Staffs refutes claims of charging for HWRCs

Staffordshire county council has refuted local media claims that it could charge residents to use household waste and recycling centres in the region as it looks to cut costs.

Speaking to letsrecycle.com, the West Midlands local authority said there was “no truth” to claims in the Express & Star last week (July 22) that “residents across Staffordshire could be charged for dumping and recycling rubbish at county tips”. The story was based on comments made to the newspaper by the cabinet member responsible for recycling centres in Staffordshire, Robert Marshall.

The story appeared in the wake of a cabinet meeting on July 21, which outlined that Staffordshire would be reviewing waste provisions in the region, which included an assessment of the 14 household waste and recycling centres (HWRCs) operated by the county council.

In a letter to the editor of the newspaper, seen today (July 26) by letsrecycle.com, Philip Atkins, leader of Staffordshire county council, dismissed the suggestion of forcing residents to pay for the service.

He said: “We have never considered charging residents for disposal of household waste at any of our Household Waste Recycling Centres, as described in your article ‘Tip Charges in Pipeline'.”

And, a spokesman for the county council explained that the local authority would not legally be allowed to charge residents to use the HWRCs under Section 51 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. “There is no truth to those reports, we simply couldn't charge them to use them,” the spokesman said.

Under Section 51 (2), the Act requires waste disposal authorities to provide places for residents in the area to deposit their waste and it states “each place is available for the deposit of waste free of charge by persons resident in the area”.

Trade

In the letter, Cllr Atkins also explained that the local authority had introduced a pilot scheme for charging for “small quantities” of commercial and trade waste at its Leek HWRC, which was intended to “stop abuse of the service”.

And, the council leader added that the council's scrutiny committee had suggested extending this trial to other sites across Staffordshire – taking into account issues around capacity and site access at some locations.

Other councils have previously taken measures to help cut the cost of running HWRCs by cracking down on trade or commercial waste operators, which is undertaken in order to reduce the disposal costs associated with the sites.

Closure

The local media report follows the cabinet meeting in which councillors discussed cost-saving measures for the waste and recycling services, which primarily focused on the potential closure of the Burntwood HWRC near Cannock Chase.

The possibility of closing the site had been suggested at a cabinet meeting on April 12 before the decision was called-in by eight members of the cabinet to be discussed at last week's meeting.

At the meeting, councillor Robert Marshall, portfolio holder for regeneration and infrastructure, said closure of the site could potentially save the council £130,000, mainly in staff costs, and that it was the “least bad option” that the council could take due to the proximity of other sites.

Ahead of the meeting, the council received a petition of 12,222 signatures from residents in the Burntwood area opposing the plan – who had not been consulted about the proposal. At the meeting, it was “conceded” by Cllr Marshall that a public consultation on the proposed closure should have taken place.

In addition, some council members raised fears over a rise in fly-tipping that could follow the closure of the Burntwood site as well as increased traffic throughout the county as Burntwood residents made longer trips to make use of the other 13 HWRCs.

A proposal put forward to limit the opening hours rather than close the Burntwood site was not deemed suitable as it would not generated suitable savings to make the practice worthwhile.

It was decided that, despite strong support from cabinet members in favour of closing the site, the verdict on the Burntwood HWRC would be postponed and considered by a policy advisory group.