Nine new unitary authorities spell changes for waste services

The formation of the new councils is one of the biggest structural changes to local government in England in the last 30 years and is aimed at cutting costs and improving service efficiency.

Today marks one of the biggest democratic shake-ups since the seventies – affecting over three million people 
John Healey, local government minister

Traditionally, in two-tier local government systems, county councils have acted as waste disposal authorities (WDAs) and district councils as waste collection authorities (WCAs).

However, in the areas affected, the new unitary authorities will take over responsibility for both.

While this will involve a major re-organisation of services, it is likely to take time to implement this, with many councils reporting that their residents would see no immediate change.

Overall, the introduction of the new unitary authorities is expected to save the new bodies a combined £100 million-a-year by reducing duplications in areas including waste management.

Local government minister John Healey said: “Today marks one of the biggest democratic shake-ups since the seventies – affecting over three million people. This is not a cosmetic make-over or just a new logo on a council tax bill. Nor is it just a cost cutting exercise.

“It's about the nine areas making the clear case that they can serve their residents better by top-to-bottom reform, and stripping out a layer of local government,” he added.

Cheshire East

In the newly formed Cheshire East, the council plans to introduce alternate weekly collections for the former borough councils of Congleton and Crewe and Nantwich, with Macclesfield already operating the system.

The move, which is intended to save the council £350,000-a-year, is set to see waste and recycling collections sent to depots in Macclesfield and Crewe to the north and the south of the newly formed authority.

In addition to the changes to collection methods, the council intends to perform a strategic review to look at tendering for all collection services to ensure an “efficient, economic and environmentally friendly” service.

Cheshire East is in the process of choosing a preferred bidder for its £1 billion PFI-funded residual waste treatment contract alongside neighbouring Cheshire West & Chester council, which was also formed today, when Cheshire county council ceased to exist (see letsrecycle.com story).

And, David Brickhill, portfolio holder for environmental services at Cheshire East, said: “The new authority has no plans to locate an incineration plant in Cheshire East. It will, however, investigate the feasibility of PFI for an ‘energy-from-waste' plant and will work with Cheshire West & Chester on a bid to pull together the huge investment that would be required.”

Durham

Durham county council also intends to alter its waste and recycling service in the unitary shake-up. The North East council is hopeful of doubling the number of residents participating in its recycling service by offering a single, county-wide scheme.

A spokesperson at the council told letsrecycle.com: “The recycling service will be harmonised just so people get the same standard of collection across the council.”

The new body – which is comprised of the old Durham county council and seven district councils – has been working in preparation for today's reorganisation by attempting to draw together the varying policies on issues such as bulky waste and side waste to produce one approach.

The council said it will be introducing the single scheme “gradually” but that all the different regions of the local authority are currently able to recycle the same materials.

Northumberland

In Northumberland, the county council and six district councils of Alnwick, Berwick, Castle Morpeth, Blyth Valley, Tynedale and Wansbeck have been replaced by a single body.

The county council has assured residents that there are no plans to change refuse collection days this week. Collections are currently provided by the district councils in-house, with the exception Berwick which has a contract with Veolia.

However, under unitary control, it has proposed a new management structure for waste services, based on three areas covering the South East, North and West, which will all have their own heads of service.

Under this arrangement the council plans to look at re-arranging collection rounds to make them more efficient and hopes to reduce staffing costs by around £500,000. Officers have already met with Veolia to discuss how this will affect their contract.

Stephen Wardle, waste contracts officer for Northumberland county council told letsrecycle.com: “Looking at the rounds is going to be one of the biggest jobs, although I am not sure of the timetable. There has got to be major efficiency savings because we won't have the same sets of crews going to the same corner of the country and fuel prices are high.”

Harmonise

The newly-established Wiltshire, Shropshire and Central Bedfordshire councils all told letsrecycle.com that there would be no immediate changes to their waste and recycling collections but would look to eventually harmonise the collection and disposal aspects.

Cornwall county council said that it had to wait for existing waste management contracts held by the district and borough councils to run their course before a more unified approach could be introduced. Some of the existing contracts are set to run until 2016 but Cornwall said it did not intend to break from these earlier to introduce a new system.

Cheshire West & Chester told letsrecycle.com that it is seeking to harmonise its waste collection and recycling services in 2012. Currently three different schemes are operated in the former district areas of Chester, Ellesmere Port & Neston and Vale Royal.

In the mean time a new collection scheme is set to be introduced in the former Chester district area from June 15, which will see residents provided with a commingled recycling collection using new wheeled bins.