A few weeks ago, we gave you an honest update about the challenges we've been facing with missed and delayed bin collections, and we told you about the steps we were putting in place to get our waste and recycling services back on track.

Since then, we've carried out a detailed review and developed a recovery and stabilisation plan to tackle the root causes of the issues we've been facing and make the service more resilient. This plan is the first part of a wider improvement plan.

In doing this work, it's really clear that the challenges we're facing are wider than any single issue. Shortages of HGV drivers and loading staff, an increase in vehicle breakdowns, the impact of the recent hot weather on both our collection vehicles and our crews, and collection rounds that no longer reflect population growth have all played a part.

The good news is that a significant amount of work is already happening, and the situation is improving.

People are our first priority. We need more trained staff to deliver a reliable service and to prepare for food waste collections coming later this year. We're continuing to run a recruitment campaign and have filled almost 30 posts in the last few weeks, including HGV drivers, with more staff to follow. Apprenticeships and new recruitment paths are being developed to strengthen the workforce.

We've also carried out benchmarking to understand how our driver pay compares with other employers in the area and have made changes to ensure we remain competitive in a very challenging market and can attract experienced HGV drivers. We're also working to overcome delays in HGV licence approvals, which is another challenge.

ALSO READ: Cheshire East Council apologises to residents over missed bin collections

Our second priority is our vehicles. The impact of a broken vehicle on bin collections is significant. We're working to reduce the potential of this happening, including by replacing our vehicles after five years rather than seven, so there's less risk of things going wrong and us needing to carry out expensive repairs.

Another area of focus is the collection operation itself. Some of our collection rounds, especially in areas where new housing developments have been built, no longer reflect the actual number of bins we need to collect.

We're now redesigning the routes and testing them with our collection crews, who know the routes best.

Extreme weather – a major challenge all councils face. This year has brought both heavy snow and high temperatures, and they've had a significant impact. We're looking at how we can be better prepared for these challenges and call on more support when conditions are tough.

Another issue residents have consistently raised with us is communication.

We know it's frustrating to not know why a bin has been missed or when it will be collected. To address this, we're improving our reporting systems, and providing better online information and more timely service updates. We're also giving customer services colleagues better access to information so they can provide quicker answers, and team leaders have more time to focus on resolving more complex issues.

These are just some of the key pieces of work we're doing to improve the situation, and we know we need to do even more.

Residents deserve to have their bins collected on time, week in, week out, and we're working hard to ensure we can do that.

I want to be clear that there is no overnight solution. We collect around a quarter of a million bins every week. It's a huge operation and when faced with multiple challenges – not all in our control – it takes time to turn things around.

However, we now know what needs to change and we have a clear delivery plan, specific actions, defined milestones and performance measures to track progress, and we are seeing positive progress.

Finally, I would once again like to apologise to everyone who has been affected by service disruption and thank residents for their patience. I would also like to thank our drivers, loaders, mechanics and support staff who continue to work extremely hard to provide an essential service to communities across Cheshire East.

Councillor David Jefferay - Cheshire East Council cabinet member for environment, sustainability and waste management

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