Agenda item

To review the Quarterly report to Cabinet on the scorecard and the strategic risk summary. This report was considered by Cabinet on 4 February 2025.

The Chairman noted that within the agenda pack was a report providing a quarter three update on performance against the stated missions in the Council’s Business Plan 2023-24. A Strategic Risk Summary was also included. The report had been considered by Cabinet on 4 February.

Leader of the Council, Richard Clewer introduced the report with its importance stressed in order to understand whether the Council was meeting the strategic objectives set out in the Business Plan and spending money wisely. It was suggested that following the local elections it might be a good time to consider whether the data included within the report was right or whether improvements could be made, Reference was also made to the how Wiltshire Council was perceived to be doing well with performance and risk monitoring, however the sector as a whole still had improvements to be made.

The following comments were received by Committee Members with it questioned whether there was an upward trend related to Library and Leisure services, to which it was confirmed that there had been an upward trend for these services, with reference made to how 10 leisure centres had been insourced enabling the Council to operate in a commercial way alongside what had been mandated within the Business Plan. Praise was also placed on the staff working in Leisure Centres. Regarding Libraries, though there wasn’t a commercial aspect to this area, the Council was successfully innovating and broadening what Libraries offered in order to support the business plan with contributions towards adult care and children’s services which was ultimately increasing footfall.

A question was raised regarding the recycling of incorrect items and how this was impacting metrics as well as whether there was any plans to educate the public. Detail was provided from officers that a “Recycling – Let’s Sort It!” campaign had been launched in 2023 in order to educate residents as to what could be placed into bins as well as a “dos and don’ts” campaign in the run up to Christmas 2024. In addition, clarity was provided regarding the process of how the Council was attempting to prevent recycling from being contaminated with Hills Waste now tagging and recording bins depending on the level of contamination and potentially contacting homeowners directly to discuss issues. It was noted that for 2023/24 (e.g. last full year of data), if all the target materials within the sorting facility rejects had been recycled instead, the Council recycling rate would have improved by 1.9% (increasing from 43.7% to 45.6%); equating to 4,294 tonnes as data suggested that up to 56% of sorting facility rejects included target materials that could potentially have been recycled.

A discussion took place regarding potholes with it suggested that the system used by the Council aimed to create value for money with repairs able to be made within specified times and able to last until resurfacing was planned to take place. It was also clarified that the system used did not vary for different road classifications. Metrics for potholes was also discussed with it suggested that it was better to measure the speed in which potholes were being filled due to varying weather conditions each year, rather than the number of potholes reported due to often receiving multiple reports for each individual pothole. It was suggested that the Council was making better headway in dealing with the potholes which were occurring. A suggestion was made that activity data could be provided alongside the performance data in order to provide wider context, such as potholes reported, and potholes closed.

Further clarity was sought as to how improvements had been made to deal with potholes, with it cited that the bobcats and velocity dragon patcher were now able to work all year round whereas previously other interventions had been weather dependent. The Council taking a preventative approach was also discussed, for example the use of surface dressings and reinforcing corners on country roads used by tractors. This was acknowledged in the Department of Transport statistics that - road network repairs in Wiltshire were increasing compared to other areas.

At the conclusion of discussion, it was,

Resolved:

The Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee agreed to note:

1. The updates and outturns against the measures and activities mapped against the Council’s priorities.
2. The Strategic Risk Summary.