Agenda item

The Chairman will give an update on outcomes and actions arising from previous meetings of the Area Board.

·         Recycling centre opening times.

The Chairman gave the following Updates:

Recycling centre opening times

At the last meeting, the Chairman agreed to write to the Cabinet Member for Waste Services to express the level of local concern relating to the recent changes to the Salisbury household recycling centre at Churchfields. The Cabinet Members response was attached to the agenda and Associate Director Tracy Carter was in attendance to provide presentation.

The presentation from Tracy included four slides detailing attendance statistics for:

·         Visitors to Churchfields per week

·         Visitors to Churchfields by hour and day

·         Total HRC visitors by site (13 July to 27 Sept)

·         Average number of visitors per opening hour per site (13 July to 27 Sept)

The Council would continue to monitor and review the attendance figures, but expected to see a reduction in attendance at this time of year.

Comments and Questions were received, these included:

·         Was fly tipping also monitored and reviewed? Answer: The Council had not seen an increase overall. People could download the ‘My Wiltshire’ App which enabled people to report issues such as fly tipping.

·         Was there any evidence that people were being more efficient with their recycling? Answer: People may well be changing their behaviour, however there had not yet been any evidence of that. Some of the charities who used to use the site were coming in large vans and were taking some time to unload. They had now been asked to take their recycling to Amesbury to unload.

·         Could we have the graphs from the slides on the minutes? Answer: Yes they would be attached.

Action: A copy of the slides to be attached to the minutes - DSO.

·         What had become of the recycling waste bins which used to be offered by the Council? Answer: The Council offered:

o   Blue lidded bins for plastic bottles and card; these were originally rolled out by Salisbury District Council but additional bins could be requested from Wiltshire Council.

o   Black boxes for dry recycling – Issued by Hills Waste but again should be requested from Wiltshire Council.

o   Green lidded bins for garden waste – Issued by WC. There is a charge of £40 a year for collection of garden waste.

o   Other options such as home composting were available – Subsidised food composters available via WC.

o   Additional and replacement bins could be ordered online using a form on the WC website or by calling Customer Services.

·         The queues along to the recycling centre had caused extreme distress to the local businesses along Stephenson’s Road. If we could ease the problem by opening earlier then that would help. Is it true that the gates were being opened before 10:00? Answer: A higher attendance was anticipated at the Salisbury site over the bank holiday weekend, so staff there were advised that they could open earlier than 10am if a queue developed before opening. On the Saturday, they opened at 9.40am, but did not need to open early on Sunday or Monday.

·         What had happened to the tonnage of waste and level of recycling coming into the site? Answer: Tonnage reports were produced a month in arrears and it was a complex process to analyse and check the data. For July and August, the recycling rate was maintained at sites across the county. If tonnage information was of value, then the Board could request that to be included in future updates.

·         If trailers and large vehicles were not allowed up to empty, you would need to think about what would happen to their waste. Answer: Householders are free to access site in whatever vehicle they need. Use by large vehicles is being monitored because of the time it takes to unload them when full and because they take additional parking space which, at Churchfields in particular, is critical to managing the queues.

·         People were keen to recycle; we should not punish them by making it difficult to access the site with a reduction in hours. There had been a real increase of fly tipping seen in the Bemerton Heath area.

·         Many working people used to visit the site in the evening, now that the site closes at 4.00pm they cannot do that. There should be one late night opening.

·         The implemented changes had been badly organised, as they should have started in September/October time when visits to the site were fewer. Answer: The changes had to be implemented as early as possible to make savings during the current financial year.

·         The Salisbury site had particular problems due to poor access, which had not been helped by reducing the opening time; closing the site at 4pm. Salisbury desperately needed a new site.

·         The Air Quality levels should be monitored as a result of increasing nox gasses produced by the queuing vehicles.

·         For the figures to be meaningful, we would need to know the trends for the number of visits and the tonnes of material delivered before the changes were introduced. The figures for household recycling would need to show an increase if the recycling site tonnage showed a decrease, otherwise it would be clear that something was wrong. Answer: Tracy agreed to provide this data.

·         People were disposing of their rubbish at Wilton market, along with the market waste which was then collected by the council, as this was an easier solution to queuing at Stephenson’s Road. Answer: Tracy agreed to investigate this.

·         Had employees been made redundant in the process to make these savings? Answer: The staff was employed by Hills Waste, they had a core team of both permanent staff and supplemented that team with additional staff when needed. Some of the previous staff were happy to take retirement whilst others were happy to take on additional other duties with Hills Waste.

Decision

The Salisbury Area Board asked that the following recommendations be considered by the Cabinet Member for Waste and Recycling:

1.    Work to improve the site layout be considered.

2.    Opening hours at the site be amended to include one late night opening until 8.00pm, with that night being recommended as Wednesday.

3.    The option to open earlier than 10.00am should a queue develop, be implemented.

4.    That the Air Quality be monitored and reviewed along Stephenson’s Road, in the interest of those working and visiting there. Councillor Clewer said that he would progress this given his role in monitoring area quality within the Salisbury air quality management area

Tracy Carter agreed to feedback the comments from the meeting to the Cabinet Member.