Agenda item

Barbara Cooper (Corporate Director of Growth, Environment and Transport), Stephanie Holt-Castle (Interim Director of Environment, Planning and Enforcement) and David Beaver (Head of Waste Management) were in attendance for this item.

1.    Mrs Cooper introduced the Performance Dashboard which showed progress made against targets set for Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) up to May 2019.

2.     Mr Beaver addressed the red rating for KPI HT01: Potholes repaired in 28 calendar days and said that the percentage of potholes repaired within the given timescale was behind target due to poor weather conditions and resourcing issues within the Highway Term Maintenance contract, this was primarily in relation to the preparation work required for Brexit which placed additional pressures on Amey. However, urgent faults continued to take precedence and Amey staff were deployed to carry out those works under priority measures to protect the Local Authority from insurance claims. Mr Beaver assured the Committee that resourcing issues had since been resolved and that in June 2019, 92% of potholes had been repaired within the 28-day period and that targets were on track to be achieved for July 2019.

3.    Officers responded to Members comments and questions as follows:

(a)  Mr Beaver acknowledged Members continued concerns and agreed to review the following issues outside of the meeting:

·         The waste tonnage collected by District Councils and how this impacted on waste volumes

·         The need for a revised target on the percentage of municipal waste diverted from landfill; and

·         The need for a revised target on the percentage of municipal waste converted to energy

(b)  In response to how economic uncertainty impacted on KPI WM03: Waste recycled and composted at HWRC’s, Mr Beaver said that the amber rating was primarily due to seasonality factors as green waste was not often produced in April. In terms of economic uncertainty, there had been a reduction in large consumers goods and personal finances may have been a contributing factor, however, further work needed to be done to review the reduced rate in which people used the Household Waste Recycling Centre’s.

(c)   Mrs Holt-Castle assured Members that KPI EPE14: Greenhouse Gas Emissions from KCC Estates in tonnes, was reducing each year as the Council improved its performance, however, welcomed Members the opportunity to discuss targets outside of the meeting.

(d)  Mr Beaver informed Members that Amey was under contractual obligations to carry out work that had been designated to them. Capital funding had also been allocated to the Find and Fix Programme which again, allowed KCC to designate work to groups of contractors.

(e)  Mr Beaver acknowledged Members concerns with the incident portal and said that an extensive amount of work had been carried out to improve the systems interface. With regard to the delayed response from the contact centre, Mr Beaver agreed to raise the issue with the appropriate division.

(f)    In response to Members queries regarding the percentage of young people who had used the Bus Feedback Portal to raise issues on the Kent Saver Travel Card, Mrs Cooper agreed to liaise with Mr Lightowler and respond to Members directly.

(g)  Mrs Cooper informed Members that some of the targets were contractual which restricted GET from amending the target levels.

4.    Mr Whiting applauded the performance of Kent County Council and its improved recycling rates which had been achieved through the innovative and commendable efforts of officers. Mr Whiting thanked all those involved for their continued work.

5.    RESOLVED that the report be noted.