Agenda item

To receive a report from the Operations Manager on the Council’s Waste Policies.

(Councillor D M Tysoe, Executive Member for Environment, was in attendance for this item).

(Councillors Mrs A L Dickinson, R Fuller and M F Shellens were also in attendance for this item).

With the aid of a report by the Operations Manager (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) the Panel gave consideration to proposed revisions to the Council’s Waste Collection Policies in relation to the collection points for wheeled bins/sacks from more remote properties (farms and lodges) and to additional green bins. In introducing the report, Councillor D M Tysoe, Executive Councillor for Environment, stated that the report which had been prompted by the drive to identify efficiency savings for the Council. He then proposed that the decision on the policy on collection points for wheeled bins/sacks from remote properties (farms and lodges) should be deferred for further consideration pending completion of additional work. A survey would be undertaken of all relevant properties and a full range of options would be identified before a decision was made. Mr E Kendall, Head of Operations, then drew the Panel’s attention to a number of health and safety issues associated with collecting refuse from long and narrow lanes and unadopted roads. He also referred to the impact of this type of work on collection crews, vehicles and costs to the Council.

Disappointment was expressed over the absence of prior communication with Members on the proposals in advance of letters being sent out to affected residents. Assurances were received that communications with Members on these and other future changes would form part of the further investigations.

Councillor G J Harlock referred to the potential scale of the implications of the proposed policy on collections points for those residing on private roads. He stated that he would not support the policy in its present form. Councillor R Fuller then drew the Panel’s attention to the impact of the proposals on some residents within his Ward whose road had not been adopted by Cambridgeshire County Council. Their refuse had been collected from outside their properties for the past 34 years but, following a complaint, the collection arrangements had been changed. The Head of Operations explained that there was a need for the Council to obtain the legal right to enter such roads, and this had resulted in the Council ceasing to collect the residents’ bins from outside their properties until this had been resolved. The Panel, therefore, recommended that the position of residents living on all private/unadopted roads and on new housing developments should be clarified and taken into account when the new policy was formulated. Members also suggested that more robust data should be obtained on the number of properties that might be affected by the proposed changes as, for example, RAF Wyton contained 600 houses on unadopted estate roads.

Having expressed their satisfaction with the terms of the amended policy relating to additional green bins, a suggestion was accepted that the Panel’s Waste Collections Working Group should be reconvened to assist the Head of Operations and the Executive Member for Operations to review and develop the policy on collection points.

RESOLVED

(a)  that the Cabinet be recommended to approve amendments to the Waste Collection Policies in respect of additional green bins, namely Policy 31D and 31H, as outlined in Appendix 1 of the report now submitted;

(b)  that the Waste Collections Working Group be reconvened to assist the Head of Operations and Executive Member for Environment with reviewing the policies in relation to the collection points for wheeled bins/sacks for remote properties (farms and lodges); and

(c)  that Councillors M G Baker, G J Bull, D A Giles and G J Harlock be appointed onto the Waste Collections Working Group.