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Ever wondered what pages 89-101 of Wirral Council's contract with Biffa for street cleansing states?

Ever wondered what pages 89-101 of Wirral Council’s contract with Biffa for street cleansing states?

Biffa Waste Service Limited January 2014 Invoice Wirral Council £1032201.28

when is the rubbish being cleaned around Storeton, Rest+ Redhill, brimstage sick of emailing #noresponse #countryside #hazzard #riderinjury

— Marie O’Connor (@vetnursemarie) October 30, 2014

As the issue of Wirral Council’s/Biffa’s response to flytipping (an issue as common to politics as leaves falling from trees at this time of year) has come up again (see above), I familiarised myself with the manual handling procedures and retrieved the Biffa contract from our archive. The whole contract is marked confidential and is currently being renegotiated with Biffa around the issue of a 7 year extension. The whole contract will be published by Wirral Council by the end of the year (as it’s a new legal requirement on them). Below is an excerpt from part of it.

This is the bits on flytipping in the “Environmental Streetscene Services Contract Waste, Recycling and Street Cleansing Services 2006-2020 (2027)”:

The Street Cleansing specifications are pages 89 to 101. Page 116 is Street Cleansing Daywork Rates (this page of the contract was deliberately erased on the copy supplied to me as part of the audit).

I have included pages 89 to 102 below. However parts of erased page 116 have been reproduced in public papers for the Birkenhead Constituency Committee meetings. I’m not entirely sure where in a ~1000 or so page contract that schedules 3A and 3B refer to, but 3A & 3B also relate to the street cleansing specification. There may be the odd typographical error as I typed this up, however there are also typographical errors as part of the contract which I have reproduced as written.

Page 89

Metropolitan Borough of Wirral
Environmental Stretscene Services Contract
Street Cleansing Specification
Part 7

7.1 Street Cleansing Specification
7.1 General Description of Services

7.1.1 The Council requires the highest possible standard of Street Cleansing throughout the Borough. The standards to be achieved by the Contractor are specified and are in line with the standard required by the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (hereafter known as The Act) and in particular the Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse (CoPLR) as it applies to the zone classifications of every Location throughout the Borough.

7.1.2 The Contractor should not rely upon any assistance being given by any other organisation to keep the Borough free of all Litter.

7.1.3 The Contractor shall provide for:

7.1.3.1 Removal of all Litter, bulky items, hazardous Waste and other specified materials from every Location specified, irrespective of size or type of material and irrespective of how the material arrived at the Location;

7.1.3.2 Clearance of leaf, blossom and fruit fall from every Location specified;

7.1.3.3 The clearance and disposal of all weeds and moss from all hard areas as requested by the Authorised Officer, shall form part of the normal Street Cleansing work.

7.1.3.4 Collection of other categories of Waste including flytipping, dead animals and other items from any Location, public spaces, highways, lay-bys, Roadside verges, watercoueses, etc. as instructed by the Authorised Officer.

7.1.3.5 Collection of Waste from other Cleansing activities as required at fairs, markets, and any other public or special events;

7.1.3.6 Clearance of sand and tidal debris;

7.1.3.7 Cleansing of rear passages and Entries;

7.1.3.8 Cleansing of car parks;

7.1.3.9 Cleansing of promenades, embankments, revetments, associated areas;

7.1.3.10 Emptying of Litter bins as specified;

7.1.3.11 Removal of graffiti and flyposters (Provisional Item);

7.1.3.12 Provision of a Rapid Response Service (Provisional Item);

7.1.3.13 Removal of abandoned shopping trolleys (Provisional Item);

7.1.3.14 Street washing in specified areas (Provisional Item);

7.1.3.15 Gritting of zone 1 town centre Locations (Provisional Item);

7.2 Hours of Operation

7.2.1 In zone 2, zone 3 and zone 4 areas normal daily Cleansing Services may take place from Monday to Sunday inclusive and should not normally commence prior to 0600 hours and not normally continue after 2000 hours in order to avoid nuisance and complaint. However, it is recognised that works outside these hours may be required to satisfy the requirements of the Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse or the requirements of certain Services. The Contractor should request written approval from the Authorised Officer prior to commencing Cleansing Services between the hours of 2000 hours and 0600 hours.

7.2.2 In zone 1 areas normal daily Cleansing Services many take place from Monday to Sunday inclusive. There are no specified core Service hours for zone 1 areas.

7.2.3 The Contractor should be aware that Mechanical Sweeping should not be undertaken in some residential areas at times that will cause reduction in amenity, statutory nuisance or complaint.

7.2.4 The Contractor must note the opening hours of the Waste disposal Sites could be a constraint on his operations and he must ascertain from the Waste Disposal Authority when the facilities are open. If the Contractor wants to operate outside these hours then he shall make arrangements with the Waste

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Environmental Stretscene Services Contract
Street Cleansing Specification
Part 7

Disposal Authority and be responsible for any additional special charges made by the Authority in complying with the Contractors’ request.

7.3 Bank and Public Holidays

7.3.1 Bank and public holidays may be treated as normal working days.

7.3.2 The Contractor shall provide the Service 364 days per year, the only exception being Christmas Day.

7.4 Area Zoning

7.4.1 The whole Borough has been zoned in accordance with the Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse and can be described as follows:

7.4.1.1 Zone 1 – Town centres, shopping centres, shopping Streets, major transport centres, central car parks and Locations adjacent to these (e.g. footways, highways, passageways, etc);

7.4.1.2 Zone 2 – High density residential area, suburban car parks and transport centres;

7.4.1.3 Zone 3 – Low density residential areas, other transport centres and areas of industrial estates;

7.4.1.4 Zone 4 – All other areas.

7.5 Cleansing Standards

7.5.1 The Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse prescribes four standards of cleanliness:

7.5.1.1 No Litter or refuse, known as grade A;

7.5.1.2 Predominantly free of Litter and refuse apart from small items, known as grade B;

7.5.1.3 Widespread distribution of Litter and refuse with minor accumulations, known as grade C;

7.5.1.4 Heavily Littered with accumulations, known as grade D.

7.5.2 Grade A shall be achieved by the Contractor after Cleansing and shall conform to the photographic standard contained within Appendix 9.9.3 and contained in the CoPLR.

7.6 Minimum Cleansing Frequencies

7.6.1 The minimum Cleansing frequencies required by the Council at each location shall be in accordance with that outlined below and the appropriate zoning allocation.

Zone	Frequency
	Manual	Mechanical
1	Daily	Weekly
2	Weekly	Fortnightly
3	Monthly	Monthly
4	Monthly	Quarterly

7.6.2 It is recognised that these frequencies may be insufficient to maintain the output standard described in the Code of Practice for Litter and Refuse (COPLR) and the Contractor will be required to assess for himself the actual frequencies he proposes to adopt for all Locations throughout the district.

7.7 Carriageway Sweeping

7.7.1 Road Channels and the adjoining carriageway on each side of the Road and car parks shall be thoroughly swept and de-Littered at the minimum frequencies stated, or as otherwise directed by the Authorised Officer in accordance with the Act.

7.7.2 No additional payment will be made for hand sweeping at the heads of cul-de-sacs, traffic islands or other areas and the Contractor shall include for this work within the tender.

7.7.3 Pedestrian refuges and similar features may require additional manual sweeping. Manual sweeping shall be done concurrently with the sweeping operation to the standards set out in the COPLR, or as

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Environmental Stretscene Services Contract
Street Cleansing Specification
Part 7

otherwise directed by the Authorised Officer. The areas shall be thoroughly Cleansed to ensure all litter, detritus and vegetation is removed and the area is left clean. No additional payment will be made for this work and the Contractor shall include for this work within the tender.

7.7.4 The minimum frequencies stated do not replace the requirement for the Contractor to achieve the standards required under the COPLR and the Contractor will be required to alter frequencies and provide additional resources to ensure these standards are met.

7.8 Footway Sweeping

7.8.1 All areas designated for footway sweeping shall be throughly swept and de-Littered at the minimum frequencies stated, or as otherwise directed by the Authorised Officer in accordance with the Act.

7.8.2 Areas around Street furniture, where it is impossible or impractical for the footway to be mechanically swept, shall be concurrently Cleansed by hand to ensure all litter, detritus and vegetation is removed and the area is left clean. No additional payment will be made for this work and the Contractor shall include for this work within the tender.

7.9 Shopping Areas and Precincts

7.9.1 The main shopping areas in the Borough are located at Birkenhead and Liscard and are listed in the Streets Data File, contained within Appendix SC2, with maps of these areas contained in Appendix 9.9.1. The areas of the covered precincts in Liscard and Birkenhead are privately owned and are Cleansed by others. All other shopping Streets are identified in the Streets Data File.

7.9.2 The Contractor is to include for the Daily Cleansing of all surface areas within and around shopping areas, frontage to frontage, incorporating all features such as furniture, shrub beds, grass areas, hard surfaces, passageways, pathways, drainage slots and channels, Service Roads, delivery bays and Walkways, etc.

7.9.3 All drainage channels and gratings, etc., shall be kept cleared of Litter, sludge and debris.

7.10 Inner Area Cleansing

7.10.1 The Inner Area of the Borough is delineated on the map contained within Appendix 9.9.4 The area comprises part or all of the districts of New Brighton, Liscard, Egremont, Seacombe and the Birkenhead areas of North End, Central, Tranmere and Rock Ferry together with part of New Ferry.

7.10.2 The Contractors attention is drawn to the problems that exist within these areas, particularly where the property is terraced with rear Entries. The Contractor must include for the thorough Cleansing of the areas in accordance with this Specification irrespective of the volume of material to be removed.

7.11 Cleansing of Entries

7.11.1 The Contractor is required to thoroughly Cleanse all Entries in the Borough, as detailed in Appendix 9.9.1, once every four Weeks, in accordance with this Specification irrespective of the volume or type of material to be removed.

7.11.2 All Cleansing operations shall be carried out at the time of visit to include the removal:

7.11.2.1 Flytipping;

7.11.2.2 Litter (including animal faeces);

7.11.2.3 Detritus;

7.11.2.4 Dead weeds;

7.11.2.5 Flyposters;

7.11.2.6 Grafitti.

7.11.2.7 Any other items.

7.11.3 Some Entries are gated. The Authorised Officer will issue gate keys to the Contractor at the commencement of the Contract. Should the Contractor lose any keys, then the Contractor shall be liable for the cost of replacement keys.

7.11.4 The Contractor shall allow for this within the tendered price, and no additional payment shall be made.

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Environmental Stretscene Services Contract
Street Cleansing Specification
Part 7

7.11.5 The Contractor shall submit a schedule for these Works to the Authorised Officer for approval prior to the commencement of the Contract. The Contractor is required to request prior written approval from the Authorised Officer before amending the agreed work schedule.

7.12 Cleansing of Estates and Low Density Residential Areas

7.12.1 A significant proportion of the residential areas of the Borough have been included within zones 3 and 4 and include most of the private and social housing estates as well as the lower density residential areas. The Contractors attention is drawn to the Litter problems on some of the estates where there are large open spaces which need to be maintained to the standards prescribed in the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

7.13 Schools

7.13.1 The Contractor is advised that, in addition to scheduled Cleansing, the Contractor is required to provide an additional Weekly Cleanse to the areas surrounding secondary schools within the Borough. These schools, along with details of the surrounding areas, are listed in Appendix SC11.

7.13.2 The Contractor shall allow for this within the tendered price, and no additional payment shall be made.

7.14 Car Parks

7.14.1 Pay and Display car parks are provided adjacent to all the main commercial areas in the Borough and are heavily used. The Contractor is required to maintain the standards of all Pay and Display car parks.

7.14.2 All other car parks, including those at Council offices, are required to be Cleansed regularly, except for those identified in clause 7.15 of this specification which form part of the summer Cleansing requirement.

7.14.3 Car parks shall be classified as the same area zone as the adjacent Road and shall be Cleansed accordingly. Locations and sizes of car parks can be found within the Streets Data File, contained within Appendix 9.9.1.

7.15 Promenades, Revetment Walls and Associated Areas

7.15.1 For the purpose of this Contract, “Promenade” shall be defined as the end lengths of Road, pavement and associated features at Seacombe Promenade, Sandon Promenade, Egremont Promenade, Magazine Promenade, Tower Promenade, Marine Promenade, Marine Promenade Car Park, Kings Parade, Coastal Drive, former Derby Pool car park and access Road, Leasowe Common Roadway from Leasowe Road to the rear of the sea wall and grass areas from front to rear of the kiosks, North Parade and Meols Parade, Hoylake Promenade from Hoylake to Meols and South Parade West Kirby including the car parks at both ends of the Marine Lake.

7.15.2 The Contractor is to include all pedestrian access to promenade areas via Roads, passages or steps and carry out Cleansing as if they were part of the promenade.

7.15.3 During the prescribed summer season (twenty-six complete Weeks commencing with the first Monday in April each year) the Contractor is required to thoroughly Cleanse the entire grassed areas of Kings Parade and Leasowe Common on daily basis to remove all Litter and dog fouling in order to maintain these locations at Grade B.

7.16 Litter Bins

7.16.1 Litter bins of the post mounted or free standing varieties are provided in large numbers throughout the Borough, as detailed in Appendix 9.9.2. The Council has a progressive policy both to replace any existing Litter bins that are damaged and also to provide additional Litter bins at any Location the Authorised Officer considers may help to reduce Litter problems.

7.16.2 The Contractor is required to empty all existing Litter bins together with any additional Litter bins installed by the Authorised Officer as frequently as necessary to prevent the escape of Waste. For the avoidance of doubt no Litter bin should be more than 3/4 full at any time and no additional payment will be made for additional Litter bins.

7.16.3 The Contractor shall also be required to empty any Litter bin, at the request of the Authorised Officer, within 2 hours of the request being made.

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Metropolitan Borough of Wirral
Environmental Stretscene Services Contract
Street Cleansing Specification
Part 7

7.16.4 At the time of emptying, the Contractor should remove any Litter within one metre of the Litter bin.

7.16.5 The Contractor is to inspect all Litter bins for damage as they are emptied and report any damaged bins to the Authorised Officer each evening by e-mail.

7.16.6 Most bins provided for use by the public have lockable inner liners and the Contractor is to ensure that these liners are replaced and locked back in after each emptying.

7.16.7 The Contractor shall be required to lock in any inner liners that are found to be not locked in, at the request of the Authorised Officer, within 24 hours of the request being made.

7.16.8 Any liners which, in the opinion of the Authorised Officer, were not locked in after emptying, and subsequently suffer loss or damage, shall be replaced by the Contractor at no cost to the Council. The Authorised Officer’s decision is final.

7.16.9 At the request of the Authorised Officer, the Contractor shall be required to wash, disinfect and clean out Litter bins in order to maintain them in a clean and sanitary condition. Payment for this work shall be made in accordance with the schedule of Daywork Rates.

7.16.10 At the request of the Authorised Officer, the Contractor shall be required to cap Litter bins in a given area when the alert status increases, so that they cannot be used for the duration of the increased alert. The Contractor shall be required to remove the caps, at the request of the Authorised Officer, when the alert status returns to normal. Payment for this work shall be in accordance with the schedule of Daywork Rates.

7.17 Drugs Related Litter

7.17.1 The Contractor shall include for the collection and removal of drugs related Litter from all Locations included in the Contract as a normal part of the Street Cleansing Service.

7.17.2 The Contractor shall be responsible for the collection and removal of drugs related Litter encountered as part of the normal Street Cleansing Service. The Contractor shall also respond as and when instructed by the Authorised Officer. The Contractor shall respond as soon as possible and, in any case, within ninety minutes of the instruction being issued during normal hours of operation.

7.17.3 The Contractor shall ensure all Employees are fully trained and carry the appropriate protective equipment to enable them to respond to such incidents.

7.17.4 All incidents of drug related Litter must be noted and reported electronically to the Council on a Weekly basis.

7.17.5 No additional payment shall be made for drugs related Litter removed as part of the normal Street Cleansing schedule or from occupied residential properties. On occasions when the Contractor responds to incidents which are not in areas scheduled to be Cleansed as part of the normal Street Cleansing Service or residential properties the Contractor shall receive additional payment based upon the Daywork rates. (Removal from residencies which are under renovation or managed by agents will be chargeable).

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Metropolitan Borough of Wirral
Environmental Stretscene Services Contract
Street Cleansing Specification
Part 7

7.18 Leaf Fall

7.18.1 Whilst most Roads in the Borough suffer an increased Street Cleansing work content during the leaf fall period the Contractors attention is drawn to the Oxton, Heswall and Caldy areas of the Borough where the problem is more prevalent than in other areas.

7.18.2 The Contractor shall include for the collection of leaf fall from all Locations included in the Contract as a normal part of the Street Cleansing Service and deploy such additional resources, such as a dedicated resource for the clearance of leaves, as are necessary to maintain the Cleansing Schedule.

7.18.3 On collection, the Contractor shall take clean leaf fall for Composting wherever possible.

7.19 Grass Cutting and Weed Control

7.19.1 Any cut grass accumulated on footpaths and Roads etc. after mowing or cutting, shall be swept up and removed by the Contractor as part of the normal programmed Cleansing activity.

7.19.2 The clearance and disposal of all unwanted vegetation from all hard areas, grass margins, obstructions, shrub beds, and other ad-hoc Locations as requested by the Authorised Officer, shall form part of the normal Street Cleansing work. Moss is defined as unwanted vegetation and shall be removed as part of the Service.

7.19.3 The contractor will be responsible for the removal of weed once weed spraying has been successfully undertaken by or on behalf of the Council. The contractor shall remove live weeds from channels where the presence of such weeds has been caused by the contractor’s failure to cleanse the channels.

7.20 Graffiti and Fly Posting Removal (Provisional Item)

7.20.1 The Contractor shall remove graffiti and fly posters from Relevant Land within the Borough, including highway signs and apparatus (but excluding traffic management and utility apparatus) as requested by the Authorised Officer and/or members of the public. The Contractor will remove graffiti and fly posters by a method approved in writing by the Authorised Officer.

7.20.2 Where chemicals are proposed to be used by the Contractor to remove graffiti, the Contractor shall provide the Authorised Officer with COSHH Assessments of the chemicals to be used, and the Authorised Officer’s written approval must be gained in advance.

7.20.3 The Contractor shall remove graffiti from underpasses through paint-out.

7.20.4 Racist or offensive graffiti or fly posting, and illegal advertising graffiti or fly posting, will be removed by the Contractor within 24 hours of notification. All other graffiti or fly posting will be removed by the Contractor within 5 days of notification.

7.20.5 If the graffiti or fly posting has been removed, but stains or residue have affected a permeable surface, the Contractor will inform the Authorised Officer by e-mail within 24 hours of completion of the work.

7.20.6 Graffiti removal and fly posting removal from private property and utility apparatus will be through private arrangement between the Contractor and property owner. Payments will be made direct to the Contractor by the customer requesting the Service. The Contractor will retain any income generated by this Service.

7.20.7 The Contractor is to submit a Weekly report to the Authorised Officer detailing the graffiti and flyposting that has been removed during that Week.

7.20.8 The Council treats the problem of flyposting and graffiti very seriously and will prosecute anyone caught or suspected of committing such an offence providing that sufficient evidence can be gathered. The Contractor is to assist the Council in this regard by obtaining photographic and written evidence (i.e. time, date, location, posters, etc.) and supplying this information to the Authorised Officer in an agreed format at the end of each day. The Contractor may also be required, from time to time, to assist the Council in the preparation of prosecution statements and attendance at court hearings.

7.21 Sand and Tidal Debris

7.21.1 Promenades and Roads which are near to beaches and slipways become covered, on occasions with quantities of sand, shingle or tidal debris. The Contractors attention is especially drawn to the large

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Environmental Stretscene Services Contract
Street Cleansing Specification
Part 7

amount of wind blown sand which is deposited on the highway at West Kirby, Hoylake and New Brighton that will need to be removed in order to ensure highway safety.

7.21.2 The Contractor shall provide all equipment and include in his tender for the removal of any such sand, shingle or debris from Roads affected as part of his normal Cleansing operation and, upon referral from the Authorised Officer, within 24 hours.

7.22 Rapid Response Service (Provisional Item)

7.22.1 The Contractor shall engage sufficient dedicated personnel to provide a Rapid Response Service. This Service is to be provided from 08.00 to 17.00 Monday to Saturday inclusive to deal effectively with any matters which, in the opinion of the Authorised Officer, are of an urgent nature.

7.22.2 The Contractor is not required to provide this Service on Bank Holidays.

7.22.3 Recent experience indicates that approximately 250 requests for the Rapid Response Service are made by the Authorised Officer each year although no guarantee is given or implied that this figure is the maximum which should be expected.

7.22.4 The Contractor is to respond immediately, upon request from the Authorised Officer, to any matter of an urgent nature and in any event must have satisfactorily dealt with the occurrence within one hour of receiving the request. If the Authorised Officer or his representative attend an incident his instruction must be observed.

7.22.5 The Contractor must make available between the hours of 08.00 and 17.00 Monday to Saturday inclusive, a responsible person to receive requests for the Rapid Response Service and have sufficient seniority to be able to act upon the receipt of that request.

7.22.6 No other resources are to be diverted from their normal tasks in order to provide a Rapid Response Service.

7.22.7 Examples of occurrences which the Authorised Officer may refer to the Rapid Response Service are:

7.22.7.1 Clearance of debris after a traffic accident;

7.22.7.2 Broken glass or other debris on the highway;

7.22.7.3 Damaged bus shelters;

7.22.7.4 Debris or loads spilled from vehicles;

7.22.7.5 Oil spillages on the highway which require sanding and subsequent sweeping up of the sand. OR cleaning up of such spillages using other methods approved by the Authorised Officer;

7.22.7.6 Dead animals on the highway and/or beaches;

7.22.7.7 Flytipping (no exclusions);

7.22.7.8 Flytipping industrial Wastes;

7.22.7.9 Responses to public complaint, which in the opinion of the Authorised Officer, requires immediate action in order to bring about customer satisfaction.

7.22.8 The Contractor may also be required to respond to occurrences outside of the core hours stated, or to respond to incidents occurring at the request of the Authorised Officer. Payment for such call out shall be made in accordance with the schedule of Daywork Rates given in the Pricing Schedule.

7.22.9. Within 24 hours of responding to such an occurrence, the Contractor shall submit a report to the Authorised Officer in an agreed format giving details of the incident, timings, actions taken and outcomes, etc.

7.22.10 The Council treats the problem of flytipping very seriously and will prosecute anyone caught or suspected of committing such an offence provided that sufficient evidence can be gathered. The Contractor is assist the Cuoncil in this regard by obtaining photographic and written evidence (i.e. time, date, location, posters etc.) and supplying this information to the Authorised Officer electronically at the end of each day. The Contractor may also be required, from time to time, to assist the Council in the preparation of prosecution statements and attendance at court hearings.

7.23 Abandoned Shopping Trolleys (Provisional Item)

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7.23.1 The Contractor should be aware that the Council has resolved to recover, store and make a charge for shopping trolleys abandoned on relevant land or highways under section 99 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

7.23.2 It will be the responsibility of the Contractor to recover any shopping trolleys which appear to be abandoned and store such trolleys at the depot under the control of the Contractor. A Weekly log of all trolleys so repossessed and in the possession of the Contractor will be passed to the Authorised Officer stating:-

7.23.2.1 The Location where the trolley was located;

7.23.2.2 the identified owner of the trolley (where possible);

7.23.2.3 the condition of the trolley.

7.23.3 The Contractor will only be required to release trolleys in their possession recovered as part of the requirement upon production of a written receipt from the Authorised Officer indicating that the recovery charge has been made. The owner of the trolleys will be requested to acknowledge receipt of his equipment at the time of collection and the owner will be responsible for all transport charges in respect of the collection of the same.

7.23.4 Unclaimed trolleys in the possession of the Contractor may be disposed of after they have been stored for a minimum period of six Weeks, following certification from the Authorised Officer that they may be disposed of. Any income from the sale of unclaimed trolleys may be retained by the Contractor.

7.24 Gritting (Provisional Item)

7.24.1 The Contractor shall be responsible for the gritting of zone 1 town centre areas in accordance with schedule detailed in Appendix 9.9.1.

7.24.2 The Contractor shall use a urea based product which shall be provided to the Contractor by the Council free of charge.

7.24.3 The Contractor shall also be required to provide an ad hoc gritting Service, as and when required by the Authorised Officer.

7.24.4 Payment for these works shall be in accordance with the Daywork Rates given in the Pricing Schedule.

7.25 Street Washing (Provisional Item)

7.25.1 The Contractor will be required to provide a Weekly Street washing Service to the shopping areas as detailed in Appendix 9.9.1.

7.25.2 The Contractor shall allow for this within the tendered price, and no additional payment shall be made.

7.25.3 The Contractor may also be required to provide a Street washing Service at other Locations, at the request of the Authorised Officer. Payment for this Service will be in accordance with the schedule of Daywork Rates given in the Pricing Schedule.

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Environmental Stretscene Services Contract
Street Cleansing Specification
Part 7

7.26 Special Events and Voluntary Organisations

7.26.1 To cater for special events in the Borough such as shows, fairs, sports activities, etc. (for example, the Wirral Show), or voluntary groups undertaking special clearance and Litter picking tasks in the Borough the Authorised Officer may require the Contractor to supply labour, vehicles, Plant or equipment to assist with or promote clearance operations.

7.26.2 The Contractor will be paid in accordance with the schedule of Daywork Rates given in the Pricing Schedule for any item supplied under this clause.

7.27 Volume and Type of Material

7.27.1 The Contractor shall not place any constraint on the volume or type of Litter which is to be removed from any Location, and all such eventualities shall be included for within the Contract price.

7.27.2 Any item of Litter discarded or deposited at any Location to which this Contract applies having a volume not exceeding 1 cubic metre must be removed at the time and day programmed for Street Cleansing. The volume of 1 cubic metre shall be applied to single items and not be the aggregate of smaller items. If any item of Litter discarded or deposited at any Location to which this Contract applies and has a volume of more than 1 cubic metre it shall be collected by the Contractor using separate resources if he so wishes but in any event must be cleared within 24 hours of its detection.

7.27.3 The Contractor’s attention is drawn to the fact that Waste Collection in this Borough is carried out using wheeled bins. There are occasions when householders fail to use the Waste Receptacle provided and put Waste out in bags or boxes or loose. If this occurs the Contractor is required to ascertain where the Waste has come from and recover any documentary evidence, prior to removal, and inform the Authorised Officer immediately so that enforcement action can be taken against the householder. The Contractor is required to remove all such deposits as part of the normal Cleansing operation.

7.28 Organisation and Methods

7.28.1 Subject to the approval of the Authorised Officer the Contractor is permitted to organise the delivery of the Service in any way which fulfil all the requirements of the Contract to the required standard within the required times, although the Council does have a preference for area based Service provision and tandem working to ensure task completion.

7.28.2 The Contractor is permitted to use both heavy and compact mechanical sweepers anywhere in the Borough where they can be effectively utilities and subject to normal weight restrictions.

7.28.3 The Contractor is encouraged to consider using compact mechanical sweepers in some of the high profile areas of the Borough.

7.29 Programme of Work

7.29.1 The Contractor shall submit a full and detailed programme of work to the Authorised Officer for approval, not later than four Week prior to the commencement of the Contract.

7.29.2 The Programme shall include details of all rounds to be worked and shall include the days when each Location is programmed to be Cleansed. This information shall be provided electronically and may also be presented as colour coded maps or lists of work programmed per day per round provided that the information is supplemented by clear indication of the direction of progress of work throughout the day. The Authorised Officer may audit the quality of the work undertaken throughout the course of the day.

7.29.3 The programme of work shall not be altered in any way without the prior approval of the Authorised Officer.

7.30 Performance Monitoring

7.30.1 The Council will require the Contractor to achieve the highest standard of Cleansing at each programmed Location on each day. The actual level of performance achieved on each day shall be measured by inspecting a random sample of programmed Locations after Cleansing operations are complete and noting the standard observed by comparison with the photograph standards within Appendix 9.9.3.

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Street Cleansing Specification
Part 7

7.30.2 Grade A denotes compliance with the Contract whilst any other grade will denote a failure to perform.

7.30. The random selection of Locations to be monitored will be computer generated by the Authorised Officer daily. It is envisaged that 5% of programmed work for a given day will be subject to inspection although a higher or lower percentage may be used depending on the level of confidence built up between the Contractor and the Council. For the avoidance of doubt the percentage sample size shall be determined at the sole discretion of the Authorised Officer.

7.30.4 Performance monitoring is to be carried out by the Contractor on seven days each Week, Monday to Sunday, with the Contractor’s representative being accompanied by an officer of the Council who will verify the grades being noted. In the case of disagreement between the Council’s and Contractor’s representative a photograph will be taken by the Council of the disputed Locations and the Authorised Officer will adjudicate after viewing the photographs.

7.30.5 It is hereby declared that the results of the daily performance monitoring inspections are to be accepted as being representative of the performance achieved across the Street Cleansing Service for that day and will be used in the calculation of performance in accordance with clause 4.14 and Clause 4.37 of the Conditions of Contract.

7.30.6 The Contractor is expected to carry out additional supervisory inspections in the normal course of business, but any such additional supervisory inspections will be excluded from the computation of the Contractor’s percentage performance for the purposes of Clause 4.14 and Clause 4.38 of the Conditions of Contract, unless in the opinion of the Authorised Officer, the inclusion of the additional supervisory inspections in the computation is statistically valid.

7.30.7 Without prejudice to the obligations of the Contractor to achieve the standards of Cleansing specified herein, should any supervisory inspection reveal that the standard of cleanliness at any Location inspected is below grade A, the Contractor will ensure that such Location is returned to grade A standard within the time stipulated in the Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse for the zone specified for that Location, namely:

7.30.7.1 In zone 1 areas, if at grade B, it shall be restored to grade A within six hours. If at grade C it shall be restored to grade A within three hours. If at grade D it shall be restored to grade A within one hour.

7.30.7.2 In zone 2 areas, if at grade B, it shall be restored to grade A within twelve hours. If at grade C it shall be restored to grade A within six hours. If at grade D it shall be restored to grade A within three hours.

7.30.7.3 In zone 3 areas, if at grade C, it shall be restored to grade A within twelve hours. If at grade D it shall be restored to grade A within six hours.

7.30.7.4 In zone 4 areas, if at grade C, it shall be restored to grade A within one Weeks. If at grade D it shall be restored to grade A within three days.

7.30.8 These standards shall apply between the hours of 0600 and 2000 daily in zone 2, zone 3 and zone 4 areas, and at all times in zone 1 areas.

7.30.9 The contractor shall keep electronically contemporaneous and accurate records of all operative and supervisory inspections it has carried out and of all remedial action taken pursuant to such inspections, and shall make such records available for inspection and copying by the Authorised Officer as and when required. The Contractor shall retain the inspection records for a minimum period of eighteen Months. The Contractor is hereby reminded that the daily random performance monitoring inspection records form the basis for the computation by the Contractor of its Weekly Certificate of Performance for the purposes of clause 4.14 and Clause 4.38 of the Conditions of Contract.

7.30.10 Notwithstanding the provisions of this clause the Council reserves the right at all times to inspect the quality of the work being undertaken by the Contractor for the purposes of assessing the effectiveness of the Street Cleansing Service.

7.31 Oil Pollution and Other Incidents

7.31.1 Due to the proximity of main shipping lanes and oil transfer facilities there are occasions when the Council may be required to respond to incidents of oil pollution in the area.

7.31.2 The Council may also, on occasion, be required to respond to other incidents in the area, natural or otherwise (for example terrorist attacks).

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Metropolitan Borough of Wirral
Environmental Stretscene Services Contract
Street Cleansing Specification
Part 7

7.31.3 In the event of any such incidents requiring a response by the Council then the Authorised Officer shall be empowered to divert some or all of the Contractors resources as deemed necessary by the Authorised Officer. The Contractor will not receive any additional payment for such diversions where they occur within the Contractors normal working hours and are directed to be undertaken in place of the Street Cleansing workload programmed for the duration of the diversion. Where the Authorised Officer requires assistance at other times outside the Contractors normal working hours then Daywork Rates shall apply.

7.31.4 Any specialised equipment, materials and protective clothing necessary to deal with such incidents will be provided by the Authorised Officer at the Council’s expense.

7.32 Parking

7.32.1 Some Streets in the Borough are regularly parked with cars that can cause difficulty in thoroughly Cleansing the edges of the carriageways. The Contractor will, however, be expected to make every effort to keep such Roads thoroughly Cleansed using any special equipment he may consider necessary. It is expected that the Contractor will have made himself familiar with the problems to be experienced and to overcome the difficulties in sweeping which parked cars can cause. Allowance should be made for this when submitting the tender, as no additional payment will be made by the Council in respect of this problem.

7.33 Supplementary Information

7.33.1 The Street Database computer file provided to the Contractor in Appendix 9.9.1 does not form part of the Contract documents and the Contractor is to verify the information himself, as its accuracy is not guaranteed or implied.

7.33.2 The data base file gives a guide to the lengths or surface areas of Locations to which this Contract applies and shows the zoning of those Locations.

7.34 Continuous Service Improvement

7.34.1 The Council have a policy of reviewing the Services it provides to the residents of the Borough and the Street Cleansing Service will be subject to such reviews.

7.34.2 Any review of the Service will be undertaken jointly between the Contractor and the Authorised Officer and will entail market research to canvas opinion from the residents of the Borough that the standard of Cleansing required by the Contract is being met.

7.34.3 The Contractor will cooperate with the Authorised Officer in improving the Service to meet the aspirations of the residents of the Borough. If such improvements are necessary to enable the originally Contracted Service to be performed then no additional payment will be made to the Contractor in making any such improvement.

7.35 Performance Monitoring (Street Cleansing)

7.35.1 At all times after the Commencement Date the Contractor will be required to assess performance in conjunction with the Council in accordance with the provisions of clause 7.30 of the Specification and to deliver a Certificate of Performance each week to the Authorised Officer to identify the percentage achieved through the performance of the Street Cleansing Services that Week.

7.35.2 Monitoring of a randomly selected statistically valid sample of work performed by the Contractor in a given period is to be used to assess the quality and extent of the Contractor’s performance during that period.

7.35.3 In the first instance, the computation of any default in performance by the Contractor shall be made in accordance with the provisions of clause 7.30.3 of the Specification, but, as set out below, should the Council in its absolute discretion consider that for any given period the use of the normal method of performance monitoring has not given or may not afford a sufficiently accurate measure of the Contractor’s default in performance for that period, the Council may carry out its own audit of the Contractor’s work which includes inspection of the physical Cleansing operation, all administration and documentation and the activities relating to the production of the performance assessment figures. In this case the results of such audit shall be used as the basis for calculating the performance by the Contractor.

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Metropolitan Borough of Wirral
Environmental Stretscene Services Contract
Street Cleansing Specification
Part 7

7.35.4 The certificate of performance shall be submitted to the Authorised Officer Weekly to show the percentage of the Services performed in strict accordance with the Contract. The performance percentage shall be calculated on the basis of the Contractors records of the inspections it has carried out pursuant to clause 7.30.3 of the Specification and in accordance with the following formulae:

100 – (Number of Items not Grade A upon Inspection x 100)

Total Number of Inspections 1

7.35.5 In order to calculate the deductions for failure in performance for any monthly period, the Contractor shall:

7.35.5.1 average the performance percentages for the days/weeks covered by that certificate of performance.

7.35.5.2 the deductions appropriate to that averaged figure should be ascertained from the Table 1, Performance Monitoring Valuations.

7.35.6 The Contractor shall undertake to exercise the utmost good faith in assessing its monthly percentage performance.

7.35.7 The Council may at any time carry out an audit inspection of the work undertaken by the Contractor in accordance with the agreed auditing procedure set out in clause 7.30.1, in order to ascertain whether the Contractor is complying fully with its obligations under the terms of the Contract. The Authorised Officer shall give the Contractor prior notice of the commencement on any such audit inspections and invite the Contractor to observe the audit.

7.35.8 The agreed auditing procedure will comprise one or any combination of the following, as the Council in its absolute direction may determine.

7.35.8.1 assessment and verification of the Contractors performance based on the Contractors documentation;

7.35.8.2 a physical inspection of a sample of locations where work has been programmed to be performed by the Contractor during the day based on an independent monitoring of a random sample of locations by the Auditor. The number of locations sampled shall not be less than that required of the Contractor under clause 7.30.3 of the Specification.

7.35.9 The results of the Authorised Officer’s audit will, as soon as practicable, be given to the Contractor. If the results of any audit inspection undertaken by the Council demonstrate a lower percentage performance for a given period than the percentage performance claimed by the Contractor, the percentage performance demonstrated by the audit shall be used by the Contractor for the purpose of calculating the deductions appropriate to that period for the purposes of clause 7.30.1 and could be used by the Council for the purposes of clause 4.50.

Table 1
Performance Monitoring Valuations
Street Cleansing Service

Contractors Performance	Value of Lost Service
100-95%	Nil
94%	1% OF CONTRACT SUM
93%	2% ”
92%	3% ”
91%	4% ”
90%	5% ”
89%	6% ”
88%	7% ”
87%	8% ”
86%	9% ”
85%	10% ”
84%	11% ”
83%	12% ”

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Metropolitan Borough of Wirral
Environmental Stretscene Services Contract
Street Cleansing Specification
Part 7

82%	13% ”
81%	14% ”
80%	15% ”
79%	16% ”
78%	17% ”
77%	18% ”
76%	19% ”
75%	20% ”

74%	26% ”
73%	27% ”
72%	28% ”
71%	29% ”
70%	30% ”
69%	31% ”
68%	32% ”
67%	33% ”
66%	34% ”

And thereafter the Value of Lost Service shall increase by 1% for every decrease of 1% in the Contractor’s performance figure so that if the Contractor’s performance figure falls to 1%, the value of Lost Service figure shall be 99%.

99% ”

Page 101 of 164

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Biffa asks Wirral’s Cabinet for a 10 year extension to bins & street cleaning contract worth at least £120 million

Biffa Waste Service Limited November 2013 Invoice Wirral Council £1036840.28

Biffa Waste Service Limited December 2013 Invoice Wirral Council £1032201.28

Above are three of the recent monthly invoices to Wirral Council from Biffa Waste Services Limited for November 2013 (£1,036,840.28), December 2013 (£1,032,201.28) and January 2014 (£1,032,201.28).

I did not request the invoices for other months during that financial year (2013/14), but I would assume that the other nine are for similar amounts of around a million pounds. So why am I writing about this and what does Biffa Waste Services Limited actually do for it’s ~£12 million it receives each year from the taxpayer?

Well as shown on the invoices it’s for collecting the bins, cleaning the streets and extra amounts for working on a Bank Holiday. I’ll be looking more closely at the current contract with Biffa Waste Services Limited (which runs to 2017) tomorrow morning (if all goes well).

However there is some political news on the Biffa front, in fact Wirral Council seems to be bolstering itself for a bit of bad press coverage judging by the Cabinet papers for tonight’s Cabinet meeting (only tonight if you happen to reading this on the 11th September 2014).

If you’re interested in reading the papers yourself on Wirral Council’s website, it’s the Streetscene Environment Services Contract Extension item which is item 4 on Cabinet’s agenda.

I remember Mark Smith (a Wirral Council officer who is Head of Environment and Regulation) getting a grilling by the Chair (Rt Hon Frank Field MP) at a recent Birkenhead Constituency Committee meeting about what the Rt Hon Frank Field MP seemed to see as a lack of openness and transparency in the area of how Wirral Council manages the Biffa contract.

In the Rt Hon Frank Field MP’s view (from my memory of the meeting) he wanted (rather reasonably some might say) to know exactly what the public were getting for the ~£12 million a year that the taxpayer pays Biffa Waste Services Limited through Wirral Council. Sadly there was no one present at the meeting to answer for Biffa Waste Services Limited and Mark Smith seemed to struggle a little to give the kind of answers that Rt Hon Frank Field MP seemed to want to hear. However moving on from the frustrations of Birkenhead’s MP/Chair of the Birkenhead Constituency Committee to more local politics (although isn’t all politics local)?

Rather helpfully Appendix 5 to the Streetscene Environment Services Contract Extension item contains the following two entries on the risk register (copied below):

Risk No	Description of risk	Risk category	Risk Owner	Gross likelihood Score	Gross impact score	Total Gross Score	Net Likelihood Score	Net Impact Score	Total Net Score	Proposed Controls	Responsibility	Target date	RAG Status
1	District Audit scrutiny on decision process likely	Legal / Regulatory	Tara Dumas	3	4	12	3	2	6	Member decision based on thorough analysis of risks. Best value comparison work to be undertaken – Local benchmarking plus APSE/Audit commission comparison Update on market position sought from previous consultants contracted to review Biffa contract. Process to be reviewed by internal audit	TD TD TD MGa	07/07/14 completed 07/07/14 07/07/14	G C G G
2	Negative political and media attention	Political/societal	PR team – Kathryn Green	5	3	15	3	2	6	Proactive approach by PR with press releases Confirm offer not linked to service/workforce changes	LF	Post decision 31/5/2014		G C

In other words, Wirral Council know (before any decision is formally made tonight to enter into negotiations) that it will cause all kinds of trouble. They’ve already decided (it seems) on a public relations line of telling the press it won’t lead to job losses/workforce changes and giving them the “gift” of a press release in the hope that most of the media will just print the press release more or less verbatim and not ask too many awkward questions about the matter.

They even know their external auditor (Grant Thornton) will be asking them a whole bunch of questions to do with it too but surprisingly there are even bigger risks than the media and Wirral Council’s auditors to tackle, although read the risk register at appendix 5 and hopefully you’ll see what I mean.

So how can I sum up what is proposed to be decided tonight quickly? The current contract will Biffa Waste Services Limited will end on March 2017.

The impression I get from reading between the lines of the Cabinet papers, (a lot of the detail has been kept deliberately secret by officers who are recommending to politicians to keep it secret too on grounds of commercial confidentiality) is that Biffa Waste Services Limited seemed to be somewhat concerned that if their multi-million pound 11 year contract ends on March 2017, that they would have to bid in a competitive tender against other companies and organisations for the new contract.

There’s then uncertainty (from Biffa’s perspective) over whether they would end up being the successful bidder or not. It’s called “competition” and is generally required for such large multi-million pound contracts because of all kinds of laws I won’t go into at this point and competition is therefore required for a whole bunch of good reasons.

So someone as Biffa Waste Services Limited has read through the contract they have with Wirral Council and found a caveat. There was a part in the contract that could extend it a further ten years (current prices of ~£12 million a year but yearly increases and variation are usually built-in). This contract covers “all household waste and recycling collections, street cleansing and fly tip removal, waste collection from schools and council offices and wheeled bin deliveries.”

All Biffa had to do to get a further ten years (at ~£12 million a year) was make a formal offer to Wirral Council (which they did) and have this agreed to by Wirral Council (which hasn’t happened yet with the earliest date expected being October 2014).

Due to the size of the amounts involved it has to be a decision made by politicians, specifically Wirral Council’s Cabinet and the councillor with responsibility for this area is the new(ish) Cabinet Member for Environment and Sustainability Councillor Bernie Mooney (who replaced Brian Kenny earlier this year when he lost an election in May to the Green Party councillor Pat Cleary).

However what’s in the currently exempt appendices?

Well appendix 1 covers the “value and suggested terms of the formal offer from Biffa in return for the Council extending the contract to 2027. In summary the proposal offers the Council a one-off saving split between 2014/15, 2015/16 and 2016/17 followed by a continued annual reduction in the core contract price throughout the remainder of the extended contract period to the equivalent value. Officers asked Biffa to clarify the benefits to Biffa if the contract extension was agreed.”

I’m not allowed to link to appendix 1 (as it’s currently a big secret and you’d get an “access denied” type message from Wirral Council’s website if I did), but as the language used by a Wirral Council officer is rather opaque, it has to boil down to how I imagine a summary of what Biffa offered Wirral Council … “give us a further ten years and we will give you very good price if you pick us. Our price is very reasonable, many savings to be had, very good price, you buy from us again we treat you well. We are very good supplier and will take your bins to tip and keep streets clean for another 10 years for a very reasonable price.”

Wirral Council officers asked Biffa to clarify what Biffa would get out of extending the contract a further ten years.

Biffa responded to this on the 10th February 2014. Again I’m not allowed to show you Biffa’s response either on the instructions of Wirral Council officers!

The summary of this response is again in rather opaque language “Biffa indicated that the savings they could offer arose from avoiding future procurement and mobilisation costs, the ability to re-finance their operations and a reduction in overheads due to the stable nature of the contract. The discount is not linked to any service changes.”

In other words Biffa are saying “grant us a monopoly, save us the cost of having to retender for the contract in 2017, Wirral Council will save money from having to retender the contract” (which is a bit of a debatable point really anyway considering the extra costs this will cause doing it this way) “and Biffa will be able to borrow money cheaper because we’ll have a longer contract.” To be honest I don’t agree entirely with Biffa’s point about overheads being significantly lower to justify this.

Another letter from Biffa (exempt appendix 3) is also currently being kept secret by Wirral Council officers (pending a decision by politicians). This letter is about an offer to redesign the fleet of bin lorries from 2017 to collect things such as food waste (to meet Wirral Council’s recycling targets).

However Biffa make it clear that this is absolutely Biffa’s final offer (well unless Wirral Council’s Cabinet say no to negotiations or no to the offer in October 2014 and Biffa have to bid for the new contract starting in 2017)!

Wirral Council officers seem very keen to have the Labour councillors on Wirral Council’s Cabinet agree to Biffa’s plan. “80p cheaper per a Wirral person than Liverpool” they state in the report, but strangely 15p more per a person than in Sefton!

Of course Wirral Council’s Cabinet could just choose to reject Biffa’s proposal and decide to bring the service in-house from 2017.

The recent street cleansing cuts to the contract, have been the source of both political and media attention in the recent past. However, what’s the officer’s recommendation?

Oh and before I get to that, Wirral Council asked Eunomia (are they consultants?) in 2012 to look at the Biffa contract, the consultants in fact suggested the contract should be retendered! Eunomia also suggested that if Wirral Council did agree to extend the contract by a further ten years than there should be changes to “contract clauses relating to indexation, labour cost inflation and future efficiency gains” which would be extremely sensible to do considering the current contract is linked to RPI (and let’s face it inflation is quite high)! However the Eunomia assessment is now two years out of date and things have changed somewhat since then.

As Wirral Council officers freely admit in 5.3.4 of this report, they don’t really know if this will save any money at all versus retendering the contract, it all just seems to be educated guesswork and unknown quantities.

The estimated savings have been listed, but surprisingly (and isn’t this usually the case?) not the increased costs (such as an increased audit bill from Grant Thornton for extra work).

It’s the report gets to “legal implications” that things start to get interesting!

Here’s a quote from 10.2 “The Legal colleagues have highlighted that it is necessary to limit the amount of material changes to the contract in order to minimise the risk of the Council being challenged on the legalities of the extension.”

In other words, do it right otherwise one of Biffa’s competitors, or in fact anyone could sue Wirral Council over how it was done.

Then entering into catch 22 territory the legal advice continues:

“Due consideration has been given to establishing whether the Biffa proposal offers Value for Money (Sections 4 and 5 refers) as required under the Council’s Contract Procedure Rules. However, it is important to note that the only decisive way to determine whether a more advantageous contract could be secured by the Council would be through retendering the contract.”

In other words, Wirral Council don’t know whether this saves them money without retendering the contract in 2017, but if they agree to Biffa’s proposal they won’t be retendering the contract in 2017 so they’ll never really know or be able to prove “value for money” to their external auditors Grant Thornton.

However let’s see, what do officers want? They want politicians to agree to them to enter into negotiations with Biffa, more specifically the Strategic Director of Regeneration and Environment (currently Kevin Adderley) and then report back to Cabinet no later than October 2014.

Personally (and this is just an opinion) I think politicians on the Cabinet will probably agree to enter into negotiations with Biffa tonight (even though Labour’s tendency in the past has been to bring back services in-house), if only just to keep their options open in October 2014. Quite what the Rt Hon Frank Field MP’s views on this latest development in the Biffa saga are at the time of writing unknown.

Coming up next today: What Wirral Council’s Cabinet is planning to do about Children’s Centres.

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Planning Committee 21/10/2010 – Compost in Clatterbridge (Part 2)

The next item on the agenda was an application for a green waste composting area, vehicle accessway and site office in Clatterbridge.

This application also had a petition against it of 78 people, which was received late on Monday. Sue Smith spoke on behalf of the petitioners and mentioned Monday’s site visit. She talked about the animal life and that there was more traffic at other times of day. Over the last 11 years there had been eight fatalities and she saw traffic and noise as two of the reasons why the petitioners were objecting.

She pointed out that the application was for 10,000 tons/year which would equate to 32 bin lorries/week. She was against the concreting and tarmaccing of the Green Belt and asked if the Planning Committee had received her letter of objection. She pointed out the woodland on the site and that she wanted the site to remain green. She said she wanted it to be green belt land, not green waste land.

The agent then spoke and pointed out that it was a small green waste business with two owner-operators which had been seven years in business. He added that if the application was approved that the business would take on an extra employee. He thought the proposal would benefit the rural landscape, reduce the pressure of landfill and that agriculture was an appropriate use and associated activity in the Green Belt. He said the compost would be spread on the surrounding 179 acre farm, which was heavy clay soil. This would give the farmer greater yields and be used as a soil improver. Over six weeks the volume of green waste would reduce by over 50% and over a ten-year period, the compost would raise the height of the land by no more than two inches. It would not be open to the public who would be free to use the Council’s sites. He also mentioned that the Environment Agency would have to grant a licence and that a benefit would be the reduction in carbon emissions.

Cllr Jerry Williams then addressed the committee. He pointed out that the application would lead to an increase in traffic and that nearby stables meant the surrounding roads were used heavily by horses. He pointed out that the area looks onto Storeton Village and referred to the site’s opening hours. He said there had been no environmental assessment done and that his main concerns were environmental damage and highways issues.

The Chair then opened it up to debate by committee members asking for a response from officers on the three issues of speed, noise and road traffic accident history. An officer replied that on this C-road national speed limits applied which meant a speed limit of 60mph or 40mph for heavier vehicles. He pointed out the application improved access to the site as well as space to turn. A map was shown to the committee of known traffic accidents in the locality. The officer said the rate of accidents was similar to other roads in the area.

Regarding noise, they had measured the noise of the shredding equipment as heard from the nearest property 800m away. A noise of 78db on site was heard as only 37db at the nearest property which was classed as acceptable.

Cllr Gilchrist commented on the landscaping and the variety of species. He also asked what the hedge around the development would be (the answer being hawthorn). Cllr Johnston asked if any of the compost produced would be taken away or whether it would all be spread on the surrounding land. The answer was that the farmer would be using the product produced.

Cllr Elderton asked about the number of traffic movements a day this would produce. The answer given by an officer was 3 or 4 a day.

The Chair said it had been an interesting site visit and that the site couldn’t be seen from the village because of the lie of the land. The Chair (Cllr Mitchell) moved approval. Cllr Salter seconded it. Eleven councillors voted for the application and one voted against, so it was approved.

Ever wondered what pages 89-101 of Wirral Council’s contract with Biffa for street cleansing states?

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Biffa asks Wirral’s Cabinet for a 10 year extension to bins & street cleaning contract worth at least £120 million

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