Recycling

Tue 22 Jun 2021, 05:43

Here is the reply that I received from MacRae to my complaint about no consultation. He has completely ignored that part of my complaint, and, indeed, seeks to blame Charlbury Town Council:

"Thank you for your email of 23rd May and your comments.

In 2017 the Council moved to very significant kerbside collection of recyclable items and over the years since that time has continued to extend the range of items that can be recycled, such that, all items that are disposed of at the community recycling centres can now be recycled at the kerbside, reducing the need for residents to travel to them.

More recently the Council has been approached by a number of local Councils who felt that the community recycling centres were being misused by households and businesses and becoming a magnet for anti-social behaviour and fly tipping of waste that was not recyclable and have asked us to remove these sites. Since these sites have been removed residents have reported a significant improvement to their local environment.

The reduction in the number of sites across the district, together with yet more recent abuse of the remaining sites, led the Council to make a decision to implement a policy of local determination of these sites.

Accordingly, we wrote to the Town and Parish Councils advising them that given the availability of kerbside collections and the worsening abuse of these sites the Council was minded to close them as alternatives were readily available for residents. We advised the Town and Parish Councils of the increasing costs of cleansing and emptying of these facilities given their abuse and advised that we would be content to continue this provision via our contractor if they were willing to take on this expense as a ‘locally’ determined service.

In Charlbury the Town Council have not taken up this offer and as a consequence the likely outcome now is the removal of the facility, some six months after our original policy approach was approved for consultation with the local council. We do not believe this disadvantages local residents compared to the vast majority of the district where reliance is placed on the extensive kerbside service outlined above.

In respect of Dean Pit this was an Oxfordshire County Council decision as the relevant body not the district council, and this should not be confused with recycling offered either at the kerbside or bring site which duplicate service offering.

I hope this goes some way to explaining the position and the reason the council took the decision."