Consideration was given to the report of the
Executive Manager for Growth, which provided an update on how the
Council was performing for the period 1 October 2020 to 31 December
2020.
The
Quarter 3 2020-21 Performance Report detailed in Appendix A aimed
to provide members, businesses, and residents with an overview of
how the Council was performing against a number of key strategic
indicators in an ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The reported indicators
focussed on performance and business intelligence as compared to
the previous year to highlight how key services had performed
whilst the organisation had continued to respond to the challenges
and pressures that the pandemic had presented to both the
organisation and the district as a whole.
As
highlighted previously the report did not contain a suite of
performance indicators to the same scale and breadth as presented
to the Panel in previous years. This was because, in many cases,
the focus of many council services and their attendant resources
had shifted away from pre-March 2020 ‘business as usual
activity’, and were instead now focused on a different range
of areas directly aligned to supporting the council with its
pandemic response.
Consequently, the report sought to provide a summary of
performance in key areas which reflected the current performance of
the council, whilst the organisation remained focused on supporting
its communities, residents and local business in extra-ordinary
times. The narrative within the report provided supplementary
commentary to support the data. Several service managers were in
attendance at the meeting and would be able to assist with any
supplementary questions.
The Panel considered the report, and the
following issues were raised:
Fly-tipping:
- Members commented that it may be
useful to be provided with an update on success with enforcement in
relation to fly-tipping recently and how the issue of fly-tipping
was being dealt with County-wide.
- Members asked for clarification on
how much money has been spent on fly-tipping in the last month.
- Officers responded that for December
2019 the cost for fly-tipping was £3,000. For the same period
in December 2020, the figure was double that at £6,000.
- Officers would share with
members a breakdown of the figures for fly-tipping costs over the
last few months.
- Members raised concerns about the
collection of evidence for fly-tipping incidents and asked whether
covert cameras were being used to catch fly-tippers ‘in the
act’.
- Officers advised that the use of
covert cameras would be covered in a later item on the agenda.
Social media engagement:
- Members queried the basis of
collection for the number of social media engagements stated within
the report.
- Officers responded that the
social media engagement numbers were collected via Google Analytics
and that the basis for this information would be clarified
Void properties:
- Members noted that there had been a
dramatic fall in the re-let time for void properties and questioned
whether this was related to the Covid
pandemic?
- Officers agreed that there been a
significant variance in voids performance between the Q3
performance this year and the same period last year. The reasons for this were two-fold – 1) the
number of void properties that had presented themselves this year
was higher than in previous years – there had been an
increased level in certain property types being returned which was
related to an increased level of deceased tenants who had resided
within them; and 2) there had been an
increase in void turnaround times as a result of allowing
additional time between tradespeople undertaking the work, in order
to adhere to safe Covid working
practices. Works had also been undertaken on voids that would
normally have taken place when properties were tenanted, again to
reduce the number of tradespeople entering properties with tenants
in them. The situation was being monitored closely, and officers
were balancing a number of priorities to ensure that work was
undertaken as efficiently as possible.
Bulky Waste Collections:
- Members expressed concern about
longer waiting times for bulky waste collection but were happy that
a new system had been put in place to bring these waiting times
down.
- Officers responded that the bulky
waste collections were being increased from 2 to 3 collections a
week for hazardous waste and that this was being monitored in order
that resources could be used effectively.
- Members asked if bulky waste
collections were only being carried out from residential properties
- Officers confirmed that this was the
case.
AGREED:
That the report be noted.