Councillor G. Rice, Cabinet Member for the Environment, introduced the report and in doing so provided an overview of the services provided, including the civic amenity site, 2 country parks, 3 Sites of Special Scientific Interest, fleet management, street waste and the winter gritting service.

In introducing the report the Cabinet Member raised the following key points:

·         That 70,000 tonnes of materials, almost 10 million bins had been collected during the past year, only 23% of which was sent to landfill.

·         That the total 2015/16 weekly household cost was £4.53 per household, compared with £5.44 in 2014/15.

·         This equated to £1.58 per household spent on waste collection, £1.75 on waste disposal, £0.73p on green spaces, £0.06p on Emergency Response and Highways Maintenance and £0.41p on Street Cleansing.

·         That challenges to the service included the significant reduction of staff numbers, it was reported that since May 2014 8% managers, 55% of business services staff and 33% of street services front line staff had been lost.

·         That the Environment Services directorate had contributed to £3.5 million in year savings and the controlled budget had been reduced by 40%.

·         That the level of cleanliness in Thurrock was better than the average for local authorities in England despite the fact that funding for street cleaning had fallen year on year.

·         That the levels of recycling contamination was an issue and communications had increased in an effort to better educate residents on what items could, and could not be recycled, as the cost for the disposal of recycled material was significantly cheaper per tonne rather than sending waste to landfill.

·         That the new technically, environmentally and economically practicable recycling regulations (TEEP) had impacted upon recycling rates as if waste was not separated correctly the whole recycling load could be deemed as cross-contaminated.

·         He commended the work of community groups and forums, such as the Friends of Hardie Park, in leading environmental projects in the local community to improve open and green spaces in Thurrock.

·         He called on all residents to take pride in their community and encouraged residents to litter pick outside their homes.

Members questioned the Cabinet Member and received responses as follows:

·         Councillor Halden explained that he wanted to see an improvement in the performance of the service, not maintenance at current levels, and added that the report highlighted that in 2014/15 the standard of street cleanliness in the Borough showed a further year-on-year improvement, not the levels of decline that the Cabinet Member had alluded to in his introduction, and questioned whether they were reading the same report.

In response the Cabinet Member explained that the report documented performance in 2014/15, and he had been referring to performance of the service in the early part of 2015/16 that had yet to be formally reported, which he felt had been negatively affected due to the budget pressured faced.

·         Councillor Snell questioned the assertion that the standard of street cleanliness had improved across the Borough and observed that residents of Stifford Clays were unlikely to agree. He remarked that the fact that recently 60 bags of waste had been collected in Crammavill Street in just a 2 hour period suggested that the Borough was not as clean as the report implied.

The Cabinet Member explained that if the service had not faced considerable budget cuts then there would not be as much litter in the Borough and called upon all Elected Members and the public to come on board to help improve street cleanliness. He further reported that it was important to educate children and young people about the effects of dropping litter and those drivers who dropped litter from their cars was a particular issue.

·         Councillor Jones commended the work of community forums and community groups for all their work in picking up litter and taking responsibility for their parks and open spaces but was concerned that the impact of the new technically, environmentally and economically practicable recycling regulations (TEEP) had not been effectively communicated to residents. He felt that residents should be made aware of the need to separate their waste correctly and the fact that this was not a Thurrock Council decision but rather a national regulation that needed to be complied with.

The Cabinet Member explained that some residents put the wrong items in the blue bin that created additional expense for the Council, which was why all blue bins with incorrect waste were identified by a tag that sought to better educate residents.

The Mayor advised that 15 minutes had elapsed for this item and asked Members whether they wished the time for questions to be extended as there were further Members who had indicated that they wanted to speak, to which all Members indicated their agreement.

·         Councillor Ray highlighted that it was not easy to stop people littering the Borough from vehicles as it was difficult to remember registration numbers. He explained that he understood that rules had recently changed which allowed the registered keeper of the vehicle to be fined for littering and questioned whether this only applied in London, or was something Thurrock could adopt, as he felt that the best way to educate people was through fines and points on a licence.

The Cabinet Member remarked that this was a good idea and asked officers to investigate the matter further. 

·         Councillor S. Little asked how many free tonnes of salt did Thurrock obtain from Essex County Council during its promotion for winter gritting and what was its value.

The Cabinet Member advised that he did not know of the answer to the question but that he would endeavour to obtain details from officers.

Some Members interjected that Thurrock was not eligible for the free winter gritting salt, in response Councillor S. Little explained that she understood all authorities in Essex could apply, to which the Cabinet Member added that Thurrock tended to purchase its own supplies but he would ask officers to investigate any cost benefit of working with Essex County Council.

·         Councillor Redsell questioned how many households had received 3 strikes, or tags, on their blue recycling bin for cross-contamination and how much money had been saved by the process.

The Cabinet Member explained that he did not know the answer to the question but would instruct officers to investigate and circulate a response to all Members.

·         Councillor B. Little questioned how much levels of contamination had been reduced since Thurrock had started the process of tagging blue recycling bins.

The Cabinet Member explained that he did not know the answer to the question but would instruct officers to circulate a response to all Members.

·         Councillor Tolson asked whether plans to join Coalhouse Country Park with Tilbury Fort by a footpath and cycleway were still going ahead and if so when it would be completed. She further questioned how the Council was ensuring that bicycles and pushchairs had level access over the estuary inlet.

The Cabinet Member explained that he was aware of the footpath and areas mentioned but did not know the latest position on the proposals and so would instruct officers to circulate a response to all Members after the meeting.

·         Councillor Kelly advised that he had received a letter through the door that day from the Environmental Services team which explained that contamination had been found in his blue recycling bin. He explained that his collection day was a Monday and that this week he had not put his bin out as it was not full. He added that he was always very careful with what he disposed of in the blue recycling bin, and combined with the fact that his bin had not been collected that week, felt that the letter had been sent to him in error. As a result he queried what the process was for ensuring letters were sent to the correct households, especially as some blue bins were not identifiable with house numbers.

The Cabinet Member explained that this was an operational matter which he would need to ask officers to investigate further and provide a response to the Member on.

·         Councillor Worrall observed that during the summer months the waste collection trucks arrived earlier in the morning to collect recyclable waste and questioned whether this would continue in winter.

The Cabinet Member explained that blue bins started to be collected from 6am and that the change was as a result of the Council securing a different recycling contractor which charged £15 a tonne for disposal rather than £75 a tonne that had been charged by their predecessor. He explained that as the new contractor was based in East London the refuse trucks had to leave the depot earlier to start the waste collection round but that the Council had secured better value for money.

The Mayor advised the Chamber that they had run out of time to receive questions from Councillors Cliff Holloway, Barry Johnson and Mike Stone but asked the Members to email their questions following the meeting so that a response could be provided and circulated to all Members.