The firm responsible for collecting waste in Merton was served with a formal Service Improvement Notice (SIN) on Monday, after years of pressure from the community.
Since 2003, the boroughs of Merton, Sutton, Kingston and Croydon, have managed the collection and disposal of public refuse collectively via the South London Waste Partnership, and outsource the task to private firm, Veolia.
In 2017, Veolia was awarded a contract for household waste collection, street cleansing, winter gritting, fleet management, commercial waste collection, as well as for managing the operations of the six Household Reuse and Recycling Centres in the area.
The contract stipulates sub-standard roads must be cleaned within 24 hours of notification.
Council figures indicate responses within this timeframe have fallen from 97% to just 39%.
The SLWP said: “The Partnership is responsible for monitoring the performance of these contracts and ensuring that local residents are getting good value for money from our commercial partners.”
The 24-year contract comes with a Service Performance Framework, laying out penalties to Veolia for failing to meet targets of missed collections of household rubbish, bulky waste and reported instances of fly-tipping.
The financial sums of these deductions were redacted.
Mark Gale, founder of Merton.TV, a website that records and broadcasts council meetings for the public, claims that evidence of Veolia missing these designated targets is regularly brought forward at Scrutiny Panel meetings.
Gale claimed the penalties are either not being enforced or are so insignificant to Veolia as to be accepted as a cost of doing business.
On 21 February, Merton Council bypassed the SLWP and served Veolia directly with the SIN.
In a Tuesday statement announcing the action, Councillor Natasha Irons, Merton’s cabinet member for local environment and green spaces said: “Over a sustained period of time, Veolia have consistently failed to meet their contractual obligations, and we are not afraid to take action to drive much needed improvement.”
Veolia now have ten working days to respond with an action plan and a timetable for improvement.
On Thursday, Croydon council followed suit with its own SIN to Veolia.
In response, a spokesperson for the SLWP said: “Some of the boroughs are sufficiently concerned to have decided to serve Veolia with formal Service Improvement Notices.
“The concerns and challenges are different in each of those boroughs, so it was appropriate to issue separate notices that reflect the concerns in their local areas. This is entirely consistent with the contractual performance management arrangements.
“We look forward to receiving Veolia’s improvement plans.”
This is not a new issue, with the press, public and politicians having long expressed their dismay at the state of “Mucky Merton.”
Siobhain McDonagh, Labour MP for the Mitcham and Morden constituency that encompasses Merton, said: “No one could look at the service of street sweeping and refuse collection and think it is good enough.
“The levels of fly-tipping are completely unacceptable and I am pleased that the council is committed to improving the quality of service.”
Liberal Democrat Matthew Willis, running for a Merton council seat in May said: “Many residents question the timing of a Service Improvement Notice for Veolia from a council that has been run by Labour since 2010. They seem to only be concerned by waste management in an election year.”
Tooting resident Richard Mulholland, 48, was driven to create the popular CleanUpMerton Twitter feed in response to the littered streets, uncollected waste and overflowing public bins in his neighbourhood.
Mulholland moved to the borough last year from Wandsworth and was appalled at Merton’s considerably dirtier streets despite his council tax bill doubling.
A Veolia spokesperson said: “We were disappointed to receive the improvement notices from Merton and Croydon Councils regarding specific elements of our service just as Covid-19 restrictions are ending.
“During the last two years our front-line waste collection and street cleansing teams have maintained service continuity for residents despite extremely challenging circumstances.
“We are already working closely in partnership with Merton Council to improve street cleansing services and are confident this will be delivered following its investment in new street cleansing equipment and our allocation of additional sweepers.
“In Croydon, the performance of our collection service continues to improve since the start of the year as staffing levels return to normal.”
You can read more about rubbish issues in Croydon here.
