Exract of the Minutes from the Council Executive Wed 8th Feb 2006

122 EDGE OF PROPERTY REFUSE COLLECTION (Report 15).

Statements (for which due notice had been given) were made by Councillors Betty Perry, Phyllis Gay, Les Kew and Brian Webber in opposition to the recommendations. Councillor Brian Barrett also made a statement opposing the recommendations and calling for this to be deferred and considered in line with longer term solutions mentioned.

Councillors Tim Ball and Steve Hedges made statements in support of the recommendations.

Gordon Rawlings made a statement asking the Executive to reconsider.

Rae Harris, as the local contact for Living Streets, commented that the public realm could suffer if rubbish was left out the evening before collection.

Councillor Gerry Curran indicated that the proposals sought consistency across the district, as most areas already operated with edge of property collections. Councillor Curran also mentioned the improvements it was hoped this would bring to recycling targets, and referred to the health and safety concerns. These proposals were also in line with the recommendations of the Planning, Transportation, Economy and Sustainability Overview & Scrutiny Panel.

Councillor Sir Elgar Jenkins, in seconding the motion, remarked that these proposals were in line with national trends and would achieve financial savings, while improving recycling targets.

Councillor Francine Haeberling expressed reservations about having one system for a diverse range of households, but hoped that people with difficulties would get the assistance they needed.

Councillor Malcolm Hanney commented that this would contribute to the Council getting closer to the 50% recycling target.

Councillor Jonathan Gay felt that more education and awareness was needed to improve recycling. He felt that awareness should be raised about ID theft and the consequent care needed regarding disposal of personal information. He felt the issue of insurance needed to be clarified and that there was a need for a strategy for dealing with the rubbish from split bags. He informed the meeting that he would be abstaining.

Councillor Paul Crossley thanked the Overview & Scrutiny Panel for their assistance with consultation and in developing the recommendations. He also thanked those people who had written to him and indicated he would be responding to them all in due course. He stressed that the key issue was that there should not be much residual waste needing collection if effective recycling was taking place. He also added that the Council needed to move to same day collection as quickly as possible.

Councillor Vic Pritchard regretted that the service offered to residents under Wansdyke District Council was being withdrawn; purely for financial reasons in his view.

Councillor Nicole O'Flaherty agreed with the comments made regarding recycling but expressed concern that the emphasis of this proposal seemed not to focus on service provision and the needs of residents, but on the best solution for the Council as service provider. For this reason, Councillor O'Flaherty would vote against the proposal.

Councillor Gerry Curran, in summing up, assured the meeting that he had considered the genuine issues that had been raised. He pledged to work hard with Councillors and their residents to iron out any problems.

Rationale

Introducing edge of property rubbish collection reduces many health and safety risks and introduces a consistency of approach across the Council's refuse and recycling collection services which should have the effect of encouraging higher levels of recycling.

A further likely benefit of this change is that, in the area of households affected, levels of litter are likely to be reduced. This is due to the likelihood that refuse presented in an unacceptable condition will be reduced, whilst staff will be required to carry bags of refuse less distance.

Other options considered

To remain with back door collection - the health and safety issues that this presents for operatives are no longer acceptable. This was clearly stated during a recent inspection by the Health & Safety Executive. This option would continue the inconsistency of approach between the green box service and the composting collection service which already require the containers to be placed edge of property.

To implement wheeled bin collections, edge of property to ease manual handling and cleanliness issues - this will be addressed through the development of new service specifications which will be market tested to ensure affordability and to ensure the achievement of the Council's Waste Strategy targets.

On a motion from Councillor Gerry Curran, seconded by Councillor Sir Elgar Jenkins, it was

RESOLVED (6 for, 1 against, 1 abstention) to agree that: