The waste contractor for two East Midlands councils is facing penalties of up to 250,000 and has been warned that it could face more in the future following continuing complaints from residents about its performance.
Enterprise Managed Services has been accused by Northampton borough and Daventry district councils of poor performance in areas such as missed bins and recycling boxes, as well as dealing with fly tipping and graffiti, which it is expected to do under its contract.
According to a statement issued on July 2 2012 both councils have told Enterprise that they expect the service “to improve immediately”.
Enterprise took over the contract on June 6 2011 after the councils joined forces. Under the contract it is responsible for a number of environmental services including household waste and recycling collections, graffiti and fly-tipping removal, street cleaning and grounds maintenance.
A year later the councils said they are receiving continuing complaints from residents about its services, and as a result they are set impose payment penalties on the firm for the months of April and May 2012. The penalties will take the form of financial deductions from the contractual payments made to Enterprise by the councils.
Problems
Commenting on the service, Councillor David Mackintosh, leader of Northampton borough council, said this week”: When the contract began last year it marked a major change. We expected teething problems and were prepared to be tolerant. We believe that the contract represents good value for money when it is performing well.
But one year on, we are still hearing far too many complaints from local people and we have made it clear that we cannot put up with this poor performance. The priority is that current problems are dealt with but we want to review the way the contract is operating and ensure that we see the long-term improvements that people have a right to expect.
A spokesman for Northampton borough council told letsrecycle.com that the penalties could run to 250,000.
When contacted by letsrecycle.com a spokeswoman for Enterprise said: “We have no further comments to make or updates to give on this matter.”
Falling short
Cllr Chris Millar, Leader of Daventry district council, said: Quality of service is of great importance to us and at the 12-month stage of the contract it is clear from the feedback we continue to receive from residents that standards are falling short of the level of service we expect.
If agreed performance targets are not being met by the contractor, it is in the interests of our residents that we seek to redress this using the methods available to us within the contract. Any financial deductions made as part of this contract will be used by the council to assist with the future provision of services whilst maintaining our low level of council tax.”
Review
As part of the contract Northampton borough council agreed to undertake a review after 12 months, which is set to begin shortly. The review will be carried out by independent experts and will look at how Enterprise has been operating in the borough and the quality of service that has been provided.
The council said any issues and opportunities for improvement will be identified by the review and implemented.
Enterprise came under the spotlight earlier this year after it apologised to residents in the London borough of Ealing following teething problems which meant that bins went uncollected (see letsrecycle.com story).
Subscribe for free