Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Kevin Bingham and Mary Evans (Residents Representatives).

The minutes of the meeting held on 7 June 2017 were agreed.

Minute No. 10 – Reed Walk

Reference was made to the responsibility for the pumping station at Reed Walk.  Simon Ruddy had spoken to the Service Lead Housing Assets at ECC, who had advised that options were being explored to install a more robust pump to cope with the quantities of rag being detected.  A leaflet had been distributed to residents, and Nick Murch also advised that SWW had a leaflet which advises on how to dispose of fat, oils and grease which could also be delivered to residents.

Matthews were contracted by ECC to service the pumping station and it was understood that telemetry equipment would be installed.  Simon Ruddy would obtain a further update from ECC and report back.

Nick Murch confirmed that the pumping station would not meet the SWW criteria to be adopted.

Minute No. 10 – Odour Management Plan (OMP)

Nigel Thomas-Childs reported that the first draft of the OMP had been discussed and further amended.  The Plan included areas identified for improvement, actions taken and lessons learnt.  Some actions included in the document, such as tankers to drain quickly etc are what SWW were doing already, but this was a way of documenting that.

Some areas needed further expanding and Nick Much would follow this up.

Following the refurbishment of tank no. 1, work would be undertaken on the remaining three tanks - the next tank will be refurbished commencing on 10 October, then 2 November and 27 November.  It was anticipated all would be completed by 19 December.

Nick Murch referred to the number of complaints received by SWW.  As a comparison, last year had seen 102 complaints to date, with only five received this year, three of which had been identified has not attributable to SWW.

There had been a significant improvement in operational management and more resilience in tanks but this will not change the odours.

Exeter City Council had received 22 complaints to date this year compared to 67 last year.

A noise complaint had recently been received but the source had not been identified.

A residents representative commented that recent complaints on odours made direct to SWW had not been responded to fully.  Nick Murch advised that a member of the Proactive Team had left SWW and it was unlikely that this role would be filled due to the reduction in the number of complaints being received.  It was advised to log any complaints with Exeter City Council and to ring the SWW number on 0344 346 2020 to ensure it is logged with SWW.

Nick Murch advised the Group that he would be leaving SWW in January 2018.

The date of the next meeting would be arranged in due course.