East and North Hertfordshire move towards joint waste service

In December 2014, the councils agreed to a proposal to develop a business case for a joint waste collection and street cleansing service between East and North Hertfordshire – which covers the towns of Hitchin, Bishop’s Stortford and Hertford. Both authorities currently hold separate contracts with Veolia for the collection of waste and recyclables.

Following East Herts (EHDC) council agreeing to the project last month (19 July), at a North Hertfordshire district council (NHDC) cabinet meeting on 26 July councillors agreed to proceed with a joint service and contract.

Savings

According to the North Herts’ ‘Outline Business Case,’ the preferred option – a joint contract involving a joint client team and integration of existing infrastructure – could achieve revenue savings of £707,000 per annum. This would amount to savings of around £494,000 to NHDC and £213,000 to EHC.

Cllr Peter Burt, NHDC’s portfolio holder for Waste & Recycling and Environment said: “With both councils facing increasing financial pressures on budgets in future years, we need to consider different ways of working and explore what improvements and efficiencies could be achieved, whilst doing our bit to protect the environment.

“The Waste Collection and Streets Cleansing services for both councils make up a significant proportion of expenditure and the project could mean an improvement in cost effectiveness without residents seeing any difference to the service.”

The published projections within the NHDC Budget Estimate Book 2016/17 indicate that NHDC needs to make further savings of £2.25m over the next three years through to the end of financial year 2019/20.

Service

In an NHDC report on the proposed changes, ‘Shared Service for Waste and Street Cleaning,’ it is estimated that contractor efficiencies expected from the next contract will include a reduction in collection rounds and spare vehicles and support staff. The report adds that officers have worked with the current contractor, Veolia, to quantify these efficiencies.

The document also states that savings will be made from a reduction in the number of depot sites, as well as client staff reductions due to efficiency gains.

Currently, both councils operate alternate fortnightly waste collections of mixed recycling and non-recyclable waste with Veolia.

Tony Jackson, ambassador and executive member for shared services said: “The joint service will allow us to continue to provide an excellent service while also making considerable savings.

“As the pressures on our budgets are only set to increase, this is an excellent opportunity to reduce costs while maintaining a high standard of service.”

According to NHDC, the next steps will see officers from both councils working closely to develop the contract documentation and associated processes to enable the procurement of a joint contract to commence in September.