New half billion pound bin waste collection contract in Surrey
New £632 million deal to affect rubbish collection for 190,000 households
Major changes to how 190,000 Surrey household’s rubbish is collected are coming after a new £632 million waste contract was agreed.
For the past decade bins in Surrey Heath, Woking, Runnymede and Elmbridge have been collected under a joint waste partnership, but that contract comes to an end this year after Amey decided it is leaving the industry.
Taking their place will be Veolia in a deal that could last up to 21 years, although it will first run for an initial seven-year period.
The councils said they have carried out a review of collection services and found demand had increased to the point where changes would need to be made to operational arrangements.
In addition to waste collection the contract will cover street cleansing, excluding in Woking as that is already included within a separate grounds maintenance contract.
The customer service centre, previously based in Liverpool, will now move to Surrey as part of the deal.
The contract will start in June 2027with two further options to extend up to a maximum period to 21 years.
Officers believe that a relatively short initial term provides the new East Surrey and West Surrey Councils greater flexibility in future strategic decision-making.
The councils said they have taken on board lessons from the current contract to make improvements; including changes to how frequently streets are cleaned, and a new bookable service to collect small electrical items, batteries and textiles.
The new contract was agreed in July by the borough councils and later supported by West and East Surrey Councils – as all contract above £1m now need to be signed off by the shadow authorities before they formally take over next year.
The financial details were kept private by the councils and not made public until the tender details were published in August.
Surrey Heath Borough Councillor Morgan said: “Back in 2016 four Surrey councils, Elmbridge, Mole Valley, Surrey Heath and Woking jointly procured a contract for the statutory waste collection for all councils and street cleansing services, not including Woking so that all councils could benefit from cost efficiencies.
“The contract was awarded to Amey for an initial 10-year term, the term expires in June 2027.
“Joint Way Solutions manages the contract on behalf of the four councils under the administration of Surrey Heath. But it’s funded by all four.
“The decision to re-procure the contract was as a result of Amey confirming that it was exiting the waste market and would not want to extend the waste contract.”
Cllr Leanne Macintyre (Liberal Democrat:Town Ward) said the new contract demonstrated hard work, sensible budgeting and a good understanding of the needs of the residents.
She did note a word of caution and asked how they would ensure they would learn from previous issues to have a more robust operational model going forward.
Cllr Valerie White (Conservative: Bagshot) said: “The only thing that concerns me, and I know it is going to sound trivial, but it could turn into a major situation, are the possible changes of collection dates.
“Please,please, please can we ensure that if there is any change of days , they are well advertised.
Cllr Rise said there were no plans for immediate changes but that there would be an optimisation process under the new contract which could result in changes.
“I can’t specify the time period but I would agree that there should be a significant amount of time between notification and the change.
He added: “The exact details of how those changes would be communicated would be the responsibility of the new unitary councils coming into effect.”