Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Cllr David Jefferys.

Apologies were also received from Cllr Kira Gabbert as Portfolio Executive Assistant.

There were no declarations.

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, questions to this Committee must be received in writing four working days before the date of the meeting. Therefore please ensure that questions are received by the Democratic Services Team by 5pm on Wednesday 3rd April 2019.

Notice of one question to the Chairman had been received. Details of the question and the Chairman’s reply is at Appendix A.

The minutes were agreed.

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, questions to the Portfolio Holder must be received in writing four working days before the date of the meeting. Therefore please ensure that questions are received by the Democratic Services Team by 5pm on Wednesday 3^rd April 2019.

A number of questions were received. Details of the questions and replies are at Appendix B.

A Performance Monitoring overview of the Portfolio is provided to each meeting of the Committee.

Members received the latest performance monitoring overview including performance indicators, targets, and a performance RAG status against each indicator. Where appropriate, quarterly performance data was also provided along with a year-end projection and a high/low assessment of good performance. Commentary against indicators provided further information as did previous performance against indicator targets.

On improving the street scene, attention was drawn to Indicators ES12 (streets meeting acceptable cleanliness) and ES13 (defect correction notices issued to the contractor). Noting actual 2017/18 performance for ES12 at 99%, and actual 2017/18 performance for ES13 at 2.35%, a Member compared this to a lower projected 2018/19 performance for ES12 at 94.73% and the issue of fewer defect correct notices to the contractor. The Member sought to understand why fewer defect notices should be issued against a lower projected cleanliness performance. 

In response, the Assistant Director of Environment indicated that the 2018/19 fall in performance is insufficient to reflect a C grade of cleanliness but is not good enough for a B grade. The Council’s own cleanliness standards are being reviewed (with the new contract) and neighbourhood officers are now more stringent in applying those standards. Rather than solely use national Code of Practice grades of cleanliness, L B Bromley will have its own standards – the national guidelines informing those standards. Standards have risen and training will be given to operatives, providing confidence that when a grading is made, it will be stringent. For the new contract from 1^st April, the Member explained that defects no longer apply and he suggested the revised L B Bromley standards should not fall below a B grade.

Concerning Indicator ES31 (Pay and Display machine maintenance – percentage of machine non-operational time during full period), an amber RAG performance status was showing with APCOA not projected to meet its target on pay and display machine non-operational time. An understanding was sought on the responsibility for a machine when it becomes too old and why APCOA continues to repair machines regularly falling into disrepair. Reference was also made to a study commissioned on the state of machines and feedback was requested on the outcomes. A KPI requiring a non-working machine to be repaired within a specific time frame can inadvertently cause problems and a contract change control notice might be needed to change the KPI. More reliable machines are needed across the borough. Non-working machines also incur additional costs against the parking budget e.g. non-receipt of income and officer time costs to look at the issues. APCOA performance last year needed improvement and although the contractor had recruited a new manager to help resolve issues, it was felt that charges should be escalated against the company for their performance on non-operational machines. ACPOA have responsibility for continued machine operation and the Council could not be open to continuing such service for the duration of the contract. The Chairman felt the Committee needed to review APCOA’s performance within the next year.

In response,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 66.

Portfolio Holder decisions for pre-decision scrutiny.

Report FSD19037

Based on expenditure and activity levels to 31 December 2018, the latest 2018/19 budget monitoring position for the portfolio shows an under-spend of £675k with the controllable budget projected to underspend by £689k at year-end.

Details were provided of the projected outturn with a forecast of spend against

each relevant service area compared to the latest approved budget. Background to variations was also outlined. 

Concerning the Parking Service, a net deficit of £174k is projected for on and off street parking income due to continued reduced parking use. A potential £415k income shortfall in parking enforcement is also due to a reduced level of parking contraventions - an outcome of reduced visitor numbers to town centres. Officers are looking to establish whether the Parking Services contract is performing as well as possible. 

The contract has scope to increase the level of Civil Enforcement Officers (CEOs) and a Member felt this acceptable provided PCN income funds the increase; should it be necessary to pay for an increase (outside of PCN income), increased use of cars and motorcycles by CEOs might be more appropriate.

March 2019 was APCOA’s best month for issuing PCN’s since contract start and APCOA’s new contract manager looked to be performing well. Officers intend to report progress at the June Committee meeting and APCOA will attend the Committee’s meeting on 5^th September 2019. By the June meeting, it is also hoped that measures on CEO staff retention will have had an impact. Part-year vacancies in the client team continued as the new contract settles down and fewer issues arise; the vacancies were retained should action be necessary on minimal performance progress by APCOA. However, within the next month, the shared parking team will be re-structured (given APCOA’s improved performance).

It was confirmed that APCOA’s performance for L B Bexley can be compared to their performance for L B Bromley. Performance for L B Bromley often mirrors performance for L B Bexley but there are differences in how the service is run in each borough; both boroughs were issuing defaults to APCOA.

Concerning over-running street works, these are closely monitored and fixed penalty notices and fines can be issued against utilities taking excessive time to complete works. The type of repair by utility companies to rectify a problem is often determined according to a points system. As such, it might be more cost effective for a utility company to continue carrying out repairs rather than invest in new pipework. On concerns from Cllr Stevens (Biggin Hill) about the condition of infrastructure at Biggin Hill, officers can challenge utility companies about making continual repairs rather than invest in replacing assets. 

An under-spend of £120k will be carried forward for work on a direct debit payment service for users of the green garden waste scheme. Work will not start until April 2019 and had been delayed due to mobilisation of the environmental contracts. The Assistant Director of Environment provided general background on what is involved to enable  ...  view the full minutes text for item 67a

Report FSD19043

Following Executive agreement on 13^th February 2019 to a revised capital programme from 2018/19 to 2022/23, changes were outlined for the Environment and Community Portfolio and a revised programme for the Portfolio presented.

The third quarter monitoring position included actual spend to 11^th March 2019 and a revised estimate for projects as at February 2019. Comments on progress for a number of individual schemes/projects were also provided.

Primarily due to schemes being designed and developed before delivery in 2019/20, £3,125k is also re-phased between 2018/19 and 2019/20, reflecting revised estimates of when expenditure is likely to be incurred. Report FSD19043 provided details of the re-phased schemes.

RESOLVED that the Portfolio Holder be recommended to note and confirm the changes agreed by the Executive on 13^th February 2019.

Report ES19031

In co-operation with L B Bromley, Lime Technology Limited looked to initiate a trial in the borough of their hire scheme for dockless electrically assisted bicycles. Authority was also sought for a Memorandum of Understanding to be signed for the trial.

A similar scheme is operated by Lime Technology in a number of towns and cities worldwide including Milton Keynes, L B Brent, and L B Ealing in the UK. An initial trial scheme would run independently of the Council and require no capital or ongoing financial assistance from L B Bromley.

A Lime smartphone app is used to unlock a bike and lock the bike at the end of a journey. Users are charged through GPS tracking on each bike and the app locates the nearest available bike to use (if one is not immediately available). Bikes can be used and left beyond the borough boundary.

Between 200 and 500 bikes are proposed for the trial (the exact number set according to demand), initially distributed to key hub locations agreed with the Council e.g. railway stations and town centres. The bikes can be parked at a user’s discretion at the end of a journey but sensitive areas, where the Council does not wish bikes to be parked, can be excluded via geo-fencing.

As bike batteries typically need swapping every few days, regular monitoring, collection and redistribution of bikes to hub sites (by Lime operatives) is expected. Each bike has a 24 hour telephone helpline number and email address to immediately report issues. Through instructions on each bike and when using the app, Lime encourages users to park bikes responsibly and to use bike parking facilities where available. Bikes causing an obstruction will be removed within two hours of reporting (between 0700 and 2100 hours). 

The initial trial period will comprise 12 months with a 30-day cancellation notice for both parties. Town Centre BIDS favour the proposal and will provide a liaison with businesses that might be affected. A Memorandum of Understanding with Lime, encompassing day to day operations and expectations, will also need to be signed, a current draft being appended to Report ES19031. Should the service be successful and recommended for a further period of time, a gateway report would outline a recommended procurement route.

Lime has the same pricing structure in Brent and Ealing as proposed for L B Bromley. Lime is also looking to introduce a loyalty scheme. Both Brent and Ealing are happy with the extent of usage in their boroughs which tends (on average) to be between six and ten minutes per ride. Following approval of the trial, opportunity would be provided for consultation; comment could, for example, be provided on where provision of bikes might be of particular interest in a ward. Consultation would also include Bromley Cyclists. 

The Chairman understood that officers would be able to log into the Lime website and extract relevant data e.g. around usage of the bikes. Information could then be presented via heat maps on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 67c

Report ES19026

Members considered the performance of JB Riney from the start of their Highway Maintenance contracts with the Council on 1^st July 2018. Highway Engineering Consultancy Services were included in the contract from November 2018. The Contract includes a Performance Management Framework (PMF) with related Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and associated Low Service Damages (LSD). The Contract allowed for a three month mobilisation period where LSDs would not be chargeable. 

With approval in December 2016 of £11.8m capital funding for investment in planned highway maintenance, five phases of projects were approved with  many completed by the previous contractor, FM Conway; however, as the new contract includes an improved five year warranty for all carriageway resurfacing schemes, a number were delayed for the new contract. 

The Council also received a £1.117m Department for Transport grant in October 2018 for highway resurfacing works. As the grant needed to be spent by 31^st March 2019, this budget funded previously approved carriageway schemes with remaining capital funding rolled forward to 2019/20. 

JB Riney has continued to make good progress on these improvement projects. Although carriageway works were suspended for two months by poor winter weather, remaining projects from phase five of the programme are due to be completed this summer. Footway schemes have also progressed, with a mixture of major and minor planned works.

On completion of the five phases, agreement will be sought for any additional schemes that can be funded from the remaining capital budget. JB Riney has also completed a number of traffic schemes as part of the annual LIP programme.

On highway reactive maintenance tasks and emergency highway repairs, JB Riney is required to complete 90% of all jobs within specified timescales. Performance against required job durations was reported as:

As the required KPI’s had not been achieved, LSDs of £4,800 would be chargeable. 

For Street Lighting Maintenance, KPIs require 95% of tasks to be completed within 4 working days and 100% within 8 working days. Performance against required job durations was reported as:

As the required KPI’s had not been achieved in this area, LSDs of £30,150 would be chargeable. 

For Winter Service, all precautionary gritting is required to be completed with 2.5 hours, which had been achieved in all cases. For Highway Engineering Consultancy Services, the arrangement is working well from early indications, with a number of traffic schemes being commissioned on a ‘design and build’ basis. Highway Drainage Cleaning isalso included in the contract from 1^st April 2019 and performance would be reported to a future meeting.

JB Riney representatives attended for the item. Concerning arisings from JB Riney’s highway maintenance in the borough, almost 100% of waste is recycled.

Dangerous pot holes are identified through highway safety inspections and jobs can also be raised from Fix My Street (FMS) enquiries and other reports from Councillors or Members of the Public. Jobs have to be completed based on the defect and risk of causing an accident, usually 2 hours for an emergency,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 68.

Oral report

Concerning the street lighting invest to save initiative (started in 2013), Members were advised that software for the lighting Central Management System (CMS) was provided by an engineering company that has since entered liquidation. Although the Council was reluctant to pay administrators for the licence to use the software, an arrangement was made and street lights continued to operate until a point when the system software was switched off affecting energy efficient lights (about half the borough’s street lights). As a result, affected light columns remained switched on during the day. The former engineering company was taken over by a new company but there is no recourse to the former company. Nevertheless, an agreement was made with the administrator and the energy efficient lights again operated as normal in the hours of darkness.

However, there continue to be isolated problems with individual street lamps and it was reported that the units of about 60 lamp columns in the borough are affected (at a rate of about one unit per day) and these units and therefore the lamp columns will remain non-operational until a new part can be supplied and fitted to each affected unit.  

Unfortunately, the new company will not start to re-manufacture relevant parts for the units until June 2019. As such, the spare parts are currently awaited. In the meantime, the faulty units will remain switched-off until the new part can be supplied and fitted to each affected unit. Officers are currently liaising with Ward Councillors. The CMS system will be maintained for the moment.

An enquiry was made on what action officers took on discovering the problem to publicise the matter and convey a message to the borough; also, whether it might be possible to hasten the process for any subsequent problem. Members were advised that as soon as officers became aware of the issue a public notice was provided along with the publication of a notice on Fix My Street on the Council’s website.

Members received an updated Fly-Tipping Action Plan. The Plan highlights specific actions to reduce fly-tipping incidents in the borough, including details of the actions, a RAG status for the actions, and, where possible, an estimated cost of each action. The Plan also includes key legislation related to  specific actions.   

In presenting the item, the Enforcement Manager highlighted a number of the actions listed, providing brief commentary on them. He also referred to a High Court ban on travellers intruding on to L B Bromley land and Council owned car parks; an extension of the High Court injunction was expected on 15^th May 2019.  

Noting that legislation now provided for Local Authorities to serve a new Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) with fines of between £150 and £400 for fly-tipping offences committed under Section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (allowing local authorities to deal with small-scale fly-tipping quickly and efficiently without the need to take offenders to court), a Member was surprised the legislation did not enable higher fine levels to be imposed. However, it was explained that for cases of extensive fly-tipping, an offender can be taken to court and a higher penalty obtained.

Report CSD19040

At its meeting on 7^th February 2019, the Executive, Resources and Contracts PDS Committee referred a report on expenditure for consultants across Council departments (covering revenue and capital budgets) to PDS Committees for further consideration.

The report and its appendices was appended to Report CSD19040 including details for the Environment and Community Services Portfolio.

Revenue expenditure on consultants for the portfolio focussed on (i) one-off specialist advice, no-one with specialist skills and (ii) insufficient in-house skills/resources. Expenditure amounted to £305,568 in 2017/18 and £86,857 in 2018/19 to date. 

Capital expenditure on consultants for the portfolio 2017/18 amounted to £150,697 and for 2018/19 expenditure amounted to £62,928 in the period to October 2018.

RESOLVED that the information on expenditure for consultants related to the Environment and Community Services Portfolio be noted.

Report ES19005

Members received a portfolio extract from the March 2019 Contracts Register (£50k plus) based on data at 20^th March 2019 and presented to the Contracts Sub-Committee for their meeting on 2^nd April 2019. A further copy provided under Part 2 proceedings included commentary on each contract.

The following contracts had been flagged for attention due to tight tender timescales (rather than any performance issues delivering the contract):

RESOLVED that the Contracts Register for the Portfolio, as at 20^th March 2019, be noted.

Report ES19029

Members considered the Committee’s future work programme and progress on previous Member requests.

For the Committee’s meeting on 18^th June 2019 it is intended to bring a report on replacing the Parking Management System for the Civic Centre Car Park. The report will not include proposals for the Hill Car Park as there are currently structural issues and negotiations concerning related development. Officers are not yet able to recommend a suitable replacement Management System for the Civic Centre Car Park but are looking to identify a good quality system e.g. an Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system.

A report was suggested on the Council’s Transformation Programme and its impact for the Portfolio. Initial proposals from the Programme would be considered in the summer and the Committee’s 5^th September meeting would probably be a suitable date for a report. As it would cover all work of the Environment and Community Services Department, one report would be provided to all three PDS Committees supported by the Department. 

The highways maintenance performance of JB Riney would also be considered in a further six months along with APCOA’s parking services performance at an earlier meeting. Additionally, the Chairman suggested a written update to Committee Members on outcomes from the trial of dockless e-bikes in the borough (including numbers using the bikes).

On previous Member requests, Parking Services were awaiting full data from thetrial use of a vehicle with ANPR camera technology in permit zones (the technology facilitating detection of a vehicle without a valid permit). However, data so far shows that desired benefits are not being provided from the technology; unless more productive data is received, officers would not advise investment in the technology.

Concerning a Member visit to a progressive waste and recycling facility, Surrey County Council’s Earlswood Depot had been identified as a good option. The depot has seen improvements to enhance its functionality and operates as a Waste Transfer Station and Household Waste and Recycling Centre. Its size is similar to L B Bromley’s Central Depot and Surrey County Council is open to Members visiting the site. The Chairman encouraged all Members of the Committee to attend a visit to the Earlswood Depot. 

Following the Committee’s previous meeting, Members agreed to trial a paperless approach for the current meeting. As such, no printed agenda packs were provided to the Committee’s Membership (apart from A3 extracts of Parts 1 and 2 of the ECS Contract Register and the Part 2 Fly-tipping Action Plan); instead, Members relied solely on viewing material for the meeting online both in advance of the meeting and during the meeting itself. Reports and other material at the meeting were also projected to screen in the meeting room. A limited of printed agenda packs continued to be provided for Members of the Public attending the meeting.

On conclusion of the meeting, Members expressed their continued support for a “paperless” approach to future meetings of the Committee. It was agreed that future material normally provided  ...  view the full minutes text for item 73.

The Chairman to move that the Press and public be excluded during consideration of the items of business listed below as it is likely in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings that if members of the Press and public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information.

Members had no comment on a Part 2 version of the updated Fly-Tipping Action Plan provided under exempt proceedings.

Members received a Part 2 £50k+Contracts Register extract for the Environment and Community Services Portfolio.

The Part 2 extract provided additional commentary under exempt proceedings for contracts marked with a red flag i.e. Openview Security Solutions, Depots Security, and Vehicle and Plant Maintenance, Repairs and Associated Transport Services.