Agenda and minutes

To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any disclosable pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests in any item on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no members of the public present.

The Cabinet Member considered a bid to the communities weekly collection scheme for capital and revenue start up funding for a weekly food waste collection.

Central Government had indicated a desire that authorities provide a weekly collection of waste and had provided additional funding that was currently open to bids. Cheshire East had prepared a bid for £3.8 million of capital and start up funding to begin a weekly collection of food waste from May 2014. An expression of interest/outline application to the fund had been submitted and now required confirming with a formal bid by 17^th Aug 2012.

If the Council were successful in its bid, a weekly food waste collection would form part of the alternative delivery options bidding process. Provided anticipated savings on alternative service delivery could be met, food waste collection would be rolled out in 2014/15 with the winning bidder/provider for service delivery.

The proposal to submit a bid was considered by the Environment and Prosperity Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on 8^th August 2012. After careful consideration, the Committee resolved that the Cabinet Member for Environment be recommended not to submit a final bid to the Communities Weekly Collection Support Scheme as no policy development had taken place within the Authority on the implications of a weekly food waste collection service. The Committee’s Chairman, Councillor W Livesley, attended the Portfolio Holder meeting and spoke on the matter.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor M Jones, was also present and reported that the Conservative Group had been consulted on the proposal, with a majority indicating their opposition to a bid. He believed there was also significant opposition to the proposal within the Council’s other political Groups.

The Cabinet Member for Environment, Councillor R Menlove, commented that the Council already operated a weekly collection alternating between residual waste one week and recyclates the other. The conditions around the grant would require an additional collection to the current three bin system. Of 400 collection authorities, only 92 collected food separately, and these tended to be urban authorities with concentrated populations, making collection easier and cheaper than in rural areas.

Councillor Menlove recognised that there was a feeling among councillors that the proposal was driving the Council down a path that was flawed in that it did not consider all available options. In addition, the Council would have to part fund the scheme, which would commit the council tax payer to what may not be the best option. He added that the Council was about to start a review of the whole area from collection to disposal and needed to start with a ‘blank sheet of paper’, and this was not the time to commit to part measures. The Council was committed to the highest recycling rate possible and had already achieved a rate of 53%; it did not wish to achieve further increases through an additional burden on the council tax payer. In the circumstances, Councillor Menlove was minded to decline to submit a bid  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.