There are many issues that exercise the political class, issues that we think do or ought to play a major part in everyone’s lives. Talk to most local councillors (and, indeed, MPs) from all parties and all areas of the country and most will say that one of the issues that really do exercise residents is environmental, or neighbourhood, services – put bluntly, dog muck politics! This is something we as Labour representatives have to get right if we are also to act on other issues that motivate us.
People want clean streets, the grass cut and trees pruned. An area full of fly-tips, graffiti, abandoned trollies and unkept public spaces can soon lead to a neighbourhood looking uncared for, which means people lose respect for the area. A whole range of other issues, including antisocial behaviour, can then ensue. Most holders of my role in other councils will confirm that one unattended fly tip can soon lead to 10 and therefore the role of our street cleaners are so crucial. But like every other council service, neighbourhood services have been cut as part of the frontloaded government cuts to local government.
At Telford and Wrekin council we have taken over 20 per cent out of this budget. However, as a cooperative council we were eager to ensure that communities were not, in effect, 20 per cent worse off.
We along with a number of parish and town councils created ‘parish environmental teams’ which are resources dedicated to each small area of a full-time operative and, depending on the agreement, one or two apprenticeships for local young people. These teams’ workplans are set by local residents, businesses and parish and town councils. As a result they tackle the areas that need the service, as opposed to a blanket coverage that a standard contract would imply.
We also doubled the number of ‘rapid response teams’ which react to urgent matters within 24 hours. Rapid response teams allow for the council to react ‘on report’, which is something that is crucial to the cooperative council approach – we want our residents to report issues in their neighbourhoods. When a resident takes the time to report an issue the council must have the capacity to react accordingly. Although we have target times, such as to dealing with fly-tips within two days, the respond response teams mean that residents can see reports being dealt with, on occasions, within the hour.
Over the summer we asked residents, parish councils, businesses and groups to suggest the location of a bin. A simple idea but over 300 extra bins were installed, bringing the number in the borough to around 3,000 – meaning that there is nearly always an opportunity to ‘do the right thing’.
Finally, we are developing a new scheme of ‘street champions’ and ‘junior street champions’, residents who are our eyes in the community reporting issues to the council to resolve, for example, a fly-tip. But increasingly these residents who take real ownership in their communities supported by local elected members are organising litter-picks and similar clean-ups.
Taking hundreds of thousands of pounds out of a budget is always hard and full of challenges and, of course, there will be inevitably a impact on the frontline. A cooperative council approach to neighbourhood services is one that should be adopted in any financial climate – but woe betide the council leader or MP that underestimates the importance of dog muck politics!
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Shaun Davies is cabinet member for neighbourhood services and cooperative council at Telford and Wrekin council. He was first elected to the council in May 2011. He tweets @cllrshaundavies
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