Please see the letter below that our borough councillors have shared:
Waste and recycling collections
Dear councillors,
Following Council on Thursday 19 May, I wanted to write to you all as the portfolio holder responsible for our waste and recycling collection service to update you on our work with our contractor Serco.
Over the past few weeks you may have been made aware of delays to collections in some areas of the borough by Serco. This is linked to staffing issues including seven LGV driver vacancies which Serco are actively trying to fill.
I wanted to reassure you that any delay in collections is unacceptable and our officers are working hard to push Serco to bring in resources now to cover this period of instability and develop longer term solutions to address the impact they face from the national driver shortage. We know that our waste and recycling collection service is important to our residents and our priority is to get Serco to meet their duties under the contract and collect our residents’ bins on time.
Currently, Serco’s crews have been working additional hours to minimise disruption to residents and a recovery action plan is being followed to ensure our waste and recycling service remains stable while new drivers are recruited.
I have included below a public statement from Serco’s Regional Director (South) for Environmental Services Katy Bassett.
Regional Director (South) Katy Bassett said: “We would like to apologise to any residents who may be experiencing delays with their collections. We currently have seven LGV driver vacancies, which we are actively trying to fill but the national driver shortage is having an impact. Despite the best efforts of the crews, who have been working additional hours to minimise any disruption, for which we thank them, some collections are still outstanding. If the bins have not been collected in your road, please leave them out and we will return as soon as we can. If just your bin has been missed, please use the online missed bin form to report https://www.basingstoke.gov.uk/MissedBin.”
To reiterate, no delays in collections are acceptable and this has been made very clear to Serco. While these vacancies are filled, if your residents experience any disruption to their service please advise them to check our website for updates www.basingstoke.gov.uk/bins If the bins on their road have not been collected please ask them to leave them out and Serco will collect. If just one resident’s bin has been missed they must report this online at www.basingstoke.gov.uk/MissedBin