It is essential that strategic objectives and service priorities are clearly identified and communicated to all levels of the Council and service users.
Council strategies and policies, including Joint Municipal Waste Strategies, need to be dynamic and able to respond to change during their life – not just reviewed when they come to the end of the period for which they are current.
Being clear about statutory and non-statutory responsibilities, aims and objectives and how they will be achieved, what is and is not going to be done and how monitoring and review will take place must be well communicated.
Clarity of objective provides direction to all stakeholders be it operative, manager, elected member, service user or contract provider.
With the recent announcement of the review of waste policies by Defra, it is timely to review individual council policies, identifying where they may need to change, and where a change in national policy would assist in delivering better services or achieving targets.