Shropshire food waste collection ‘too expensive’ for councillors
Thursday 16th September 2010, 9:12AM BST.
A Shropshire councillor has insisted councillors in the market towns of Ludlow, Church Stretton and Craven Arms were offered the chance to take on the running of a weekly food waste collection service before it was axed.
Councillor Martin Taylor-Smith, Shropshire councillor for Ludlow South, said councillors in Ludlow had been put off running the weekly collections due to the estimated £69,000 cost – which would have meant significant increases in tax for residents. He said councillors in Craven Arms and Church Stretton had shown no interest in contributing to the running of the service.
The popular collections, which saw food waste picked up from the kerbside and sent to be processed at the biodigester at Coder Road in Ludlow, are being axed by Shropshire Council as part of a cost-cutting measure.
Instead waste will be collected fortnightly and taken to a composting plant in Market Drayton.
Councillor Taylor-Smith made the comments after members of Ludlow Town Council’s policy and finance committee claimed they had not received any contact from the company running the biodigester about taking on the service.
Councillor Taylor-Smith said the issue had been raised through meetings with Ludlow Town Council and also at the July meeting of Ludlow and Clee local joint committee.
He said: “We did discuss this with the town council in Ludlow and did give them the option of taking on food waste collections. But I think to raise the sort of money the town council would have to put its precept up by 15 or 20 per cent.”
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could councillor martin taylor smith tell us if the £69,000 is per week, per fortnight, per annum or what. can he also tell us what the costs in terms of fuel, staff time, vehicle use and effect on the environment are going to be of transporting the food waste 50 miles to market drayton (adding still more food miles!) what the penalty cost is of building the ludlow biodigester and then leaving that investment unused. to expect the local councils to pay the costs when the county council built in the first place seems to indicate that shroshire council did not work out the costs to them of operating it.
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How much would it cost to move the biodigester to Market Drayton, to run in parallel with the composting plant?
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How about reducing the central reliance a good deal by specific permission, education (and responsiblity) of citizens to compost as much as possibly by themselves in their own gardens or neighborhoods. With safeguard rules against abuse and carelessness.
The ‘binmen’ could be employed more than once a fortnight to give advice, help, supply remove and deliver associated equipment to residents. It’s insulting to those employees to say they couldn’t do that – and would save monster industries being parked in the county.
If they have to have them – what happens to the compost – could it be sold at incredibly cheap rates to people who can prove to be residents of the catchment area (I’m sorry I don’t know if this is already done).
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