The motion was moved by Councillor Daniel Holden and seconded by Councillor Suzanne Grocott.

The Labour amendment as set out in agenda item 13 was moved by Councillor Ross Garrod and seconded by Councillor Joan Henry.

The Labour amendment was put to a vote and was carried – votes in favour: 36, votes against: 22, abstentions: 1.

The substantive motion (as amended) was then put to a vote and was carried – votes in favour: 36, votes against: 23, abstentions: 0.

RESOLVED:  This Council recognises that street cleanliness and reliable weekly bin collections are important universal services greatly valued by residents. Indeed residents frequently tell their local councillors that they expect high standards for our street scene here in Merton and that, as a council, we should aim to make our borough a clean and tidy place to live. Keep Britain Tidy found that 50% of street litter in Merton is due to the current black sack and open box collection system and this is why Merton is replacing the current messy black sack collection with a wheeled bin solution that will reduce litter on our streets.

This Council understands that Merton’s residents expect streets to be swept regularly; food waste and recycling bins to be reliably emptied on a weekly basis; fly-tipping cleared promptly and the perpetrators fined or prosecuted; seasonal leaf-fall cleared; weeds removed; and drains to be cleared pro-actively in order to reduce surface flooding. Council regrets that these expectations have sometimes not been met, such as when Merton was judged the dirtiest borough in London in 2009.

Since Veolia took over delivery of these services across south west London at a much lower cost than the council could offer on 1st April 2017, a business-like decision which was taken to protect services at risk from significant government cuts, this Council notes that some Councillors have seen an increased volume of complaints.   To some extent this would be expected in any transfer of a contract of this size ad the level of disruption to the service has been far lower than experienced by other authorities entering into new street cleaning and waste contracts.  Nonetheless council is disappointed that some elements of the service have are not yet being delivered to the standard agreed.  In order to hold the contractor to account we have created a new Neighbourhood Client Team who undertake site inspections and work closely with the contractor’s Area Managers to ensure that service standards are maintained. Senior officers also hold regular contract meetings, together with the South London Waste Partnership, with senior managers from Veolia to address any underperformance on the contract.  Where permitted within the framework of the contract, the council applies financial penalties where performance has been below the required standard.

Furthermore, figures from the last Council meeting indicate that, owing to the complex nature of enforcing against fly-tipping where, in the absence of a witness, Enforcement Officers have to find evidence which is admissible in court, payment has so far been received on 43% of the 28 Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) issued in Merton since the Government introduced new powers in May 2016 enabling councils to issue on the spot fines of up to £400 for fly tipping. This figure is expected to increase once these unpaid FPNs have been taken through the court system which is now in process.  In addition, since April 2016 7.886 FPNs have been issued for littering with a high payment rate of 74%, which has been achieved because the evidential requirements are not as difficult to achieve.

To address the situation and meet residents’ expectations for these important services, this Council demands that Cabinet continue to:

• Plan for the roll-out of a new wheeled bin service from October 2018 which will reduce street litter from split black sacks;
• Use our new Neighbourhood Client Team to proactively ensure Veolia do not miss bin collections, particularly where residents have notified them of a long running problem, and that they maintain the weekly collection schedule to which they are currently contractually committed;
• Emphasise to Veolia the need to clean residential roads further away from town centres, noting that the contractual standards for street cleaning reflect best practice from Defra’s Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse and that the contract is based on an output specification requiring the contractor to maintain consistent standards across the entire borough. This is a move away from a frequency based approach where standards can fall between sweeps without any obligation on the contractor to resolve the issue;
• Improve the usability and ease of reporting street scene matters on the Council’s website, including investigating the possibility of introducing a map feature where this is viable and can interface with Veolia’s systems;
• Seek recovery of fines resulting from Fixed Penalty Notices issued for flytipping through the courts;
• Ensure that Veolia clears the weeds on the roads and pavements in a timely fashion and that the public litter bins are emptied regularly, especially in areas of high-footfall;
• Roll out further communications material to remind those that fly-tip in Merton that it is not acceptable and will attract £400 fines, which will be pursued through the courts; and
• Emphasise to the small minority who drop litter on our streets that this behaviour is not acceptable and they will be fined if caught.

In line with the forward plan for the Sustainable Communities Scrutiny panel, his Council also supports the publication in November of a comprehensive 6 month review of Veolia’s performance over the first half year of the new contract, including any penalties that can legally be applied by Merton, for consideration in public by Scrutiny.