Town hall set to review firm after rubbish failings
COMPANY UNDER COUNCIL SCRUTINY FOLLOWING COMPLAINTS
TRAFFORD council has launched a review into the multi-million pound contract it signed with its environmental service provider – Amey.
The move comes after the authority, then under Tory rule, was bombarded with complaints about dirty streets, filthy parks and overflowing bins.
The authority, now governed by Labour, has set up a task and finish group to unearth why things went so wrong with the partnership.
Amey said the review forms part of the ‘normal democratic scrutiny process.’
The deal, signed in 2015, was labelled ‘groundbreaking’ at the time – and left Amey responsible for the next 23 years in delivering services, costing £12m a year.
The firm was tasked with emptying bins, street cleaning, street lighting, parks maintenance, drainage, corporate landlord services and major projects. However, it was extensively reported that things soon began to go wrong. Councillors across all parties were flooded with complaints from residents furious about unemptied bins, filthy parks, blocked gullies and dirty streets. Within 18 months of it being announced, Labour locally branded the setup an ‘utter disaster’ after Amey missed targets – and, it is understood, fined them hundreds of thousands of pounds in penalties as a result.
However, council insiders admitted that from the start there was too little money in the contract, which was designed to slash £3m a year from the town hall’s environmental services budget.
Speaking during Wednesday’s Scrutiny Committee meeting, its chairman, Coun David Acton, said the aim of the review is to ‘delve deep’ into the contract and see how work is being monitored.
“We want to get inside the heart of the operation – and address the issues that have been raised.”
An Amey spokesperson said: “Due to the size and value of the contract, the council’s scrutiny committee has taken the decision to review the annual programme of works. This is not the first review to be undertaken owing to the complexity of the contract. The task and finish group is part of Trafford Council’s normal democratic scrutiny process that will undertake this review.”