Devon county council and West Devon borough council both fell a few percentage points short of their “challenging” targets set by the government to recycle 30% of their household waste in 2003/04.
The borough reached a 25% rate, while the county reached a 27% rate, putting Devon among the top five English counties for recycling (see league tables).
In new inspection reports, the Commission said that both councils had “clear aims for service delivery” with “high-quality waste management services”.
Devon county council has jointly developed and approved a Municipal Waste Management Strategy and this provides a framework for the future treatment disposal of municipal waste, said the report on the council. Inspectors praised the county's waste and recycling service for its accessibility and responsiveness.
The county has a strong track record of investing in waste services to enable it to deliver improvement and as a result of this investment the service continues to improve, the Audit Commission said.
Satisfaction
West Devon was patted on the back for achieving high satisfaction levels and a good performance for recycling, with kerbside collection services for recyclable materials provided for all households. The service is consistently reliable and the amount of waste collected is reducing, said the report.
The borough was also praised for providing good leadership by on sustainable waste management. However, Devon county council faced some criticism for its leadership and the slow progress in drawing up a Waste Local Plan.
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Inspectors reported: “Progress in finalising the draft Waste Local Plan is slow and it does not give sufficient clarity about the future location of new waste treatment facilities in the county.”
The Commission also recommended that the county's waste strategy could be improved by giving greater consideration to the methods of waste collection in the county and agreeing a common way forward with collection authorities.
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