If you've been reading this blog for any length of time you will know that we have been campaigning to get Labour-run Reading Borough Council to ditch it's failed policy of charging for bulky waste collection.
- Fly-tipping is a major problem in Reading: April 07 to Jan 08: 2362 reports of fly tipping in the Borough (RBC figures)
- In the Council’s own resident’s survey (published in 2007) only 17% of respondents said they were very satisfied with the Council’s bulky waste collection service
- Fly tipping and environmental degradation have been identified by a large number of Neighbourhood Action Groups as a a major issue
In short we feel charging residents for bulky waste collection is a) punitive (hits those on low and fixed incomes hardest) and b) ineffective - people are choosing to dump rubbish (for free) rather than pay for waste collection: just take a look around streets and alleyways in Redlands if you don't believe me.
Last Tuesday evening the Lib Dem Group put forward an alternative policy for bulky waste collection. The Lib Dem motion proposed among other things:
- A review of the Labour Council’s current failed charging policy. The Introduction of a pilot scheme in South Reading where those in receipt of benefits would receive free collections
- Targeting known fly tipping hotspots with a dedicated environmental ‘hit squad’ to bring more of those tipping to justice
- A new policy of reusing and recycling items such as sofas through a social enterprise scheme.
During the course of the debate I revealed that under Labour in Reading £100,000 of Council tax-payer's money (from the Housing Revenue Account) which is supposed to be spent on maintaining and improving the Council's housing stock is being used to pay for the removal of bulky items on housing land. Furthermore, the team that is currently collecting this dumped rubbish have no enforcement powers.
I highlighted the concerns expressed to me by residents across South Reading that Labour's policy has led to an increase in fly-tipping. I quoted from an article from the Reading Evening Post where local residents are quoted making exactly these points about the failed policy four years ago!
A Labour amendment amount to self-congratulation about the Council's existing policy and failed to take offer any real solutions to the fly-tipping problems we face. Reading's Conservatives backed neither the Labour amendment nor the Liberal Democrat motion, showing once again the Tories in Reading would rather sit on their hands than propose any positive ideas to deal with problems.
My colleague Cllr Warren Swaine has created an excellent video which shows exactly what Labour's failed waste charging policy has lead to in Reading, and thanks to Reading's Conservative Group it is likely to stay that way for the near future (although you can rest assured that the Lib Dems will contine to press for change!):
Comments