Hackney council needs long term goals, says Audit Commission

In its latest inspection the Commission graded the council's waste service as “fair”, awarding it one star and describing its prospects for the future as “uncertain”.

In the report the Commission said that the council failed to meet its statutory recycling target of 10% for 2003/04 and that its lack of long term goals would not help it to improve.

It stated: “There is currently no long term view as to how the council will meet the requirements of the North London Waste Authority joint waste strategy. The developing waste and recycling strategy does not yet take into account key decisions that will need to be made as well as the associated time lines to ensure delivery of targets.”

Support costs

Hackney waste service's high staff and support costs also came in for criticism from the Commission even though it has begun to reduce costs.

A commissioner said: “The service has begun to reduce costs but it cannot demonstrate the quality of the refuse collection service currently provided is in line with its high staff costs. In addition, support costs which also contribute to high collection costs do not reflect the services actually received and have not yet been challenged.”

One of the areas which the Commission feels needs improvement is the council's communication with its residents. It claims that the residents have not yet been fully informed of what is expected of them with regards to recycling.

The report states: “The objectives and targets have only recently been published and have not yet been widely communicated to make local people aware of the level of service they can expect.”

Improvements

In response to the report a spokeswoman for Hackney council pointed out that the borough has made significant improvements since the last inspection in October 2002 which rated the service as “poor”. In particular she wished to draw attention to the council's recycling rate which is now over 10% from being one of the lowest in London.

The spokeswoman also said: “Hackney's 2004-2007 Waste and Recycling Strategy is currently being finalised and this will compliment the recently developed North London Joint Waste Strategy and it will also take into account the Audit Commission Recommendations.”