Minutes:
The Committee
considered a report of the Director of Environment and Transport concerning the
outcome of the Recycling and Household Waste Sites (RHWS) consultation and
informing of the revised proposals that would form part of a secondary
consultation. The report also sought the Committee’s views as part of the
secondary consultation. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 8, is filed
with these minutes.
In presenting the
report, the Director highlighted that 5,638 responses
had been received to the online questionnaire. The findings of the consultation
showed that there was strong opposition to the proposal to close some sites,
especially Market Harborough and Shepshed. However, there was less concern
about a proposed reduction in the days that the Bottesford
site would be open, and there was broad support to reduce summer opening hours
and to close on Christmas Eve at all RHWS. Feedback from focus groups, which
was more detailed and was set out in the report, broadly reflected this view.
Neighbouring authorities were concerned about displacement impacts should the
proposals lead to residents using RHWS outside of the county boundary. As a
result of the outcome of the first consultation. a second consultation had
begun on revised proposals to keep Market Harborough RHWS and Shepshed RHWS
open part-time and to reduce the opening days at Kibworth RHWS. This started on
21 February and would run for four weeks.
Arising from
discussion, the following points were raised:
i.
A traffic impact assessment had been completed
during the first consultation at the Kibworth RHWS, as part of the proposal to
close the Market Harborough RHWS and the impact of the potential displacement
of traffic to Kibworth. This showed that the junction on the A6 to the Kibworth
RHWS could tolerate any potential displacement as a result of
the proposal.
ii.
Should the Cabinet approve the proposed closure
of the Somerby RHWS, Members were assured that those staff affected were being
fully supported and would be offered transfer to other sites where
possible. Members were assured that
officers were seeking to avoid redundancies.
There was a high level of vacancies across the service, some of which
were filled by agency staff. Officers would work with colleagues in the
Council’s Strategic Property Unit to ascertain the site’s future should the
waste service declare it surplus to operational requirements. This was currently not defined until the
Cabinet decision was known.
iii.
Regarding the demographic data for online
questionnaire respondents compared to the general population of Leicestershire,
it was suspected that the percentage of respondents aged 45-75 was higher than
that shown for the county as this was reflective of the demographic of site
users. However, officers agreed to look
further at the data to provide a written explanation to the Committee where
additional data was available.
Additionally, members were informed that younger people usually did not
engage in consultations which may have contributed to the difference in the
data.
The Committee
commended officers for such thorough consideration of the proposals and the
feedback from residents to arrive at the proposals contained within the second
consultation which they agreed were a good compromise. Members recognised the
level of work that had been put in to determine the best approach for the
service in light of the Council’s challenging
financial position.
The Cabinet Lead
Member for the Environment and the Green Agenda echoed the comments made and
added that the additional funding from the Government had helped with revising
the proposals and had meant that less RHWSs needed to close.
RESOLVED:
That the outcome of
the Recycling and Household Waste Sites consultation and the revised proposals
that would form part of a secondary consultation, be noted.
Supporting documents: