Northamptonshire assesses charge for HWRC use

The charges were mooted under a consultation on the councils draft budget and council plan for 2014 to 2019 which was launched last week (December 10).

The way the council runs its 10 HWRCs is set to be reviewed as part of this in a bid to save 1 million on the service over the next five years, with 250,000 needing to be saved in 2014/15. The review would include looking at the future viability of each site, the feasibility of charging fees for using the sites, and a review of current opening hours and days. The outcome of this study will be subject to its own separate consultation.

A spokeswoman for the council said cabinet member Councillor Michael Clarke had offered an example of a 1 charge when asked to outline the level of charge the authority might look to introduce.

Northamptonshire is not the first council to consult on charging residents for using HWRCs. Earlier this month, Norfolk county council put out a consultation on introducing a 2 public charge at nine of its 20 HWRCs in a bid to cut costs (see letsrecycle.com story). And, Somerset Waste Board introduced a maximum of a 2 charge for HWRC use at four sites in 2011 (see letsrecycle.com story).

Financial challenge

Commenting on the proposals in Northamptonshire, Councillor Clarke,executive member for transport, highways and environment, said: Our waste management service at the county council has made an enormous effort over the past few years to make efficiency savings and, indeed, this work is still continuing. However further efficiencies are needed to help meet the financial challenge the county council faces over the next five years.

The scale of the county councils financial challenge is huge. Over the next five years we need to save 128 million pounds; this is on top of the 177million which has already been saved since April 2011. Across all council services most of the savings have been achieved by reducing back-office costs and finding efficiencies but some tough decisions have had to be made.

Cllr Clarke added that the council is committed to reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill and providing a HWRC service to residents.

Weve thought long and hard about the best way to reach this stage and weve still got some work to do before we make the final proposals about changes to each specific site.

The consultation closes on Tuesday February 4 2014 and the final budget is due to be discussed by a full council meeting on February 20 2014.