Issue - meetings

At the request of the Scrutiny Commission, and update on the introduction of charging for the garden waste scheme is provided, along with requested information on fly tipping statistics during the same period.

Members received a report which provided an update on the Garden Waste Scheme and its progress since implementation.

Councillor Richards arrived at 18:36.

During discussion and in response to questions asked, the following points were made:

·         Overall the scheme had been a success and members expressed thanks to all staff involved in its implementation

·         The expenditure on the scheme shown did not include the operational costs of the service and removal of the unwanted bins which was still ongoing. Members requested the operational costs to be included in any future reports, once completed

·         It was suggested that information on actual numbers of take up in areas as well as percentages would be useful. It was agreed that this would be provided to members outside of the meeting

·         The current national target for recycling was 50% by 2020 and any fine for non-compliance would be levied at a national level and the mechanism or value of this was yet unknown

·         Whilst there had been an increase in garden waste fly tipping, it was not possible to attribute this to the Garden Waste Scheme as there had been a gradual increase in fly tipping generally.

RESOLVED – The report be endorsed.