Under the new Coronavirus Contingency Planning Procedures, as approved by the Leader of the Council, the executive (Leader and Cabinet) priorities of the Council are amended to simply be:

(i)  preservation of life;

(ii)  supporting the vulnerable;

(iii)  safeguarding children; and

(iv)  aiding the Borough’s businesses and economy

during this period that contingency planning is required to respond to an emergency situation and manage the effects of a covid-19 epidemic.

In view of the Leader’s decision to agree that

(i)  the Head of Paid Service is authorised to take any action in furtherance of the priorities set out above, acting in consultation with the Leader, Cabinet member and/or Group Leaders wherever it is reasonable and practicable in the opinion of the Head of Paid Service to do so; and

(ii)  the Head of Paid Service and each Director is authorised to take any action that officer consider is reasonably necessary to protect the health, safety or welfare of individuals.

That Garden Waste Collection services are suspended with immediate effect.  These crews and vehicles will be redeployed to ensure continuity of residual and recycling collections.

During the current Covid-19 outbreak, the Council’s priority is for residual waste to be collected, as this has implications for public health.  As absence and sickness leads to increasing staff shortage, available resources will be diverted away from other operations such as Street Cleansing to ensure that collection of residual waste continues with as little disruption as possible.  As such, the Council will need to reduce non-essential collection operations to redeploy staff to essential services as required.