South Lakeland disappointed by Audit Commission report

Inspectors awarded the authority, based around the Lake District town of Kendall, one star out of a possible three, despite finding that operational standards and public satisfaction were both high for refuse collection and street cleansing.

The service is relatively costly because of the difficult geography, high volume of seasonal tourism, the constraints of a national park and distances to disposal sites, the inspectors noted.

The report said: “Recycling levels are low. The public are generally dissatisfied with existing facilities, which are of variable quality.

“Kerbside recycling has been introduced in parts of the district but the volume of waste recycled has been lower than anticipated.”

Split
South Lakeland’s direct service organisation won the waste contract in a competitive tender. Inspectors said that the client/contractor split operated by the council, “increases costs, fragments service delivery, creates difficulty in managing performance and restricts effective planning”.

South Lakeland’s waste management director Mike Jones said: “We are a little bit disappointed, but it is a snapshot in time of what they saw.”
Plans to improve there service were in hand, and the commission’s ‘uncertain improvement’ rating had come about because the inspectors visited before the council finalised its budget for next year. That would allocate the money needed to improve the service, Mr Jones said.

He said recycling was difficult to organise across an authority that covers 620 square miles, most of it mountainous, with only towns, none of which has more than 25,000 residents. The district is 43 miles across and most roads are slow and cross difficult terrain.

“Logistically, collecting materials is very difficult. Although our bring sites record is good, with eight per cent recycling from those alone, it is difficult to set up any more in the national park. The national park authority objects to signs and recycling sites,” Mr Jones explained.

Tourism
Another issue is the large amount of self-catering tourism in the summer season. This tends to generate more waste than does hotels, and depends on individual decisions to recycle.

He said: “We have some problem with holiday lets and we are working very hard on it. Interestingly, there is now some pressure from holiday owners as there are environmental awards that they want to go in for. It is a matter of persuading the people who use them to keep up the recycling habits they have at home.”