The best value inspection team said that the council provided a “good” service and gave it two stars because residents are pleased with quality of service they receive. Inspection reports judge how well a community is being served by the council, based on a star rating from 0-3 where 0 is poor and 3 excellent.
Wirral has a population of 328,000 and the waste services’ budget is 12.9 million, which includes 6.3 million paid to the Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority as a levy for the disposal of waste.
Onyx has a seven-year contract, which was awarded in August 1999, to carry out the domestic refuse collection and street cleansing for the council. But the company does not carry out any recycling services for the council.
The commission praised the council for the high standard of its overall waste management service and said its recycling sites were “well publicised, well-maintained and accessible”. The commission also highlighted the well publicised weekly household newspaper collection which is carried out by Cheshire Recycling as being a key feature of the service.
The inspectors said that the waste management service will “probably improve” because the council has implemented plans to improve the range and accessibility of recycling facilities in the borough, based on meetings with residents and businesses.
Worry
But the inspectors were worried that an industrial relations dispute threatened the future of the service. Although now resolved, the inspectors recommended that the council develop an approach with Onyx “that would reduce the risk of conflict arising from the existing contractual arrangement”.
The report also said that campaigns to raise awareness about waste were “uncoordinated” and were not as effective as they could be. Inspectors said that the council needs to develop a co-ordinated approach to education and waste awareness which is based more closely on the waste strategy. And the commission added that the council needs to clarify future waste policy and set up targets for minimising waste.
Brian Stevenson, lead inspector, Northern Region Best Value Inspection Service, said: “Wirral council currently provides a good waste services, with which local people are generally very satisfied. The majority of the streets and highways are clean, rubbish collection rates are good and recycling sites are well publicised, well-maintained and accessible. However there were a number of unresolved issues at the time of the inspection that may impact on the quality and effectiveness of services in the near future.”
He added: “There is clear evidence, however, of authority-wide commitment to continuous improvement of waste services and for the necessary changes in the key areas identified by the review to be made. Wirral carried out a comprehensive review of the districts’ waste services involving local people, partner agencies and businesses and we therefore believe the service will probably improve.”
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