Instances of fly tipping in York have increased in each of the last 3 years.
Over £68,000 was spent last year cleaning up the mess. However only one perpetrator was prosecuted.
Part of the issue can be traced back to the closure of the Beckfield Lane amenity site.
There have also been problems with some waste collection rounds while the charges for the removal of bulky waste have rocketed.
Residents are set to benefit from two additional garden waste collections this winter as well as improved recycling collections over Christmas, following approval at a public decision session today.
Households which receive garden waste collections across the city will benefit from two additional collections in November.
In addition to this, improvements will be made to recycling collections over Christmas to ensure that the maximum time residents will wait for their recycling collection is three weeks, instead of four weeks.
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An officer report outlines options to either
Last year the then Labour led Council was heavily criticised for ending green bin emptying at the end of October. Only a by election win for the Liberal Democrats in the Westfield ward prompted the newly balanced Council to add in an additional collection in January.
The published report fails to indicate how much green waste was collected during this January collection which was also intended to pick up discarded Christmas trees.
Nor is any weekly collection volume data is included.
The same meeting will confirm bin emptying arrangements for the Christmas period. The paper includes plans to improve recycling collections by reducing from four weeks to three weeks the maximum time that people would need to wait between collections.
Roughly half the city missed one recycling collection during the Christmas period last year and so had to wait 4 weeks between collections.
The Council have yet to publish details of any pre decision all party discussion meeting. In the absence of such a meeting residents will be able to make representations at the meeting on 10th and also to make written representations.
In this, the third year of the campaign, the council will be making extra collections of grey bins or bags – whichever are usually collected – on Saturday 27 June in The Groves, Hull Road and Fishergate areas. Students leaving their accommodation for the summer and residents will both feel the benefit and are being urged to make the most of this opportunity.
Besides putting out their waste, local people and students will be encouraged to donate to BHF items suitable for sale, at 10 permanent clothing banks at key drop off points located across the city and university campuses.
These will be collected by the charity and sold as part of its Fight For Every Heartbeat campaign.
Information leaflets and maps of BHF collection bin locations and BHF collection bags will shortly be distributed to households in the three areas.
Last year 1,899 bags were collected through BHF’s special collection bins. Each had an average weight of 8.2 kilos, yielding a total 15.6 tonnes of donations which, using BHF’s estimate that each bag has a £20 value, £37,980 was raised for the British Heart Foundation by York residents and students.
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Some Labour candidates seem set to repudiate their parties waste collection plans before the Council elections even take place on Thursday.
They have issued a leaflet distancing themselves from proposals which would see grey bins emptied only once every 3 or 4 weeks ,
Labours plans also involve the introduction of a £35/£37 charge for emptying green bins.
The proposals first surfaced at a special working group (http://tinyurl.com/YorkWRG) which was set up in 2012 to address the Council’s faltering recycling performance.
In late 2014 the Council “consulted” on various options for saving £1.5 million on waste collection costs over the next 2 years.
Only two options for savings were offered; a reduced frequency of grey bin emptying and making an annual charge for emptying a green bin (second and subsequent green bins already attracted a £37 a year charge).
Other choices actually involved additional costs for the Council.
click to access Council wb site
The confused nature of the consultation leaflet—which can be viewed on the Council web site at http://rewiringyork.com/2015/01/28/have-your-say-changes-to-public-spaces-roads-and-waste-collections/ – was heavily criticised at the time.
The Council was later to claim that around 11,000 responses had been received. The Council, however, refused to reveal the results of the consultation . No meeting was held to discuss either the responses or a preferred “way forward”.
In the meantime in February the Council (Labour and Greens voting together) approved a budget for the current financial year.
The budget included economies of £4.5 million from what the Council euphemistically refers to as “transformational savings”.
Of these, £1.07 million was to come from street services like waste collection. (http://tinyurl.com/Rewire2 ).
Having been given a hard time on the doorsteps over their plans to cut waste collection in the City (just about the only service that every resident uses in one way of another) it appears that some Labour candidates are now taking to the lifeboats.
Whoever takes over on Thursday will face a budget shortfall of over £4 million.
Unless the Councils vanity projects are abandoned, then the decisions are likely to hit the quality and quantity of street level public services.
The Saturday morning skip visit may be a thing of the past for many York Council tenants.
Officials are understood to have cancelled the skips scheduled to visit the following estates/villages.
They claim that the reason for the cancellation is that there is no “active residents association” in the area.
However, that shouldn’t have prevented officials and Councillors from organising a ballot to find out how tenants wanted their share of the Estate Improvements Budget to be spent.
Many of the areas affected have a high proportion of elderly tenants who are least able to make alternative arrangements (and who, understandably, may not be able to participate in a “residents association”)
The matter was discussed at last nights Tenants Federation meeting.
We understand that all Council candidates are being asked to confirm that they will – if elected – intervene to get the skips restored.
The Liberal Democrats have already announced a widespread estate regeneration programme part of which will include improved waste collection and storage facilities.
The skips are regularly the most popular facility voted for by tenants in the annual ballot on how estate improvement monies should be spent.
There has been speculation that the Council also intend to stop altogether the programme of dropped kerbs/verge crossovers which, until 2011, was gradually reducing the numbers of vehicles parked on estate roads. The programme slowed when Labour took office, but there were hopes that the new Council – to be elected on 7th May – will take urgent action to address escalating parking problems on some streets
The news is the latest of a series of set backs for Council tenants in York. A few weeks ago the Council revealed that it had a surplus of £15 million on its housing account.
Many tenants blame Cllr Tracey Simpson Laing for the deteriorating condition of their neighbourhoods. She has been responsible for housing in York for the last 4 years.
Problems with dumping have gradually increased in west York since the Beckfield Lane recycling centre was closed in 2012.
Coupled with proposed reductions in grey bin emptying frequencies and charges for emptying green bins, the Council is in danger of creating “perfect storm” conditions for the sub-urban environment
Labour and Green Councillors voted through a Council budget for this year which includes a big reduction in waste collection costs.
Only two options for cost reduction were offered to residents in a survey undertaken earlier in the year.
We said at the time that the survey was deeply flawed.
Now the Council has now said that it won’t reveal the results of its survey until after the Council elections on May 7th.
Labour’s charging plans were leaked last autumn. Not surprisingly neither they or the Greens have been candid about the plans in their election manifestos that are currently being circulated
Copies of the petition for can be downloaded from here
click to enlarge
Over 500 residents have signed our petition opposing Labour plans to reduce bin emptying frequencies and impose an annual charge of £35 or £37 for emptying green, garden waste, bins.
The on line version of the edition is now suspended until after the election but copies of the petition form can be downloaded by clicking here
At a recent Council meeting in response to a question the responsible Cabinet member said,
“Officers from waste services, IT and customer services are working to determine a time frame in which chargeable Green waste collections could be implemented should the Council choose to proceed. It is anticipated that sufficient evidence will be available in the summer of 2015 for the Council to consider this matter”
Labour Councillors fear that many residents will avoid the new charge by putting green waste into grey – residual waste – bins.
Hence the – still secret – move to reduce bin emptying frequencies to once evry 3 or 4 weeks.
Like the proposals to close Lendal Bridge 4 years ago, it is unlikely that Labour will publicise their plans for the future of waste collection in the city until after then Local Elections on May 7th.
Meanwhile the Council has admitted that recycling rates have been falling in the City. Landfill Tax charges – paid by residents through their Council Tax bills – have increased.
Landfill Tax payments click to enalrge
Landfill Tax increased by £8 per tonne annually until 2014/15 and by inflation thereafter having reached £80 per tonne.
The Council was warned in 2012 when they closed the Beckfield Lane recycling centre that the decision could have dire consequences for Council taxpayers and the environment.
So it has proved.
The on-line version will be available on the Council’s web site until 30th March and will then be suspended during the Council election run up.
click to download
However it will be available again from 8th May. Residents can sign it by clicking here
Meanwhile the City of York Council is reminding residents of a number of changes to the waste and recycling service this Spring.
These include:
In partnership with Yorwaste, compost is available every Sunday from 19 April to 20 September (except for Bank Holiday weekends) at the Harewood Whin site, which is open from 8am to 1pm.
Anyone wishing to take advantage of the giveaway just need to turn up, and bring a shovel and a suitable bag or container to put the soil improver in.
Home composting is also a great way to manage garden waste at home and provide nutrient rich compost for gardens. Visit www.getcomposting.com for further information.
Residents can also recycle their additional garden waste at Hazel Court and Towthorpe Household Waste Recycling Centres free of charge in a car. Residents using larger vehicles or trailers will need to apply for permits to use the sites.
Follow @CYCWaste on Twitter, or like CYCWaste on Facebook.
Council workers have cleared the rubbish from near the flats in Thoresby Road. It had been there for nearly a week.
Some tenants had been storing surplus items on balconies and in communal areas. Following a recent fire, the Council asked for areas to be kept clear.
Unfortunately a promised rubbish wagon did not arrive to coincide with the clear out. Some residents then added to the pile of rubbish
Council official blame a series of factors for the problems.
Reduced bin emptying frequencies and the closure of the nearest recycling centre on Beckfield Lane contributed.
Many tenants didn’t have their own transport and the skips provided through the residents association were coming less frequently than in the past.
Even the Councils paid for bulky rubbish removal service only takes certain types of rubbish.
Things look set to get worse as Labour roll out their £35 green bin emptying charge while their policy of emptying grey bins only once every 3 or 4 weeks could produce a “perfect storm” for dumpers.
Residents can sign a petition opposing further reductions to the bins emptying service by clicking here.
The Liberal Democrats have promised, if they are elected to lead the Council again on May 7th, that they will re-introduce ward budgets. In the past these funds have been used to stage recycling days when a convoys of waste vehicles tour the ward removing unwanted items.
