Issue - meetings

As detailed in the recommendation with an additional recommendation as detailed below:

(2)       That a full review of charges, possible concessions and take up rates is undertaken between September and December 2018.

Councillor Thomas introduced the Introduction of Garden Waste Charges in Flintshire report which set out how the proposal would be implemented and provided an estimate for the associated financial benefit to the Council from the proposal. 

            There was no statutory duty on the Council to collect garden waste and given the current period of austerity and the ongoing financial challenges being faced by the Council, it was now necessary to introduce a charge of £30 for the collection of garden waste which would be similar to that which had been introduced by a number of Councils in North Wales and an ever growing number of Councils across England and Wales.  The charge for a second or third bin would also be £30.

            Residents would be notified of the charge by letter and by stickers which would be placed on the garden waste bins in January 2018.  Further communication would be sent out with the Council Tax information in March 2018 and residents would have until 1^st April 2018 to register for the service.  The service would be provided free of charge to all residents in March 2018.  A Project Manager was in place to ensure the smooth introduction of the arrangements, which was at no extra cost to the Council.

            Councillor Thomas referred to a comment from Councillor Peers at the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 20^th November 2017 on the overspend in the service.  She explained this related to unforeseen circumstances such as the increase in electricity charges.  On a question as to whether the service could find further efficiencies instead of introducing this charge, she explained that the service had already had a budget reduction of 40% and no further efficiencies could be found.

            The Chief Officer (Streetscene and Transportation) reiterated that this was a discretionary service which the Council was not required to provide.  In 2011 Welsh Government (WG) issued its Waste Collections Blueprint which stated the preferred delivery method for waste collections in Wales, in order to deliver high and sustainable levels of recycling.  Flintshire’s existing waste and recycling collection service in the main aligned with the Blueprint.  However, the Blueprint recommended that this service was to be offered on a chargeable basis.

            He commented on the high standard and number of Household Recycling Centres (HRCs) in the County which would have sufficient capacity to receive garden waste for those residents who did not sign up for the service. 

            At the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee, concessions had been discussed.  He explained that this would be complicated to introduce to ensure that it was a fair process; it would be challenging to implement and went against the Council’s new Fees and Charges Policy.  However, the first year of implementation would be to listen and learn.

            The Democratic Services Manager introduced the draft minutes from the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee which outlined the comments from Members on this proposal.  The resolution was “That the comments of the Committee on the arrangements for the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 105