To receive any disclosures of interest from councillors in accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct for members.

There were none.

To consider the changes proposed by Surrey County Council at Community Recycling Centres and their wider implications for the Borough.

County Councillor Goodman outlined Surrey County Council’s (SCC) proposed changes to Community Recycling Centres (CRC). He explained that changes to services were needed in order to deliver required savings and that over 12,000 responses to the consultation had been submitted to date. He confirmed that all consultation views would be taken into account when the final plans were considered and agreed by SCC in autumn 2017.

The Group Head for Neighbourhood Services introduced her report and noted that since previous changes and charges to waste services were implemented in 2016, the number of fly tipping incidents in Spelthorne had nearly doubled. She said it would therefore be reasonable to conclude that the latest proposals to remove the free daily allowance and/or reduce opening hours would lead to a further increase.

County Councillor Goodman responded to a number of issues raised by both members of the committee and other councillors in attendance. These related to: the fly tipping burden placed on housing associations; evidence of increased fly tipping in Elmbridge, Spelthorne and Runnymede; impact on residents’ quality of life; impact on other County Council services; request for more clarity on specific proposals for Spelthorne; whether the savings made would be outweighed by extra costs dealing with predicted fly tipping increases; provision of advice to residents; a lack of clarity about whether the Charlton Lane site was included in the consultation; whether work would continue on site at Charlton if closed to the public on certain days; and residents’ lack of faith in the consultation process.

County Councillor Goodman also responded to issues raised by members of the public relating to: impact of proposals on traffic at Charlton Lane; financial concerns about the operation of the Eco Park; the justification for charging for waste disposal; and whether the operator pays SCC to rent the site. He agreed that SCC would consider all comments raised during the evening as part of the consultation process.

Richard Parkinson, Waste Operations Group Manager at SCC, presented some detailed fly tipping incident data for Spelthorne and other district and borough councils in Surrey. He acknowledged that there were inconsistencies in the way information was recorded across Surrey and better data was needed in order to understand fully the effect of changes to waste management arrangements on fly tipping incidents. 

The Chairman, Councillor Davis, thanked Councillor Goodman and Mr Parkinson on behalf of the Committee for attending the meeting.

Resolved that the following recommendations are communicated to Surrey County Council to be considered as part of its consultation:

1.    That Surrey County Council be asked to accept the concerns and feedback raised at this meeting from both councillors and members of the public and to include these as part of the consultation feedback (as supplied by Spelthorne Borough Council).

2.    Each Surrey district and borough council to develop, in partnership with Surrey County Council, a common assessment/framework for measuring fly tipping waste.

3.    It is noted by the Committee that the Eco Park at Charlton Lane will be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 510/17