Future Waste Collections and Street Cleansing Services consultation
The contract we have to pick up your waste and recycling and to clean our streets is coming to an end in Spring next year. We’ve invited companies to bid for the new contract.
We want to take this opportunity to propose some changes to the service you have received for the past few years. There are a few reasons for this:
- The government is likely to change the way it asks us to provide recycling services over the next couple of years, to align with changes to national policy resulting from the proposals of the Environment Act 2021.
- We’re working together with local people to make Brent a carbon neutral borough by 2030. We know lots of you want to do your bit to live more sustainably and through the Let’s Talk Climate conversation, you told us that we could help by making it easier for you to do the right thing and recycle – including making it easier to know what can and cannot be recycled.
- The council’s budgets have been stretched by the pandemic, rising prices, a growing population and a reduction in the funding we get from government. We need to save money and so have to think differently about how these services are delivered in the future.
The changes we think are needed will include:
- Introducing alternating weekly recycling collections for two different types of recyclable material. This means that ‘containers’ (e.g. tin cans, pots and glass) will be collected one week in your blue-topped bin, and ‘fibre’ (e.g. mixed paper, card and newspapers) will be collected the next week in new, separate reusable sacks that we’ll provide to residents.
- Introducing a new free bookable Small Items Collection Service for recycling textiles, small electrical items, batteries, coffee pods and paint.
- Deploying our street cleaning teams more intelligently, to where they are needed most, supported by rapid response teams in each Brent Connect area. This will be a move away from the current approach that focuses on teams being sent to certain streets on a schedule.
The proposed changes to recycling collections will affect all street level households – those who currently put their recycling in a blue-topped bin that is collected at the kerbside – and some communal households (flats) where there is space to provide a separate bin for fibre. All other flats and households along the North Circular Road will not be affected.
The proposed changes to street cleansing will affect everyone who lives and works in the borough.
This consultation asks for your views on the changes we are proposing. Your views will help shape the future services that you receive.
Further detail on the changes we think are needed (our ‘Preferred Service’) is provided in the document attached with this consultation.
Please click on the survey icon to share your views (note: you must be registered to complete the survey).
Have a question about the information provided, require a translation , or any assistance with sharing your views? Please contact us directly at: redefininglocalservices@brent.gov.uk
Phases
Redefining Local Services consultation
As part of this consultation, we sought the views from representative groups in Brent on the future delivery of local services. We wanted to find out if people would prefer for them to be delivered by specialist private companies, the council or a mixture of both. This programme is called Redefining Local Services (RLS).
The services that were in the scope of the consultation included:
- How your recycling and waste is collected and processed
- How our roads and pavements are maintained
- How we work to prevent anti-social behaviour and crime
- How we improve local air quality and tackle the climate emergency
- How businesses like pubs and casinos are licensed
- How Brent’s parks and trees are maintained
- How we keep our streets free of litter and illegal rubbish dumps
- How illegal parking is enforced
Our ambition is to design a model which delivers the services residents, businesses and visitors need. This means a cleaner, greener environment and more jobs for local people, as well as opportunities for local businesses. We also want to build in greater flexibility, control and innovation.
In total, 125 responses were received via the online consultation portal over the six week period.
Those who responded mostly agreed (71%) that the RLS aim and objectives aligned with their own priorities in relation to the best delivery model for local services. The majority of respondents (55%) agreed that the council’s two ‘favoured’ delivery model options (which were that the majority of services would be delivered by specialist private companies with either a low or a moderate number of roles delivered by the council) were the most suitable options.
After reviewing the feedback gathered through this consultation, it was proposed that the specialist contracts model with either low or moderate levels of insourcing would be recommended. This was approved by Cabinet in August 2021.
These options are considered to provide the best value for money as they offer the benefits of specialist contracts together with targeted insourcing where this can achieve the greatest improvement for services. The final level of insourcing will be agreed upon in the new year.