Agenda item

To receive an update on the transitional progress of the Waste Street Scene and Grounds Maintenance Services contract.

37.1    The Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Environment introduced the presentation and explained that mobilisation efforts were underway for Ubico to commence service delivery for Gloucester City Council from April 2022. He referred to the management structure and noted that beneath the programme board, there were project working groups in place for focused workstreams. He noted that one of these working groups had been set up to deliver a digital system which would allow automated workflows and processes to be used across the service, which was a countywide first/project.

37.2    The Leader of the Council explained that efforts to secure the fleet were underway and that a communications plan had been established, with the next newsletter due in the Winter. The Leader of the Council highlighted that a progress table was attached at Appendix A.

37.3    Councillor Wilson expressed the view that the most significant challenge for the service delivery was delivery of the appropriate fleet service vehicles, due to the UK-wide supply chain issues. He raised concerns that there was a possibility of the vehicles not arriving in time for the start of the new service contract in April 2022 and asked whether Ubico had any contingency plans in place to mitigate the risk.

37.4    The Managing Director of Ubico confirmed that all large waste collection vehicles had been ordered and that delivery slots for these vehicles had been secured. She noted that most of the smaller specialist vehicles had been ordered but acknowledged that there were problems with the supply chain market. The Managing Director of Ubico confirmed that where problems were known, steps would be taken to mitigate the issues and consideration was being given to alternative options such as hiring vehicles. She emphasised that the situation was being well monitored and was a key priority for Ubico.

37.5    Councillor Dee asked whether hiring or leasing waste collection vehicles was usual practice. The Head of Operations for Ubico advised that it depended on the circumstances. By way of example, he noted that Ubico were currently pricing up work for Gloucester City Homes and if prudent, Ubico would hire vehicles at first instance.

37.6    In response to a question from Councillor Lewis regarding the timeframes for hiring fleet vehicles, the Managing Director of Ubico confirmed that colleagues at Ubico were analysing options in relation to the benefits of both owned and leased waste collection vehicles. She confirmed that Ubico were considering options such as short-term spot hire and noted that in her view, vehicles would likely be hired on a 6 to 12-month basis.

37.7    Councillor Durdey commented that a further key risk area was staffing and invited comments from Ubico as to how the organisation was dealing with the staff transfer and training. The Managing Director of Ubico confirmed that Urbaser had been helpful and cooperative in allowing Ubico to meet with staff ahead of the TUPE transfer process.  She explained that the waste collection workforce is usually a large and steady one and noted that the organisation had not suffered problems with recruitment historically.

37.8    The Head of Operations for Ubico noted that a Q&A session would take place with staff in due course and that Ubico were aware of the benefits of communicating with staff. He confirmed that he was aware of driver vacancies and vacancies on fleet maintenance, and noted that Urbaser had raised its driver rates to match Ubico and so far had had a reasonably good update on new applications. The Head of Operations confirmed that he was confident that the vast majority of staff would transfer over.

36.9    In response to a question from Councillor Hilton regarding potential staffing pressures caused by vacancies across other districts, the Managing Director of Ubico confirmed that Ubico had a driver shortage strategy and a medium-term plan to mitigate risks as they arose. She confirmed that Ubico would continue to monitor the situation and could tailor forces to meet demand. She also noted that Ubico had a policy to employ additional pool staff to cover holiday and sick leave which had been helpful so far, but acknowledged that there were challenges with pool staff vacancies as many pool staff were covering driver roles. The Managing Director advised that work was being undertaken on Ubico’s advertising and marketing strategy, but the assumption was that there would be an ongoing difficult situation. The Managing Director of Ubico confirmed that the organisation had recently inducted five new starters and had met a further six candidates that week.

37.10  Councillor Hilton referred to previous issues with garden waste collection and noted that there were areas of the city which were difficult to navigate with large refuse vehicles. He asked for an update on the progress of trialing the new narrow waste collection vehicles. The Head of Operations for Ubico confirmed that a new refuse vehicle had been ordered which had a narrow track rear steer. He advised that the narrow waste collection vehicle would hold half a ton less than the regular fleet, but the benefits pf navigating hard to reach areas far outweighed this. He noted that Urbaser had provided information to Ubico regarding the areas of the city they were struggling with, such as areas of Barton and Tredworth. He confirmed that the new vehicle had been trialed over the weekend and had reached these areas and that Ubico were therefore in the process of ordering one, however it would not be ready for by April 2022 as it had to be redesigned after discussions with the manufacturer.

37.11  In response to an additional question from Councillor Hilton regarding the electric vehicle mileage, the Head of Operations confirmed that the electric vehicles would be the smaller fleet and that the mileage was around 10 miles and back a day.

37.12  Councillor Dee noted that waste collection issues were a significant casework problem and asked whether residents could expect to receive newsletters regarding the service change. The Managing Director confirmed that the newsletter referred to in the briefing was an internal communication between Ubico and the City Council. She confirmed that external communications to residents was a matter for the Council, however she believed that the new digital system enabling automated workflows would open a good line of communication between Ubico and the City Council as the digital system would update customer services on driver information.

37.13  In response to a further question from Councillor Dee regarding the transfer of services, the Leader of the Council confirmed that his expectation was of a seamless transfer similar to that of the previous transfer between Amey and Urbaser.

37.14  Councillor Organ welcomed the positive news regarding staffing and asked whether Ubico offered apprenticeship or training schemes. The Managing Director confirmed that Ubico offered apprenticeships in various areas, including fleet maintenance. She noted that the driver training scheme had recently been adjusted, however there was a challenge with accessing testing slots due to the HGV driving test backlog. She confirmed that Ubico were carefully monitoring the situation for free slots and she hoped that the situation would settle down by April 2022.

37.15  Councillor Durdey asked whether Ubico were using UK manufacturers for their new waste collection vehicles. The Head of Operations for Ubico confirmed that the large vehicles were being built by Dennis Eagle who were based in Warrick, and that some smaller vehicles were being manufactured abroad.

37.16  In response to a question from Councillor Wilson regarding the transition of IT systems, the Head of Operations for Ubico confirmed that the transition was on track and that they were currently waiting on a visit from BT Openreach to look at installing a Gloucester data line. The Managing Director of Ubico further noted her expectation that the handing of data would be seamless and that the digital transformation would also assist with fast and efficient IT and data transfer.

37.17 In response to a question from Councillor Lewis about whether Ubico felt the depot was fit for purpose, the Head of Operations confirmed that it was fit for purpose however Ubico were looking at areas to improve, such as the vehicle workshop where there were issues with condensation which the property team were investigating.

37.18  Councillor Hilton noted that the decision to transfer the Waste Street Scene and Grounds Maintenance services to Ubico received cross-part support and asked whether the Leader of the Council foresaw any challenges.

37.19  The Leader of the Council referred to the well-documented difficulties with the previous contractor, Amey. He noted that Urbaser remained a good contractor and confirmed that he was confident with how the transfer of services was progressing. Councillor Hilton thanked the Ubico representatives for the update on progress so far.

            RESOLVED – That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee NOTE the update.