Worcestershire county council will this week (April 16) consider conducting an audit into a joint waste collection service, which would help reduce the £57 million cost of dealing with municipal waste across both counties each year.
It follows the county council’s launch of an Integrated Waste Scrutiny Task Group last summer to investigate whether cost savings could be made by it managing waste collections on behalf of seven district authorities in the region.
The proposal looked set to be dropped earlier this year when it transpired several district councils had declined to take part in the discussions, fearing that district sovereignty and their “sense of identity” would be lost (see letsrecycle.com story).
But a further scrutiny report produced by Worcestershire county council concluded it is “essential” that an audit is conducted to find out what savings might be made from the integration of services.
The report adds that the council’s business, environment and community directorate should explore whether funding from government or the West Midlands Regional Improvement Efficiency Partnership would also be made available for this purpose.
Somerset
It goes on to cite Oxfordshire and Somerset as two other regions of the country that have demonstrated combined operations can bring financial benefits – with the latter saving £1.7 million per year, according to the report.
But, it concedes that any joint collection contracts that might be developed would need to enable “local flexibility”. Meanwhile, concerns about a loss of sovereignty and weakened accountability could be overcome with “well designed” governance arrangements, the scrutiny report claims.
Councillor Anthony Blagg, Worcestershire cabinet member with responsibility for environment, agreed that a further cross-authority audit was needed on the principle that external funding could be secured, adding that the council’s current financing was “tight”.
He said: “As there is one disposal contract the only scope for more integration is for Districts to join together in separate contracts or for an overall joint authority to be created covering collection and disposal. At present there is nothing preventing these happening in the future and I note the report’s information on other joint authorities where savings have been made.
Responding to the question of reduced district sovereignty, Mr Blagg added: “I am aware that sovereignty has been mentioned in some quarters but also that many residents are more concerned that their bins are emptied efficiently than by what it says on the side of the lorry.
“The local government world is evolving rapidly and many district councils are already looking to work with others inside and outside the counties. I feel that practical necessity may change this picture.”
Gloucester
The proposal follows the decision by a number of district authorities in nearby Gloucestershire to move their waste services under the umbrella of council-owned firm Ubico (see letsrecycle.com story), while two authorities in Cambridgeshire are also currently considering merging their waste services (see letsrecycle.com story).
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