Bury Council

• Client: Bury Council
• Industry: Public Sector
• Service: Bill Analysis/Water Audit
• Cost Saving: Over £85,500 backdated refunds and £35,000 year on year savings
• Water Company: United Utilities

Detail:

Bury Council consists of six towns, Bury, Ramsbottom, Tottington, Radcliffe, Whitefield and Prestwich. Formed in April 1974, it was one of the ten original districts that formed the County of Greater Manchester. The Borough has an area of 9,919 hectares and serves a population of 181,300. Bury Council instructed RM Water Services to reduce water and waste water charges across its portfolio of sites.

RM Water Services developed an implementation plan with Bury Council based on the Council’s needs and  objectives. The first step in reducing charges was to complete a full “Bill Analysis” of the Council’s Urban Park sites to establish both the past and current charges. The accuracy of the Water Companies charges was then tested when RMWS completed site surveys.  The surveys were used to gather information about site drainage that together with a complete understanding of the Water Companies scheme of charges formed the basis of the subsequent negotiations with United Utilities.

From this initial stage RM Water Services successfully reduced charges at a number of the Council’s urban park and car park sites saving the council over £120,500.

Throughout this process, RM Water Services held regular progress meetings with Bury Council and also provided detailed reports which enabled Bury Council to understand, at any stage, how the project was progressing and performing against the key performance indicators developed in the tender and project planning process.

RM Water Services is now investigating options for the Council to further reduce costs through an invest to save initiative.

Clients Comments: The Council’s Facilities Manager Tom Buggie comments “RM Water Services have taken control of the process from start to finish and have provided a very high standard of service. We were impressed right from the outset with the meticulous approach RM Water Services adopted during the tender process. This approach has continued throughout the fulfilment of phase one of the project. This has not only resulted in significant savings, but has also given Bury Council the confidence that we are now being correctly charged. I have been impressed by RM Water Services’ desire to build a long term relationship with Bury Council.

We really look forward to rolling out phase two of this project which will see RM Water Services act for Bury Council across our total portfolio of sites. This will involve assessing charges at other parks, civic and municipal buildings, car parks and allotments.”