Following a meeting of Cheshire West and Cheshire's Places Scrutiny Committee on Monday 11 April 2022, plans by the Labour leadership of the council to introduce charges for DIY waste at Household Waste and Recycling Centres (HWRCs) have been delayed further and are now likely never to be introduced. The Places Scrutiny consideration of this subject came about as a result of a request for a Special Council meeting to consider the matter, called for by Conservative councillors. A range of options were considered at the meeting which came on the day that the Government announced plans to end the practice of councils being able to charge for such waste at all.
Commenting, Leader of the Conservative Group, Cllr Margaret Parker, said:
"When the Labour administration's new Waste Strategy was debated last year the Conservative Group was clear: elements of it should be delayed until the position of the government, who were known to be reviewing such matters, was clearly known. We were ignored by the Labour leadership who talk about listening but rarely do. We also expected any introduction of charges for some forms of waste deposited at HWRCs to be part of the full review of these facilities. This wasn't the case and as a result the proposed charges for DIY waste at HWRCs has been a total shambles. Following a meeting of Places Scrutiny last night, we are now at the position we should have been in the first place but this policy - announced, then changed, then paused and now paused again has been an unacceptable mess."
Environment Spokesman and Member of Places Scrutiny, Cllr Simon Eardley, said:
"The least our residents can expect is competent implementation of council policies. This has been a debacle from the outset but was entirely avoidable if the leadership of the Council had been willing to co-operate and have the humility to listen to the views of other people occasionally. Conservative councillors delayed any implementation of this flawed Labour policy locally by insisting on more scrutiny of the decision which took place at a meeting in Ellesmere Port on 11 April 2022. The meeting decided no charges should be implemented until a new contract is awarded. We proposed that the policy should be scrapped altogether but Labour councillors and Helsby’s Green Party councillor decided otherwise, and were dismissive of our residents’ concerns about the potential for additional fly tipping as a result of these proposed changes. This doesn’t really matter though as the Government’s direction of travel is clear: DIY waste charges are almost certainly to go.
Labour's policy didn't stack up. One of the main concerns was the likelihood of it leading to more fly-tipping locally which is already rampant across the borough. Incidents of this criminal activity have increased by 69% between 2013-21 and cost the council £347,323 to deal with in 2021, the cost in the year alone increasing by over £62,000 which would blow away any proposed savings from the introduction of charges."
Cllr Charles Fifield, who has previously served as Chair of Places Scrutiny, played a leading role in bringing this policy for more scrutiny, and spoke as a visiting Councillor last night, said afterwards:
"Sadly, just like last year, the Administration, wanted to push through an unpopular policy quickly without proper debate or scrutiny but they've been stopped from doing so as a result of pressure and strong calls for accountability from local Conservatives on behalf of our residents. We were so concerned at Labour’s apparent failure to properly follow even their own process that we served Notice to have this debated at a Special Council meeting but agreed to the Places Scrutiny route last night, as the right way forward, not least because we were very clear that the introduction of any charges would only follow the conclusion of the full HWRC review.
The administration’s own policy had changed twice within a few days of its announcement and its introduction postponed for last night’s meeting to take place. It was fortunate that we had insisted on further Scrutiny and delayed the costs and disruption of implementation because, as a result of an announcement from Environment Minister, Jo Churchill MP, on 11 April 2022, the option to implement these charges should soon disappear as the Conservative Government will end the practice of councils charging for disposing of DIY waste at tips – which is fantastic news for our residents."
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) released a short technical consultation on their proposed change to the law on charges for waste like that from DIY works as part of a wider package of measures to help deal with fly-tipping. More details here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-announces-new-crackdown-on-fly-tipping
