Witney News - Depot services change will save money while keeping high standards

Depot services change will save money while keeping high standards

West Oxfordshire District Council is making further efficiency savings by working together with a local-authority owned company to deliver street cleansing, grounds maintenance, sandbag provision and other depot services.

The District Council is becoming an equal shareholder of Ubico Ltd, joining Cotswold District Council, Forest of Dean District Council, Cheltenham and Tewkesbury Borough Councils.

Frank Wilson, Strategic Director at West Oxfordshire District Council said: “The Council has a good track record of making efficiency savings, and many of these have been through joint working and so this is the next step in developing this further.

“For residents, it will be business as usual and there will be no change in services provided, with the same workers performing the same jobs to same high standard that the people of West Oxfordshire have come to expect.”

The move will save around £60,000 of Council taxpayers’ money per year, by reducing operational costs and streamlining services, while increasing resilience and maintaining the good quality services on the ground.

Services that will move under the Ubico umbrella include street cleansing, grounds maintenance, tree surgery, commercial waste collection, bulky waste collection, clinical waste collection, public toilet cleansing and stocking community sandbag points during times of flood.

There will be no changes to the Council’s household waste and recycling collection service, which is currently delivered on the Council’s behalf by Kier under a contract which runs until 2017.