Liverpool City Council to take direct control of environmental services

Liverpool City Council is moving to take direct control of key environmental services, including waste collection, street cleaning, and park maintenance, in a bid to improve cleanliness, enhance recycling rates, and reduce carbon emissions city-wide.

These services have been delivered by Liverpool Streetscene Services Ltd (LSSL) since 2016, a Council-owned subsidiary. However, a report scheduled for the Council Cabinet’s 12 November meeting is expected to recommend bringing LSSL staff directly under the Council’s management.

Now a report to the Council’s Cabinet, which meets on Tuesday 12 November, is recommending that staff from LSSL are brought back under the direct control of the Council to deliver a year-round environmental programme for residents and businesses.

Although this move will have no direct impact on the collection of household waste, it will be part of a wider drive to improve the city’s low recycling rates and to strengthen environmental enforcement action.

Once delivered, it is anticipated the City’s new approach to waste management will ensure services are joined up and working efficiently over the coming decade, as well as radically reducing the city’s domestic carbon emissions.

Next week’s recommendation has been heavily influenced by responses from the Council’s annual residents’ survey, in which the cleanliness of the City was identified as their number one priority.

The Council has already invested significantly based on this feedback, recruiting 18 new Streetscene staff to focus on litter this year, with more being hired to target enforcement on issues such as flytipping.

Liverpool, which has witnessed the installation of the biggest network of urban underground bins in the UK, is also currently piloting solar bins as the Council seeks to explore innovative ways to tackle environmental challenges.

The Council has also improved its weed management schedule in response to warmer and wetter winters and has continued its new green maintenance programme to encourage more biodiversity in the City’s parks and open spaces – both elements delivered by LSSL staff.

A number of factors have caused the Council to rethink the out-sourced model, such as upcoming national legislation on food recycling rates and the Council’s decision to invest in the introduction of a new Neighbourhood model.

The Council established a joint working group between LSSL, which employs more than 600 staff, and Council managers to establish a way forward, and together found that an insourcing arrangement would also enable stronger enforcement against environmental crime and anti-social behaviour.

The transfer of LSSL Staff, which will involve consultation with all stakeholders, will take place over the next year and is due to be completed by 31^st October 2025.

WASTE FACT: Liverpool’s recycling rate is the second lowest in the country. Just 17.9% of household waste was re-used, composted, or recycled in 2022/23. This results in both high costs for disposal, and high levels of carbon emissions.

Work on a new recycling and waste strategy is currently taking place, to establish key improvement targets and to identify operational service improvements, resident awareness/education campaigns, and posts required to deliver the change. 

It is anticipated this new strategy will be presented to Cabinet in early 2025.

Council Leader, Councillor Liam Robinson said: 

“This recommendation is a clear example of Liverpool City Council listening to residents about what issues they most want to see sorted, and looking at ways to continually evolve and improve.

“Insourcing is not a decision we have taken lightly, but there is clear evidence that having all of our environmental services under one roof can create positive benefits and outcomes for the City’s residents. 

“I want to be crystal clear that this is no reflection on the staff at Liverpool Streetscene Services Ltd, who have consistently delivered tremendous work.

“This move is about the Council prioritising and putting in place the right conditions to drive innovation and efficiency across our services, bringing direct benefits to the people of Liverpool who depend on them.”

Councillor Laura Robertson-Collins, Cabinet member for Communities, Neighbourhoods and Streetscene, added:

“Liverpool’s streets and parks are the number one concern for our residents, and this Council.

“How we maintain them as well as collect, manage and recycle waste and enforce against dumping and littering is an issue that we have been looking at intensively for the past 18 months. This has already led to a number of improvements and new investment.

“The next step in the journey is to provide environmental services that better reflect the needs of each community and the best way to achieve that flexible approach is to insource the staff from Liverpool Streetscene Services Ltd.

“This move would also provide new opportunities for further innovation and efficiency, bringing direct benefits to our residents and businesses as well as improving the overall cleanliness of our City.”

More info on Liverpool Streetscene Services Ltd here.

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