Shake-up for East Hampshire waste contracts’
East Hampshire district council will end its waste agreement with Winchester city council this summer and begin a new partnership with Havant borough council.
The waste agreement between East Hampshire and Winchester will end on September 29 following the conclusion of its current arrangement, which had been contracted to Biffa.
Havant council and East Hampshire council are joining forces on waste collections
From then on East Hampshire will deliver all its environmental services with Havant – this includes street cleaning, public conveniences and grounds maintenance, as well as waste and recycling provision.
According to the local authority’s website, collection routes and days for East Hampshire are yet to be decided. The change will affect 52,000 homes in the area.
A spokesperson for East Hampshire District Council, said: “East Hampshire’s environmental services are currently provided by Biffa, idVerde and Wettons through a joint contract with Winchester city council.
“In July 2018, Full Council at East Hampshire district council (EHDC) agreed to delegate its environmental services to Havant borough council (HBC) as an extension to our already close working relationship.”
Norse
Havant borough council’s services are currently provided as part of a joint venture with Norse South East, who will also carry out East Hampshire’s waste collections from the end of September. Norse currently operates an alternate week kerbside collection service with wheeled bins.
Biffa has faced some challenges with the East Hampshire council contract in recent months. In March East Hampshire council told residents that they could face delays of up to three days to their waste collections, due to the breakdown of old vehicles and staff shortages.
At a June meeting of East Hampshire and Winchester councils’ joint environmental services committee Biffa were challenged on the fact that issues highlighted in a March meeting had not yet been resolved.
Representatives from Biffa explained that they had needed to rebalance rounds, resulting in crews lacking local knowledge of their routes. They said the impact of this had been compounded by staff churn and absence.
Biffa said that additional resources would be in place until the situation had been dealt with and suggesting outstanding collections would be dealt with by mid June.
The joint environmental committee was told that Norse South East had been informed of the current problem areas.
Biffa were contacted for comment but declined to provide a statement.