Resident Questions for Housing Area Panel

Department				Environment
Date question raised				28/06/2022
Date of Area Panel				17/08/2022
Area in city				North
Star rating applied by residents				3 star – city wide issue
Deadline for officer response				25/07/2022
Name of officer responding				Melissa Francis
Officer job title				Head of Operations - Cityclean • City Environment (Cityclean & Cityparks)
Title of Question:		Refuse and Recycling
Issue: Residents are still dissatisfied with the poor refuse and recycling service provided by CityClean.
Background: · Collections of refuse and recycling are not happening when they should. · Residents do not know when their refuse and recycling will be collected. · CityClean is a service paid for by local residents, but the service is not being delivered to satisfactory standards. While the collection of refuse and recycling has improved, it is still haphazard and not happening on the days stated by the Council. At Southmont and Dunster Close, refuse and recycling has been happening on different days to those stated on the Council’s website. At Old Boat Corner, residents have now been waiting for 4 weeks to have their refuse collected. They have asked for larger bins and contacted local councillors and Rachel Chasseaud to resolve the problem, but have been told they cannot have larger bins, and their refuse still has not been collected.
Action requested by residents: 1) Residents would like Rachel Chasseaud to be present at the next Area Panel. 2) What steps will the Council take to ensure that refuse and recycling collections consistently happen on the days published on the Council website? 3) Why is the refuse and recycling service still not running according to schedule? 4) When will a full refuse and recycling service resume? 5) Why are residents being required to pay increasing rates of Council Tax for a sub-standard service?
Officer Response: Melissa Francis
Officer contact details:			melissa.francis@brighton-hove.gov.uk
Response: Over the last few weeks, we have had staff shortages due to the spike in covid combined with annual leave and other sickness.  This has affected collections from Southmont and Dunster Close.  We always aim to collect on the correct day however, when we have staff shortages or vehicle breakdowns, we use spare crews or overtime crews to ensure a collection takes place.  This may mean that the refuse and recycling is collected later in the week.  We do try and avoid this where possible but try to ensure that refuse and recycling is collected albeit on a different day. Melissa Francis, Head of Operations will investigate the issues relating to Old Boat Corner including containment.
Specific Action:
Action:  Melissa Francis, Head of Operations will investigate the issues relating to Old Boat Corner including containment.
Timeline:
Start date:	Ongoing (query relating to Southmont and Dunster Close) 22.08.22 (query relating to Old Boat Corner – this is a future date due to annual leave)
End date:	05.09.22