Agenda item

Ruth Dixon presented a power point and highlighted the following points:

• In December 2021 a customer satisfaction survey was carried out on site at all of Warwickshire’s HWRCs, the survey was carried out over several weeks
• A survey with the same questions also ran online in December and January. There were a similar number of responses in both surveys
• The questions asked recorded the customer’s experience at the HWRCs
• Respondents were happy with the queuing times (93.5% satisfaction)
• The online survey was anonymous, so it was expected that customers would respond in more detail and be more willing to criticise regarding their experience
• The in-person survey was done in November/December 2021 after a lot of improvements had been done to the booking system
• The in-person survey covered the experience at the HWRCs that visit, whereas the online survey covered visits since May 2020, potentially before improvements were made to the booking system
• Areas that could be improved like signage and staff training will be worked on
• Information for each individual site would be in the final report
• Same-day booking was available from October 2021, this was reflected in the in-person survey
• Few people found booking difficult and 70.1% of people who visited HWRCs since May 2020 would support the booking system remaining
• 190 people surveyed had not visited a HWRC since May 2020, most said this was because they either tried to book and could not, or the fact that they had to book put them off from visiting. 19% of them said they would support the continuation of the booking system
• This meant overall that 66% of people surveyed would support the continuation of the booking system
• Availability at sites was monitored daily; Hunters Lane in Rugby was the busiest site in Warwickshire, but there was still a 20% availability
• Afternoon spaces were the most available to book

In response to Councillor Rhead, Ruth Dixon confirmed that they did not ask if people wanted the HWRCs to be open longer because opening times had already been decided on by elected members. HWRCs in Warwickshire were open 9:30-15:15 on weekdays and 8:30-16:45 on weekends; in the summer these weekend times are extended by an hour and on Wednesday PM sites are open until 18:30. There was no evidence of a rush to book slots in the afternoon, in fact most people book up in the morning and afternoon slots are usually available to book on the same day.

Following a supplementary statement from Councillor Rhead, the Chair said that extending the hours would be a matter of cost, but extending these hours would also need to be down to a justified need. She stated that fly tipping does not increase when the HWRCs are closed.

Councillors Lawrence and Shenton asked for the details from their local HWRCs (Hunter’s Lane and Burton Farm).

In response to Councillor Shenton, the Chair said that the booking system would remain as long as residents were happy with it and it was justifiable; all decisions were evidence based.

Councillor Shenton agreed with the Chair that he did not think the availability of HWRC services increased fly tipping rates, as they had gone down in Stratford.

Andrew Pau stated that they were pulling the data from the surveys together, and this data as well as the data for individual sites would be circulated after the report is completed.

The Chair stated that more parking was being made available on site at the HWRCs. Andrew Pau added that the socially distancing infrastructure had been removed, work had been done with Public Health around this. The booking system would remain in place for now. Trailers had been reintroduced at Hunters Lane and they would be reintroduced soon at Judkins. Booking slots (subject to demand) would be extended in the run up to Easter, in preparation for the summer hours, when the HWRCs get busier.

Richard Dobbs said that about 1/3 of fly tipping in North Warwickshire was commercial waste and they also picked a lot of waste from the growing of cannabis that was not in this figure. Therefore, this supported the argument that HWRC hours did not increase fly tipping as the type of waste being fly tipped is not household waste.

The Chair stated that the waste strike in Coventry did not impact Warwickshire’s HWRC tonnages as the booking system only allows bookings from Warwickshire residents.