Turn Cityclean into a '˜John Lewis' of the refuse and recycling world

As a councillor in Hove for the last three years, I have received more complaints about the refuse and recycling service than any other matter. There has been a succession of strikes, work-to-rules, and missed collections. The sight of overflowing bins, fly-tipped mattresses, and graffiti-scrawled communal bins has been so familiar that it is often met with a resigned shrug. Recycling levels are now pretty much the lowest in the country.

In truth, though, this is nothing really new. The refuse service in Brighton has had problems for 30 years, and this sorry history spread to Hove when the unitary council was created. The concept of customer service is virtually non-existent and industrial relations are reminiscent of British Leyland in the 1970s.

The responsibility for this lies with all of us. Militant union leaders, weak management, and poor leadership by councillors have all played their part. When Labour privatised the service, it failed; and it is clearly now failing again with the council running it.

There is no need for it to be like this. Canvassing in Portslade and Mile Oak last week, I was struck by how many residents relayed stories of missed collections (sometimes for five weeks) while their next-door neighbours who live in Fishersgate receive a top-quality service from Adur District Council, which also managed to reduce the council tax they pay.

What is the answer?

I was the first councillor to visit the picket line at the height of the last Cityclean strike. Some people thought this was a strange move from a Conservative politician, but I wanted to hear first hand from Cityclean workers why they are so dissatisfied. It is no good me, as a local politician, moaning about the situation, but not coming up with any positive proposals for improving the situation. I spent 30 minutes or so speaking with the drivers on the picket line. The union leaders did not interfere at all, and were happy for me to directly hear the views of those on the front line.

To some extent, the conversations confirmed my suspicion that the successive disputes are symptomatic of a wider breakdown of trust and relationships between the "workers" and "management" within Cityclean.

The drivers told me that the re-organisation introduced in September (after the last strike) made it impossible for the teams to complete their rounds. New technology has been introduced, but it keeps breaking down. Timings were based on the - admittedly anachronistic - "task and finish" rule and were, of course, found to be somewhat optimistic when workers could no longer go home if they finished their round early. The advice of drivers was ignored over decisions on what new trucks to buy; they felt the consultation was tokenistic and the decision had already been made before they were asked.

There was a widespread observation that while the front line has been cut, extra layers of management have been introduced. As one man put it: "There are loads more people walking round with clipboards, and fewer people picking up the rubbish".

In fairness, all the drivers recognised there is no more money and they need to be more efficient. They were fizzing with ideas to improve the service - for example, amalgamating refuse and recycling, which would achieve economies and improve the service; use of different types of trucks in different areas - smaller ones work better in the Victorian streets, while larger ones are a better fit for the suburbs; take out a line of management and give frontline staff more flexibility and responsibility; replace managers with team leaders who "can sort problems out" and so on.

Some of these ideas might be impossible or too expensive. The point is that the staff feel undervalued and not part of the team.

Therefore, I think the time is now right to reform Cityclean to make it like a "John Lewis"-style company, where the workers own it and take pride in their work.

I would like to see them deliver a great service - so good that they are able to expand into commercial, garden, and food waste collection and bid for contracts in other authorities.

That's a little while off yet, but my visit to the picket line ultimately encouraged me that this could actually work for the staff and long-suffering residents. Let's consider making Brighton and Hove the first mutualised refuse service in the country.

Graham Cox, a city councillor representing Westbourne, is the Conservative Party's parliamentary candidate for Hove.