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Appendix 7: Area Based Cleaning Briefing Notes

Summary

 

This report will guide on how the Area based cleansing will be applied to Maidstone borough Council Street Cleansing department under the 5 main headings of:

·         What is area based cleansing?

·         How will we apply area based cleansing to the current cleansing team?

·         How will this affect the current street cleansing employees, will they need extra training, will there be a change in their responsibilities?

·         How the area based cleansing is to be created and how will it be put into operation?

·         What are the advantages/disadvantages of area based cleansing?

 

What is area based cleansing?

 

Area based cleansing is an ‘output based’ way of working; this means that only areas that need cleansing will be cleaned.  We currently use a frequency based method of cleansing where most of the roads/pavements in the borough are cleaned on a scheduled rota and due to the specifications of the street cleansing contract we must clean them (whether they need it or not). But with area based cleansing we would still visit the area and by using pre-decided level of acceptances (based on Defra Ni195 methodology) we will judge whether an area would need a full cleanse, part cleanse or no cleaning whatsoever. This will mean that only areas that need to be cleaned will be cleaned.

This is a method of street cleansing that more councils around Britain are implementing. Most of the high performing councils in Britain (based on 2008/09 Ni195 scores and 2008 Place survey result for the street cleaning question*) are using the area based cleansing method. This is also a method of street cleansing that needs less staff to make operational.  We have visited Test Valley borough council, Chelmsford Borough council and Brentwood councils, where they have changed the way they clean their streets from frequency based cleansing to Area based cleansing and their NI195 and place survey *results have improved.

 

*How satisfied are you with the cleanliness of your neighbourhood?

How will the Area based cleansing to be created and how will it be put into operation?

 

Before we start to put area based cleansing operation we must separate the borough into workable ‘chunks’ below are details on how we would do this. There are 3 stages to the mapping process.

Stage 1

The Maidstone borough will be separated into 3 zones (Town centre, Area A and Area B). The town centre area will be the same has it is now and will not be affected by the changes.

The rest of the borough will be separated into two Areas of equal sizes with both areas having roughly the same amounts of wards, villages, urban and rural areas. These will be called Area A and Area B. All maps shown on this report are examples and will not be used in the actual area based cleansing. 

Stage 2

Each of the two Areas will be divided into 5 segments (10 segments in total over the 2 Areas). These segments will are called ‘Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Weeks 4 and Week 5 with either Area A or B sub title depending on area they are located in.

Area A
Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5

 

Area B
Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5

 

 

Stage 3

Each of the week segments will be then divide into 5 more segments. These will be called by days the week Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Area A
Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5
Monday	Monday	Monday	Monday	Monday
Tuesday	Tuesday	Tuesday	Tuesday	Tuesday
Wednesday	Wednesday	Wednesday	Wednesday	Wednesday
Thursday	Thursday	Thursday	Thursday	Thursday
Friday	Friday	Friday	Friday	Friday
Area B
Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5
Monday	Monday	Monday	Monday	Monday
Tuesday	Tuesday	Tuesday	Tuesday	Tuesday
Wednesday	Wednesday	Wednesday	Wednesday	Wednesday
Thursday	Thursday	Thursday	Thursday	Thursday
Friday	Friday	Friday	Friday	Friday

 

 

 

Once the borough has been separated into areas, weeks and days this will form the working patterns. Each week will be visited weekly on a rota base and then the day of the week will be worked upon.

At the start of every working day the cleansing supervisor will hand the team leader check sheets. These check sheets will have every street that needs to be visited on that day. The team leader will visit every road on the weekly check sheets over the 5 days.

Area					Grading		What action is needed?
Area	Week No	Day of week	Name of Street	Type of road	Litter grade	Detritus grade	Litter pick	Mec sweep	both	None	Photo no
A	1	1	John's street	High obstruction	C	C			Yes		No
A	1	1	Green Lane	Rural road	B	B				Yes	2

 

These roads will not be automatically cleansed but an Area leader that will visit that day’s area and make a judgement on what cleansing action is needed (if any). This judgement will be based on Defra Ni195 methodology. See chart below.

 

Grade	Litter and refuse	Detritus*
A	No litter or Refuse	No Detritus
B	Predominantly free of litter and refuse apart from small items.	Predominantly free of detritus, expect for some light scatterings
C	Widespread distribution of litter and/or refuse, minor accumulations	Widespread distribution of detritus with minor accumulations
D	Heavily affected by litter and/or refuse, with significant accumulations	Heavily affected by detritus, with significant accumulations

 

*Detritus comprises of dust, mud, soil, grit, gravel, stones, rotted leaf and vegetable residues, and fragments of twigs, glass, plastic and other finely divided materials. Detritus includes leaf and blossom falls when they have substantially lost their structure and have become mushy or fragmented. A significant and avoidable source of detritus is uncollected grass cuttings.

 

Any road that falls below a Grade B will need to be cleaned. The road might need a litter pick, a mechanical sweep, both a litter pick and a mechanical sweep (a full cleanse) or no action whatsoever. All roads that have been inspected by the Area leader will have digital photograph captured. We will store all details name of road, grade awarded, date and time of the inspection and what cleansing has taken place. By completing check sheets and capturing photographs this will provide a robust record.

Each zone will have a team leader and the team leaders will have a number of resources (staff and equipment) that they are responsible for and will use for cleansing their zone. The team leaders will deploy these resources to areas that have been graded and the appropriate cleansing will take place.

This means that only roads that need to be cleansed will be cleaned. The resources that would have been used to clean a road that was already at an acceptable level of cleanliness (old way of working) will now be used to only clean roads that have fallen below acceptable level. By only using the street cleansing resources to clean roads that needs to be cleansed will give the opportunity to increase the productivity (compared to the old way of working) of the street cleansing department. It will also release resources to perform more thorough cleaning on those areas which require it.

How will we apply area based cleansing to the current cleansing team?

 

The current cleansing team will be divided into two teams. Each team will work in either Area A or Area B. There will be even divide of staff according to skill level. Each team will have an equal number of large sweeper drivers, small sweeper drivers, large lorry drivers, small lorry drivers and staff without driving licenses.

There will be some type of work that will not change. Some work will still need to be done as it currently is:

·         Removal of reported of fly tips

·         Daily cleansing of School fronts and Shopping parade

·         Regular cleansing of recycling sites

·         Removal of dead animals on the highways

·         Delivery and collection of wheelie bins

·         Requests of service from members of the public, elected members or MBC staff

This work will be performed by both teams with each team being responsible for this work in their own areas.

How will the Area based cleaning affect the current street cleansing employees, will they need extra training, will there be a change in their responsibilities?

 

The role of an Area leader

The old ‘Team Leader’ role will become ‘Area Leader’. The Area Leader will hold the key to the area based cleansing scheme working correctly. The team leader will decide if a road should or should not be cleansed. The Area Leader will visit every road in the borough in each Area over a 5 week period and some roads more then once.  A full list of roads separated into each day’s work will serve as the team leaders’ check/monitoring sheets. Photographic evidence will be recorded to support any decision that is made. Once the decision has been made on what cleansing should take place (if any) the team leader will deploy the member(s) of there team to bring the standard of the road to an acceptable standard. The team leader will then check to make sure that the road has been cleansed to acceptable standard.

The Area Leader will need to:

• Have the ability to supervise and motivate a manual street cleansing work force
• Fully understand the area based cleaning approach and guide operatives in this new way of working
• Good decision making skills

• Have good local knowledge
• Be able to make direct contact with the public, councillors and working partners
•  Have good knowledge of Defra Ni195.
• Complete and process all necessary documentation

 

 

The role of a Charge hand

The Charge hand role will still be needed to support the Area leader. They will need to carry out the same type of duties as in the frequency based working but may be in different locations and maybe with different personnel.  The charge hands will support the Area leaders but they will still be working operatives. The Charge hands will also cover any absence of the Area leader.

 

The role of Street cleansing Operatives

The street cleansing operative roles will not change. They will carry out the same duties but in a different way of working. They maybe in different locations but there will be no change in responsibility.

 

The street cleansing supervisor will check 10% of all work that has been carried out and the cleanliness of any road at any given time. The complaints/request of services will also be dealt with within the area based teams.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What are the advantages/disadvantages of Area based cleansing

Advantages

·         More efficient use of resources by cleaning areas based on demand

·         More flexibility within cleaning teams.

·         A better ability to deal with unpredictable fluctuations in demand.

·         A better ability to visit problem areas more often.

·         This approach should improve the overall perception of street cleanliness within the borough, particularly in areas where there is currently lowest perception

·         Every road in Maidstone will be visited at least once every 5 weeks.

·         Can be implemented quickly.

 

Disadvantages

·         Members of the public may be expecting a certain type of cleansing at certain time. This may affect public perception.

·         Some parishes may feel that they are receiving a ‘lesser’ service.

·         Maybe misunderstood by the public.