A new, £70M street-cleaning, refuse and landscaping contract for a Hertfordshire district will pay contractor Serco according to how satisfied the public are with the streetscene.
Welwyn Hatfield Council’s new contract, which will run for 10-14 years, will enlist members of the public, arming them with personal digital assistants (PDAs) to photograph and then e-mail images of graffiti, fly-tipping and other problems. Serco’s remuneration for the deal, which started this week, will depend on quarterly customer satisfaction surveys, which Welwyn Hatfield said would give people ‘a real say’ in the service.