Online and Addtional Member Support:
Membership fees start from as little as £900 per annum, per organisation.
Used well, our membership service has no real cost and can save money for our clients – how?
Can local authorities require bins to be brought in off highway by section 46 EPA?
Answer:
YES. It is interesting that recent indications from the government suggest the government is considering legislation to prevent the issue of penalties for failing to bring bins back in - this does of course suggest that the government accepts that such powers do currently exist. The situation remains the same notwithstanding the waste review, as the government acknowledges that removal of criminal penalty powers will require amendment of primary legislation.
Membership fees start from as little as £900 per annum, per organisation.
Used well, our membership service has no real cost and can save money for our clients – how?
Answer:
YES. It is interesting that recent indications from the government suggest the government is considering legislation to prevent the issue of penalties for failing to bring bins back in - this does of course suggest that the government accepts that such powers do currently exist. The situation remains the same notwithstanding the waste review, as the government acknowledges that removal of criminal penalty powers will require amendment of primary legislation.
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Continues...... Regardless of the fact that several authorities have already obtained convictions in relation to non-compliance with such requirements, the answer is contained in section 46 itself: Section 46 provides that no requirement may be made to place a receptacle on highway unless consent has been obtained from the highway authority and there are sufficient insurance arrangements in place. No highway authority may give open ended consent to widespread obstruction of highway. Placement for collections necessarily involves recovery of any such receptacle as an essential part of that same process. To place a receptacle on highway and to leave it there is not a placement for collection, but an occupation of highway as a waste storage facility. Of course, in London, this is strengthened further by an amendment to section 46 that specifically states that requirements may be made to prevent detriment to amenity generally. I would add that the leaving of waste receptacles on highway is not only unsightly and obstructive but in many areas is known to be a significant contributor to other anti-social behaviour, such as arson and burglaries. |
Procedural evaluation and re-write services
Our corporate aim is to help our clients beyond simple training events. Extensive experience has shown that most of our clients have significant degrees of inherited bad practices and clutter built into their operating systems.
As with most systems we have found that our clients can benefit significantly from objective evaluation. We have also found that our clients often request training packages that are not particularly well focussed to their needs thereby wasting valuable resources.
A simple procedural review can not only identify errors in practices and law, but also procedural inefficiencies and avenues to simplify working practices and increase productivity without draining resources.
Below are some examples of work we have undertaken for clients:
Mallard Consultancy was asked to review and re-structure the street-scene service operated by an Olympic host London Borough in March of 2010. Following agreement upon appropriate changes the company was asked in April 2010 to carry out training for the officers concerned. In May 2010 the London Borough reported a 450% improvement in productivity. The Borough is currently experiencing a 700% improvement in productivity over pre-consultancy levels.
For one of our other clients we were asked simply to read and report upon the authority’s existing environmental regulation procedural manual. Our report identified that over 25% of the procedural manual was either significantly out of date or simply legally / procedurally incorrect. Fortunately, this report came as no surprise to the Head of Service in question and we were able very quickly to agree a re-write of the entire procedural document.
Our corporate aim is to help our clients beyond simple training events. Extensive experience has shown that most of our clients have significant degrees of inherited bad practices and clutter built into their operating systems.
As with most systems we have found that our clients can benefit significantly from objective evaluation. We have also found that our clients often request training packages that are not particularly well focussed to their needs thereby wasting valuable resources.
A simple procedural review can not only identify errors in practices and law, but also procedural inefficiencies and avenues to simplify working practices and increase productivity without draining resources.
Below are some examples of work we have undertaken for clients:
Mallard Consultancy was asked to review and re-structure the street-scene service operated by an Olympic host London Borough in March of 2010. Following agreement upon appropriate changes the company was asked in April 2010 to carry out training for the officers concerned. In May 2010 the London Borough reported a 450% improvement in productivity. The Borough is currently experiencing a 700% improvement in productivity over pre-consultancy levels.
For one of our other clients we were asked simply to read and report upon the authority’s existing environmental regulation procedural manual. Our report identified that over 25% of the procedural manual was either significantly out of date or simply legally / procedurally incorrect. Fortunately, this report came as no surprise to the Head of Service in question and we were able very quickly to agree a re-write of the entire procedural document.