The Overview and Scrutiny Committee of Gedling Council are scheduled to meet on Monday 29 September 2025 to review performance, discuss partnership working, and consider the scrutiny work programme. The committee will be examining the work of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), and will also be looking at fly-tipping and litter management across the borough. Councillors will also be updated on the Carlton Town Board and the Gedling Plan.

Fly tipping, litter and waste management

The Overview and Scrutiny committee are scheduled to discuss a review of fly tipping, litter and waste management across the borough. The report pack includes a Scrutiny Report Sept 25 - Fly Tipping which is intended to advise members of the current situation, and to suggest that the committee forms a working group to review the approach to litter and waste management operations.

The report notes that Public Protection Services are responsible for the council's fly tipping enforcement response, and Parks and Street Cleansing Services are responsible for the collection of fly tipping and litter management. The report focuses on the role the Parks and Street Cleansing teams play in the collection of fly-tipping rather than the investigation into individual fly-tipping incidents, and also covers the wider street cleansing litter collection role and an update on the current position of waste services in the collection of trade and residential waste.

The report states that a restructure of management and supervisory roles was undertaken across environmental operations in early 2025, and was focused on putting the appropriate tiers of management in place to improve operational services. The report recognises that this change in structure has had some impacts on operational services particularly in respect of waste services as new posts stood vacant and previous post holders left.

It is also recognised that some of the new postholders will require development support in their new roles but having strong management and supervision in place is essential to ensure service improvement.

The report also notes that a detailed review of current working practices, policy and service delivery is underway to ensure environmental operations are streamlined to improve efficiency and cost effectiveness.

The report also mentions the introduction of the Simpler Recycling regime, which is expected to impact operations as changes to collections are implemented in line with legislation¹. From March 2026, changes to trade waste collections began including the requirement to collect food waste from businesses with more than 10 employees and the requirement for trade recycling collections. From March 2026 small businesses will also require food collection with food collection rolled out to domestic properties by November 2027. The council have received some additional funding through the Extended Producer Responsibility Regulations 2024 to support Simpler Recycling.

The report notes that in January 2025, implementation of a new Waste and Parks Software Management system - Whitespace began. This system is now fully implemented for domestic waste collections with all drivers being provided with in cab devices and crews trained on use of the system.

The report also identifies challenges in relation to waste services, including sickness levels which is putting pressure on agency spend, and a higher than average complaint rate in relation to missed bins. In parks and street cleansing, lack of data is identified as a challenge.

The report provides an update on the Fleet, noting that the Fleet Capital replacement fund has supplied Street Cleansing with two new medium sized town centre/ pavement sweeping Schmidt Swingo's in 2024/25, and two new large mechanical sweepers.

The report also notes that Street Cleansing teams actively supported and engaged in the Big Gedling Spring Clean programme, as part of the national Keep Britain Tidy campaign².

In relation to the collection and clearing of reported fly tips the Council has a key performance indicator in respect of clearance of fly-tips which sets a performance target of 98% of fly-tips cleared within 10 working days of reporting. In 2025/26 at the end of quarter 1 this target was missed slightly with collection rates of 94.54%.

The report includes appendix 1 - fly tipping data 202223 202425.

The report proposes that the committee note the details of the report and agrees to form a working group to complete a thorough review of fly tipping, litter and waste management.

Gedling Plan

The committee are scheduled to discuss the Gedling Plan Quarter 1 Performance Report. The Gedling Plan Q1 2025-26 report is intended to inform members of the position against Performance Indicators and Annual Delivery Plan Actions in Quarter 1 of 2025/26.

The report notes that in March 2025 Cabinet agreed to the annual delivery plan with 52 actions spanning 6 themes:

• Customer Experience and Communities Programme
• Smarter Working Programme
• Depot Modernisation Programme
• Gedling Growth
• Leisure Transformation
• Governance Control Framework

The number of milestones due to be completed in Quarter 1 was 30 and completion rate is 100%.

There are 30 performance indicators which are monitored on a quarterly basis in 2025/26. In Q1, 12 of these indicators either met or exceeded their target, 8 were below target, 7 indicators are for tracking purposes only and for 3 indicators data is not available.

Examples of particularly positive performance include:

• Percentage of Business Rates Collected
• Percentage of calls to the contact centre answered (or call back made) - 12 month rolling total
• Percentage of Calls to customer service answered within SLA (40 seconds)
• Number of affordable homes delivered (gross)
• Percentage of Major planning applications processed within 13 weeks
• Percentage of Minor planning applications processed within 8 weeks
• Percentage of other planning applications processed within 8 weeks
• Number of rented households with health and safety hazards that fall below the minimum legal standard that have been remediated following the council's intervention

The following performance indicators missed their target in Q1:

• Percentage of customers that are satisfied with overall customer service
• Percentage of Council Tax collected
• Housing Benefits /Council Tax Reduction Scheme time taken to process new claims
• Housing Benefit /Council Tax Reduction Scheme time taken to process changes in circumstances
• Net additional homes provided
• Number of long term (over 12 months) empty homes in the Borough returned to use as a result of Gedling Borough Council intervention
• Percentage of fly tipping incidents removed within 10 working days

The report also notes that in Q1 2025/26 the council received 74 compliments, which is about 20% fewer compliments received than in the previous quarter, and 252 complaints were received in 2025/26, which is 123% higher rate of complaints received than in the previous quarter. 77% of the total number of complaints that the council received in Q1 2025/26, related to Waste Services.

The report includes appendix A - Gedling Plan Q1 2025-26 Performance Indicators and appendix B - Gedling Plan Q1 2025-26 Annual Deliver Plan Actions.

Corporate Risk Management

The committee are scheduled to receive a Corporate Risk Management Update for Quarter 1 2025/26. The Corporate Risk Management Reiew Quarter 1 2025-26 is intended to update members on the current level of assurance that can be provided against each corporate risk.

The report notes that the current Risk Management Strategy & Framework was approved and adopted by Cabinet on 28 March 2024, and that following adoption of the new framework, a project has been underway to simplify the process of risk review and management by using the Council's performance management system, Ideagen to track risk.

The report states that in quarter 1 there has been several changes to risk levels across the 13 corporate risks. There has been an increase in risk 2 Capacity, Risk 6 Reputation and risk 12 Service Standards performance. The increase in these risk levels link to issues within waste services where increased sickness levels and management changes which left a temporary shortfall in managerial capacity have impacted on performance.

There has been a decrease in risk level on risk 3 Health and Safety at Work as a result of a thorough risk review within parks which has lowered the risk level from 9-6 combined with capacity improving within the health and safety team. There has also been a reduction in risk around contractual partnerships now that a new Procurement Manager and shared service provider have been appointed to support procurement. Finally, there has been a reduction in risk level from 6-4 in relation to projects due to improved project reporting systems and good performance on projects reported in Q1.

The report includes appendix 1 Corproate Risk Register Quarter 1 2025-26, appendix 2 Risk Scoring Matrix and appendix 3 Risk Definitions.

Carlton Town Board

The committee are scheduled to receive an update on the Carlton Town Board. The GCPfN - Overview and Scrutiny Committee update 29 09 25 is intended to provide an update on progress and activity within the Greater Carlton Plan for Neighbourhoods programme.

The report notes that on the 6 March 2024, the Council was notified by the former Government that the Long Term Plan for Towns funding programme that had been announced in September 2023 had been extended to include Carlton. Gedling Borough Council as the accountable body subsequently established a Town Board and appointed Sir John Peace to the role of independent Chair.

The work of the Board was paused in December 2024, awaiting the publication of a new prospectus and technical guidance by the Labour Government. The new, Plan for Neighbourhoods: prospectus was published on 7 March 2025.

The report notes that the government supported the establishment of new Neighbourhood Boards, and that each board will, in partnership with their local authority, develop a 'Regeneration Plan', setting out its vision for the next decade alongside a more detailed 'Investment Plan' for the first 4 years of the programme. The Council must submit its 'Regeneration Plan' and '4 year Investment Plan' to MHCLG³ by Friday the 28th of November 2025.

The report also notes that Sir John Peace announced that he would be stepping down from his role as independent Chair, and that in April 2025, the Board appointed David Stewart to the role.

The report states that the 10-year Regeneration Plan will focus on targeted investment and partnership working across five priority areas:

1. Skills and Learning: Supporting residents to shape their own futures by providing opportunities to learn, retrain, and develop new skills.
2. Youth and Aspirations: Empowering young people to achieve their full potential through safe, accessible community spaces and education activities.
3. Health and Wellbeing: Investing in green spaces, heritage and leisure assets, and community hubs to improve physical and mental wellbeing. Supporting community organisations to deliver inclusive activities and events.
4. Local Economy and Business Growth: Enhancing high streets and retail areas and providing tailored support to help local businesses grow and innovate.
5. Safety and Feelings of Safety: Investing in crime and antisocial behaviour prevention to ensure more people are safe and feel safe in their communities.

The 10 year Regeneration Plan' and '4 year Investment Plan' will be taken to a Special Cabinet meeting on the 20th of November 2025 for approval before final submission to MHCLG on November 28th 2025.

Programme of Portfolio Holder performance

The committee are scheduled to consider the area of responsibility of Councillor Viv McCrossen, Portfolio Holder for Climate Change and Natural Habitat and Councillor Marje Paling, Portfolio Holder for Environmental Services (Operations) as part of the programme of holding the executive to account.

Councillor Viv McCrossen has responsibility for:

• Carbon management and climate change.
• Carbon sequestration (offsetting) through blue/green infrastructure.
• Maintenance and development of parks and open spaces.
• Provision of play parks, pitches and other play facilities.
• Tree planting, woodland, and wildflower meadow areas.
• Air and water quality.
• Flood mitigation.

Councillor Marje Paling has responsibility for:

• Maintenance of cemeteries and allotments.
• Waste management and recycling.
• Street cleansing.

The report detailing performance indicators for quarter 1 of 2025-26 is attached at appendix 1 to the report.

Partnership review

The committee are scheduled to consider the work of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) as part of the programme of reviewing the council's partners. The Partner review covering report - Department for Work and Pensions is intended to allow members to ask questions and make comment on the information provided. The Department for Work and Pensions team based at the Civic Centre, Arnold, will be attending the committee, providing members with an overview of the work of the organisation.

Scrutiny Work Programme

The committee are scheduled to discuss the scrutiny work programme. The WorkProgrammeReport - 29 September 2025 is intended to provide an update on the scrutiny work programme, and to allow the committee to discuss the draft work programme and identify any further areas for examination for the 2025/26 year.

The report notes that there will be future examination of the following areas which has been added into the programme:

• Partner performance
• Effectiveness of hybrid working
• Gedling Plan, performance priorities and projects
• Complaints update
• Welcome and warm spaces update.

The report also includes a list of potential partners to invite to the committee:

• Calverton Core
• Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB)
• Enforcement Agents (Council Tax Bailiffs)
• Friends of Bestwood Country Park
• Friends of Breck Hill
• Friends of Gedling Country Park
• Hope Nottingham
• Nottinghamshire County Council
• Rural Community Action Nottingham (RCAN)