Joint Waste Solutions (JWS) – a partnership between four councils which manages waste services in Elmbridge, Mole Valley, Surrey Heath and Woking – is considering taking formal action against Amey, which holds the contract for waste and recycling services across the region.
JWS has already served “default penalties” on Amey, but Councillor Claire Malcomson, cabinet member for environment at Mole Valley district council, told a council meeting on July 9 that if an agreement between Amey and JWS cannot be reached the local authorities will consider opening a formal dispute process.
The clash centres on data which informs Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in the waste contract which measure Amey’s performance.
Cllr Malcomson said: “Since the contract was first mobilised in 2017 there have been times when Amey has not met the contract’s specifications. Consequently, default penalties are being served on the contractor.
“They are however being disputed and negotiations with Amey are ongoing to find a resolution.”
“The partner councils are not satisfied that the contractor’s data used to inform the KPIs is robust and accurate, a view that has been endorsed by independent auditors,” she added.
Amey acknowledged that there had been difficulties during May and June, but said: “We do not recognise some of the recent claims made about levels of missed collections. They are not correct”.
The contractor also claimed significant improvements have been made since then.
A spokesperson for Amey said: “Our records show we have a first time collection rate of over 99% for April, May and June (and now continuing into July).
“In the past three months, we have received 1787 justified missed collections: 305 in April, 1059 in May and 423 in June.”
Amey claims that it undertakes an average of 526,000 collections per month in Mole Valley and provides an average first time collection rate of 99.92%
Cllr Malcomson gave her response after being asked two questions by Cllr Tracey Keeley. Cllr Keeley asked how Mole Valley would ensure Amey met the agreed service level agreement and KPIs, as well as being made to pay its penalties for non-compliance.
Cllr Keeley also asked the cabinet to publish the KPI data gathered since August 2018. However, Ms Malcomson stated that it would not be prudent to do this until it could be established whether the data underpinning the KPIs is accurate and an agreement on this had been reached with Amey.
If this agreement cannot be found “consideration will be given to pursuing the matter through a formal dispute process,” said Cllr Malcomson.
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