Tower Hamlets faces challenges in key areas, including recycling rates and council tax collection, according to the latest performance report. The council's investment balance, however, remains higher than the average of other London and Metropolitan Boroughs.
The Strategic Delivery and Performance Report for Quarter 4 of year three, discussed at a recent Overview & Scrutiny Committee meeting, revealed that while the council has made progress in several areas, it is falling short of its targets for household recycling and council tax collection.
According to the Strategic Delivery and Performance Report Year Three Quarter 4, the level of household recycling, indicated by KPI 46, remains a significant challenge for the council. Ashraf Ali, Director of Public Realm, acknowledged the difficulties, stating that contamination remains a major issue, hovering around 28%.
One of the primary reasons for this high contamination rate is the accessibility of bins, which leads to abuse of fly-tipping and illegal waste dumping...from businesses where they're actually really dumping and contaminating the recycling.
Efforts to combat contamination include working with residents, RSLs, and various community organisations to educate and change behaviour. Despite these efforts, significant material changes have yet to be seen.
Councillor Nathir, while acknowledging the work being done, questioned whether the council could do anything differently to improve recycling rates. Ashraf responded that the council is exploring various initiatives, including incentives and competitions, to encourage residents to recycle more. These include ideas to attract people to actually recycle more by looking at how we can actually sort of encourage to go to recycling centres and recycle, or even competition within various states and ourselves...almost like a league table of competition over who can actually recycle a lot more.
Another area of concern is the council tax collection rate, indicated by KPI 52. While the collection rate has improved, Councillor Sabina Khan highlighted the difficulties residents face when trying to resolve issues with their bills, noting that the customer service experience needs improvement.
While the Budget Monitoring 2024-25 Provisional Outturn notes that homelessness pressures impacting Tower Hamlets are nationally recognised (particularly in London)
, the council's investment balance at the year-end remains higher than the average of other London and Metropolitan Boroughs.
Overall, the Strategic Performance Report paints a mixed picture of Tower Hamlets' performance. While the council has made strides in some areas, it faces significant challenges in others, particularly in improving recycling rates and ensuring efficient council tax collection.
