Agenda item

To consider the following:

-       Governance

-       Contract Delivery

-       Legal

-       Financial

-       Communications

-       Resources

Consideration was given to the Annual Report which had been circulated prior to the meeting and highlighted the following issues relating to the Joint Waste Private Finance Initiative for the period 2023-2024:

-       Governance

-       Contract Delivery

-       Legal

-       Financial

-       Communications

-       Resources

Paul Hutchinson, BDR Manager introduced the report. He informed the Board that Carl Hewett, Senior Contract Officer, had started in August 2024 and was present for his first Board meeting. Beth Baxter had retired on 31 July 2024 and Paul had taken over as full time BDR Manager on 1 August 2024.

In terms on contract delivery, there were no issues to report.

Renewi’s legal action against the original contractor (JCBE,) who had designed and built the AD facility, had been to Adjudication in December 2023 /January 2024 and the adjudication had found in favour of Renewi. JCBE had disputed the findings of the adjudication through the submission of a Notice of Dissatisfaction. Unless the parties agreed a position on liability, it was likely further legal action would be taken by Renewi against JCBE. No dates had been set for this process. As the Acid Scrubber was integral to the AD facility and was physically positioned on top of the AD plant, it might not be as simple as making the original design work. A new position or new (enhanced) system could be required as a result of the new EA Permit emission levels. Renewi would need to ensure that these new, more stringent, requirement were complied with. Renewi would continue to progress the rectification of the acid scrubber on the AD facility. The base for the course of action was a report they had commissioned from Otto Simon.  A design path had been chosen by Renewi which was being worked through so a suitable contractor could be appointed to build and commission the equipment. The BDR Manager confirmed that this should not impact on performance.

Section 3 of the report set out the financial outcomes from 2023/24 and the proposals for 2024/25. In relation to 2023/24, operational budget savings of £36k were achieved. This was mainly due to underspend on Financial and Legal consultation caused by the delay in analysing and action on any definite outcomes of the Resource and Waste Strategy and Environmental Act. For 24/25 the BDR Manager was proposing to the Joint Waste Board AGM that the budget remained as per the previous year of £340,000. The BDR team pro-actively managed its Operational Budget, but it was anticipated that all the budget would be utilised and it was not anticipated that significant budgetary savings would be possible in 24/25.

The Community Education and Liaison Officer (CELO) commenced 11 months of maternity leave in Autumn 2023 and Renewi recruited a temporary CELO to cover the contractual CELO position. The assistant returned from maternity leave to a part-time position in January 2024. Therefore the reduction in CELO staff time had affected the volume and types of CELO work that was undertaken during this time. The proposed 24/25 CELO plan had been adapted accordingly to cope with these periods of maternity leave. It had been submitted to the BDRS Communications Working Group in spring 2024 and this was approved for delivery.

The Board thanked Paul for a very detailed, comprehensive report. In response to a question on how confident Paul was in the budget, he confirmed that as they financial year progressed, he was more confident that the budget would be balanced. There were no large pressures and the nature of the service meant accurate forecasts could be made. The BDR team would be constantly monitoring the budget.

It was confirmed that the new BDR Waste Partnership website had been updated with the Rotherham web development team. As such, it complied with their accessibility policies.

Councillor Higginbottom queried the Bolton Road Performance in terms of diversion percentage in April 2024 as this had dropped to 85.16% which was significantly lower than normal. The BDR Manager explained that operational issues at Ferrybridge had caused that anomaly. Additional discussions were held in relation to the Herren Index and the Senior Contract Officers induction.

Section 4.4.1 of the report was highlighted. It stated that  the contract set targets for the facility of 17.5% recycling. However, in 2023/24 the facility achieved a recycling rate of 13.94%, a decrease of 0.53% from the 2022/23 rate. The Board queried whether the target rate could be reduced given that it was not likely to be met. The BDR Manager explained that the target could not be altered and that the BDR partnership  imposed a contractual financial penalty on Renewi when this target was missed. It was reported that recycling levels had improved so far in  2024/25.

In April 2024, there had been a fire at Barnsley Transfer Station. This was believed to have been caused by a battery fire inside of a mattress. The Board asked that work been done with the CELO to raise awareness of battery fires. The BDR Manager confirmed that this was being prioritised.

A question was raised about whether any changes in law were being proposed in relation to recycling rates. The BDR confirmed there had been no discussions at a local level and Hue Russell confirmed there were no concrete discussions at a national level.

Resolved:

1.    That the report be noted.

2.    That approval be given to the operational budget of £340,000 for 2024/25 financial year.