depend on regular pothole repair and edge-of-road maintenance to enable these roads to be safe and passable for all road users, including pedestrians?”

 

Reply:

“The Big York Survey indicated residents had concerns over footways, so the additional highways capital investment will allocate 50% for footways rather than 40%.

 

Is Cllr Richardson suggesting that we ignore residents’ feedback?”

 

(x)     From Cllr Reid

 

“The Cabinet Member continues to claim that York’s roads and footpaths are the best in the region. When does he expect the majority of residents to respond to independent surveys – such as those conducted by the AA - saying that they are satisfied with the condition of roads and footpaths in York?”

 

 

Reply:

“Given the probable impact of the opposition constantly and incorrectly crowing about how terrible York’s roads are, I suppose that’s rather up to you. I certainly look forward to a robust data-backed analysis in the next round of Focus leaflets”.

 

(xi)    From Cllr Jeffries

 

“Will the Cabinet Member ensure that salt bins that are broken and have missing lids (allowing rain to wash out salt supplies) are repaired and that there is adequate consultation with residents on 'adopting' bins which had been removed but are nevertheless needed during a ‘typical’ winter?”

 

Reply:

“All salt bins are refreshed at the start of the season and any defects reported by the operatives.

 

Consultation with residents took place prior to the changes made to the winter service.”

 

(xii)    From Cllr Reid

 

“In the Cabinet papers for November 2013 the following comments were made: "The effect of the national recession is being felt by councils across the country in the amount of recyclable material, especially paper and glass, being presented for recycling”. Household Waste Growth – “Rate of growth is higher than anticipated. There could be many reasons for this situation, including: an increase in waste arisings due to the economy starting to recover”. Would the Cabinet Member say which is true?”

 

Reply:

“Both statements are true and the officer description Cllr Reid quotes from is accurate. Though both have decreased, recycling tonnages have been affected to a greater degree than landfill tonnages, hence the changes in rates sent to landfill and recycled. This trend is reflected nationally. It is expected at the end of 2013/14 that the total amount of household waste collected will increase, again both locally and nationally, as the economy starts to recover.”