While the study found the council's performance on refuse collection was good, it said it was unlikely to improve. And, it has suggested that the appointment of the in-house contractor WDS has not been carried out in a rigorous manner.
The inspectors also found that while promoting recycling is a strategic aim of the council, West Dorset did not bother to review recycling as part of its street cleaning and refuse service.
No-one was available to comment at West Dorset today.
On deciding to continue a contract with the in house WDS, the inspectors say that: “There was no evidence of inviting an external challenge to this approach, either from District Audit or a specialist consultant. Best value does not require a service being put out to tender; instead a rigorous market comparison can be used by councils to decide on how competitive their current service is. It is possible that, if the Council had completed a tendering process or rigorous market
comparison, they would have found evidence to confirm their
approach to WDS. In that they have relied on the updating of the
1994 bids alone, without competition or rigorous external challenge,
we believe that they have not demonstrated best value for these
services.”
The inspectors recommend that the council urgently reviews its overall waste collection method as part of its review of recycling to seek ways to improve its recycling performance. “We observed that seven of the Council’s refuse collection vehicles are already fitted with bin lifts which mean that wheeled bins could be trialled with no additional investment in vehicles. Bin manufacturers also co-operate and subsidise trials.”
The Inspectors also slammed West Dorset's approach to their review. “We found the approach by West Dorset to the review failed to use any analysis of the ways to improve the service by constructing a
clear and well understood best value improvement plan.” They advised the authority that an improvement plan seeks to highlight gaps in service delivery needing action, such as the need to co-ordinate a council-wide approach to West Dorset's aim of “Protecting the quality of the environment”.
Although the inspectors detailed concerns over the manner in which
the amalgamations of the client side and WDS has been achieved,
they say they accept that such a merger has the capability of improving
communications, cutting costs and “providing a seamless service to
the public”. But, a stinging rebuke comes with the follow-on comment that : “However, no efficiency savings have currently been
identified as a result of the review and the council has not reviewed
its structures and costs to highlight how the amalgamation will
improve efficiency.”
The full report, as an Adobe Acrobat file, can be seen at Best Value Inspections.
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