Agenda item

The Cabinet Member for Environment and Street Scene introduced a report on proposals to introduce a paid-for green garden waste collection service from April 2017.

The Cabinet Member reminded colleagues that the free garden waste collection service had ceased in September 2016, as part of a £30m+ package of budget savings approved at the end of 2014.  The free service was originally due to end in September 2015 but was extended into 2016 while options for a paid-for service were developed.

The Cabinet Member advised that a petition had been considered by the Living and Working Select Committee on 10 January 2017 which called on the Council to “retain the garden waste collection and extend collection beyond September, asserting that cessation would increase fly-tipping, deny elderly residents healthy exercise, increase pollution and traffic congestion around recycling sites and that stopping in September [is] way too early”.  The Cabinet Member suggested that the proposals for a paid-for service would fulfil the wishes of those who signed the petition, as the new service was planned to run from the first week in April to early November and there were a range of measures that would help prevent an increase in fly-tipping and overcome the other concerns.  It was noted, however, that the Select Committee had chosen to focus on the merits of a free service as opposed to a paid-for service, which was not an issue covered by the petition. 

The Cabinet Member acknowledged that the continued provision of a free service would be the ideal position.  However, the stringent cuts that the Government had imposed on this Council since 2010 meant that a number of non-statutory services, including green garden waste collections, had to cease.

The Select Committee had raised issues about there being no guarantee that a green garden waste collection service would continue as a certain number of households were required to sign up to a paid-for service in order for it to be financially viable.  The Select Committee also sought more time to consider all the potential financial and environmental issues and were concerned that households were being asked to pay £2.66 per collection (fortnightly collections between early April and November) as opposed to £1 a week that it believed had been referred to in the Council’s publicity that supported the public consultation on the paid-for service.  The Select Committee had therefore asked that the Cabinet defer making any decision at the moment to enable other options to be considered that would address its concerns. 

Responding to the Select Committee’s request, the Cabinet Member pointed out that the Council no longer provided a green waste collection service of any kind following the decision made in 2014 and the free service ending in September 2016.  The Cabinet Member added that nothing would be gained from deferring the issue as the Council’s financial position had only been made worse by the Government since the original decision to cease the free service was taken in 2014.  Furthermore, it was felt that to defer consideration would only serve to delay the implementation of a new green garden waste collection service that several thousands of households wished to sign up to, as well as putting at risk the ability to launch the new scheme from April which the petitioners had called for.

Returning to the proposals in the report, the Cabinet Member advised that an unprecedented number of households had responded to the Council’s consultation, with 3,835 (49.87%) indicating that they would be willing to pay for the service and 3,855 (50.13%) not willing to pay.  Based on the number of households that had indicated a willingness to pay, an options appraisal had identified that a fortnightly collection service could be run from the beginning of April to early November for just £40 a year for each participating household, with a minimum two-year commitment required to coincide with the vehicle leasing arrangements on which the financial assessment had been calculated.

The Cabinet Member outlined some of the other practical elements of the new paid-for scheme as well as arrangements that would be in place for those households who chose not to participate but wished to continue to use their green bin for composting.

The Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Note the recommendations of the Living and Working Select Committee arising from the consideration, at its meeting on 10 January 2017, of a petition calling for the retention of a garden waste collection service and extending collections beyond September each year;

(ii)  Agree, subject to the new service being self-financing, the commencement of a new green garden waste collection service for subscribing households with effect from 1 April 2017 on the terms detailed in the report; and

(iii)  Delegate authority to the Chief Operating Officer, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Environment and Street Scene, to make the final determination on whether the scheme would be self-financing.