Issue - meetings

To receive the report from the Commercial Services Manager.

The Committee undertook a detailed review of waste collection performance, service reliability, staffing, fleet resilience, customer communication and enforcement activity. While recognising the generally strong performance of the service across Dorset, the Committee also examined areas where improvements were required.

A significant part of the discussion focused on the performance of the Shaftesbury depot, which had been identified as performing less strongly than other depots. The Committee considered the factors contributing to this position, including recruitment challenges, staff absence, vehicle maintenance and workshop capacity. Concerns were raised regarding the need for clear improvement plans supported by measurable targets and transparent reporting.

Service resilience formed a further area of discussion. The Committee considered staffing levels, vacancy management, the use of agency workers, vehicle availability and maintenance arrangements. Discussion focused on whether sufficient resilience existed within the service to respond to operational pressures and future demand.

The Committee also discussed the quality and accessibility of performance information. While improvements in reporting were welcomed, it was considered that more localised information would provide a clearer understanding of service performance within individual depots, towns and wards.

Customer communication arrangements were reviewed, including discussion around the potential benefits of a customer portal that could provide residents with more timely information regarding collections, disruptions and service requests. The Committee considered whether technological improvements could be implemented more quickly to improve the customer experience.

Further discussion addressed blocked access to collections, enforcement activity, fly-tipping and opportunities to improve recycling performance. The impact of parked vehicles preventing collections was considered, along with the need to identify recurring issues and explore potential local solutions.

The Committee concluded that maintaining strong overall performance would require continued focus on transparency, accountability, operational resilience and improvement in areas where challenges remained.

Recommendation

The Place and Resources Scrutiny Committee recommended that:

1. Future performance reports include depot-level, town-level and ward-level performance information.
2. A measurable and targeted improvement plan be developed for the Shaftesbury depot.
3. Regular progress reports be presented to the Committee, initially on a quarterly basis, particularly in relation to the performance of the Shaftesbury depot.
4. Future reports include information on vacancies, sickness absence, duration of absence, agency staffing and staff turnover, with depot-level breakdowns where possible.
5. All improvement plans include measurable targets, responsible officers, timescales and clear success measures.

6.       That instances where collections are missed because of parked vehicles are reported and that recurring issues are fed back to town and parish councils to support traffic management solutions where appropriate.

7. Councillors be provided with improved access to local waste performance information and dashboard data.
8. Development of a customer portal be accelerated to improve communication use of the service specific customer portal to improve communication and information available to residents unless the future corporate solution is under 12 months from full implementation.
9. Missed collections resulting from parking obstructions be recorded and recurring issues escalated to support longer-term solutions.