Serviceteam was given preferred bidder status in August, following the ending of SITA's 6.7 million contract as a result of conflict with the workforce. But last night (October 9) the council's cabinet rejected Serviceteam's offer and said that Serviceteam's price for the contract was too high.
Although SITA's contract ended on September 14, the company agreed to stay until October 14 when Serviceteam was due to take over the refuse collection. A recommendation will now be put to the policy and resources committee on Friday which will say that the service should be run by the council.
Brighton and Hove City Council is now likely to carry out an in-house refuse and street cleaning service from Monday for the next 18 months. Union officials said the workforce would be happy to work alongside the council and the council plans to borrow vehicles from SITA and other companies until trucks are bought.
Council leader Ken Bodfish said: “We have been working to reach an agreement with Serviceteam on a contract that would provide value for money for our residents, a high quality service and a fair deal for our workforce. Our negotiations have failed to reach the point where we believe the offer does indeed represent value for money for the council and its residents and therefore we do not feel able to award the contract.
Quality
He added: “By default this means the staff will transfer back to the council and for a period we will be directly managing the service. This is not necessarily the position that we had anticipated being in. However I am determined to use it as an opportunity to work in partnership with the workforce so that together we can provide a high quality service.”
It is also likely that council tax will increase as it has become clear that SITA was subsidising the service. It is understood that the Brighton refuse collection service cost around 50 pence per household per week, despite the fact that there are a number of factors which add to the cost of the collection in the city. Councillor Bodfish said that Brighton has the largest number of multiple occupied rented properties outside London and this combined with the city's year-round tourist and the long-distance to the landfill site at Beddingham landfill site added to costs.
Councillor Bodfish said: “Having looked through SITA's books it is clear that they were losing significant sums of money. In other words SITA has effectively been subsiding the services and thereby subsiding local tax payers. The fact that few of us were happy with the service they provided does not alter this basic financial fact. It is now clear that a series of contractors have underbid this service for a number of years.”
The council said that it will now instigate a best value review which will examine the way the service is being run by consulting with residents, businesses and the workforce itself. This is likely to lead to more investment in recycling.
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