To receive any announcements from the Mayor, Leader of the Council, Member of the Cabinet or the Head of Paid Service.
Minutes:
The Mayor made the following announcements:
The Mayor announced his charities for 2023/24 as the Hatfield Food Bank and the New Zion Christian Fellowship Foodbank.
The Mayor invited members to his first fundraising event, an afternoon tea, at Mill Green Mill and Museum on the 20th August 2023
The Leader made the following announcement:
“Before I cover the substantive issue of this statement, I would like to welcome all councillors, new or experienced, to the first full working council meeting of the new Joint Administration. Welcome. Lynn and I and our cabinet look forward to working closely with all in this chamber to get the best we can for all members of our community.
I wanted to update the council, formally, on the dispute between contractor and union which resulted in the disruption to the waste collection services this council’s residents experienced, albeit for a limited time, between the 19th and 22nd of June this year.
I am delighted to advise council that the dispute has now been formally resolved, with the waste operatives having returned to work after just four full days of strike action.
I would like to formally and publicly thank Urbaser, Unite, ACAS and council officers for resolving this dispute so quickly and then working together to get the service back on track and on schedule. While the council was not directly involved in this dispute, actions we took to ask both sides to come and address Cabinet and senior officers of the council, and for cabinet and officers to listen to both sides of the dispute, I am sure was helpful in resolving the dispute so quickly.
I am aware some criticism has been levelled at the Joint Administration over this dispute, however I do not believe any more could have been done by staff or members of the administration to resolve the dispute any faster. Our full attention was focused on this even before the strike action started and remained on delivering a return to normal service as fast as possible once the dispute had been resolved.
Since the resolution of the dispute I am also aware some have expressed concern that the size of the settlement will adversely impact their council tax bill.
I would like to reassure all Welwyn Hatfield residents that this is NOT the case. Council Tax rises are capped by the UK Government at 3% (or £5, whichever is the greater), even when, as now, inflation is still running at above 10%, largely as a result of the actions of the UK Government.
I would also pay tribute to the previous administration for the sensible provisions they negotiated with the contractor, Urbaser, over annual cost rises in the waste contract. The annual increases are index linked, which for the current year, covering from April to next March amounts to 7.1%. I expect future rises to be similar in scale, so the concerns expressed by some are simply unfounded.
Of course, an increase in council tax of just 3% when we see an increase in contract cost of 7.1% means significant increases in budget pressures. The financial challenges this council faces after more than a decade of grant cuts from the UK government get worse and worse, not better. We are, of course, not alone in this, every council in the UK are seeing reductions in services, cuts to grants, being told to do more and then having much less resource to do it with.
I do, however, have every confidence in all my colleagues in cabinet, that we will innovate, adapt and deliver positive change for our community, even in the face of these unprecedented financial challenges.
Our joint administration is, I believe, stronger and more united by this baptism of fire and I look forward to continue working with officers to create a bright future together, for our administration and, more importantly, our citizens.”
The Cabinet Member for Environment made the following announcement:
“I would like to take this opportunity to update you regarding concerns regarding the frequency and quality of the grass cutting across the borough. I have received concerns from current, former, and most likely future Councillors. As well as directly from many residents.
Grass cutting, hedge cutting and bedding is contracted out to Continental Landscapes Limited who deliver these services for the Council. This contract was signed by the Conservative administration in 2020 to last until 2029.
When I was appointed as Executive Portfolio Member for Environment in May, the state of grass cutting immediately became a major concern to me. Therefore, some of my first acts of office included writing a statement to the Welwyn Hatfield Times as well as calling a meeting with officers and the senior management team at Continental Landscapes Limited to raise and resolve these concerns.
Continental Landscapes Limited explained that it had been a challenging period for them with regards to unplanned staff absences coinciding with peak grass growth season. They acknowledged that they had not met our required standards and were eager to address this. They agreed to undertaking several corrective actions to ensure that not only was the grass cutting brought back up to schedule but the quality of the cut and strimming was addressed. The actions included:
• Undertaking the current grass cut within a shorter timescale
• Bringing in additional staff, equipment and extended working hours.
• The work will also be subject to increased levels of supervision and monitoring by the contractor, and the council.
• I hasten to add that these improvements are at the contractor’s expense and not the Council’s.
I am pleased to say that the grass cutting schedule and quality is getting back on track. Of course, with the equivalent of 11,000 tennis courts to deal with for each grass cut there will be some instances where Councillors or residents believe that the grass or bedding is unsatisfactory. I would therefore encourage Councillors and residents to report these issues via our website under the ‘report it’ buttons.
The Council have areas designated as grasslands and rural verges that are cut less often to increase biodiversity. The Joint administration will be exploring further areas where this might be suitable. Over the coming months, I would like to encourage all Councillors to nominate areas within their own wards that they would like to qualify for this designation. The environmental team will examine these areas to see if they are appropriate for this change but let me be clear that in the end it would be my decision.”