Agenda item

Cllr Dixie Darch, Lead Member for Environment and Climate Change will be in attendance, supported by Kirsty Larkins, Service Director for Climate and sustainability.

Cllr Dixie Darch, Lead Member for the Environment and Climate Change, and Kirsty Larkins, Service Director for Climate and Sustainability were present to provide an update on the current situation. They had also been present at a public meeting hosted by Dulverton Town Council which took place on Tuesday 27 February. This had been very well attended, with people travelling from all parts of West Somerset to put their views. It was stressed that this meeting would not repeat the points made there.

Somerset Council had managed to set a balanced budget for 2024/25 but were in consultation with the contractor to identify savings that could be made on the existing contract and reduce costs. If a decision was made to proceed with the closures, then a county wide consultation would take place.

Cllr Dixie Darch spoke passionately about the decisions that are being made and expressed her dismay at the current financial situation. It was important that services were preserved, but the current deficit in the statutory areas of protecting the vulnerable (Adult Social Care and Children’s Services) meant that Somerset Council was faced with a stark choice. Ideological concerns could not take precedence over these demands. It would be far easier, if the amount of waste going to recycling was reduced all together, either through Freecycle, reuse, restore, repairing or removing the need for the items in the first place.

Somerset was currently “well served” with the number of available recycling centres which was not a statutory service. Cost savings had to be realised to ensure that the Council could continue to operate legally.

Questions arising:-

• How are the number of visits to each recycling centre measured?

The number and type of vehicles is logged on camera and the data collated. This provides an overview of the number of visits. (It is not able to identify repeat visits from the same vehicle).

• Won’t the cost of clearing up the increased fly-tipping outweigh the perceived “benefit” of closing the recycling centre?

There is an awareness that there could be an increase in fly-tipping but it will not be more than the perceived saving that could be made. Past data has revealed that it is not usually householders that have been responsible for fly-tipping but rogue traders who have been paid to remove items, and then subsequently dumped them.

• There are currently three recycling centres in the former West Somerset Area and the proposal is to reduce this to one. This doesn’t seem fair when there are “clusters” of recycling centres in other parts of the county.

From ongoing discussion with communities it has been revealed that there is a general acceptance that changes will need to be made, but there is also a perception of fairness, and that the identified savings need to be equitable across the county.

• Will the remaining sites have the capacity to cope with the increased demand? Minehead already has long queues waiting to use the site, but this could increase by at least twice as much if the alternative recycling centres close!

This is why the consultation is important. Benchmarking information is available and can be shared but it is necessary to determine who uses the existing sites, how far they travel and the nature of the waste disposed of.

• Green waste disposal – Is there a possibility of amalgamating this into the green waste kerbside collection, to reduce demand on the recycling centres?

It is a possibility but may require some legislative changes. The existing green waste collection is paid for by the householder, and usually involves the emptying of a standard green container of general garden waste. (Usually hedge and grass clippings). Recycling centres usually take larger items such as trees, or farm/agricultural debris. Again, this information needs to be captured in the consultation.

Details of the consultation will be shared on the City, Town and Parish Councils webpage once available.

Cllr Dixie Darch and Kirsty Larkins were thanked for attending the Exmoor LCN, and then took their leave.