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York service cuts and waste charges a step closer (From York Press)
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York service cuts and waste charges a step closer
10:39am Wednesday 13th February 2013 in News
By Dan Bean, dan.bean@thepress.co.uk
PLANS to change waste schemes, bring in cuts to services and change affordable housing numbers in York have been agreed by leading councillors.
These issues, and City of York Council’s budget for the coming year, were on the agenda last night for members of the authority’s cabinet.
In order for the budget to make savings of £20 million by 2015 the cabinet said cuts should be expected in most areas.
Labour council leader James Alexander said: “We cannot do everything we have done before in the same way, it is not possible. There is not enough money in the system to deal with that demand.”
Among proposals before the cabinet were a public consultation on charges for removing green waste, along with reduced opening hours for the Towthorpe household waste recycling centre.
Other proposed savings included £3.7 million from the adults, children and education budget, £1.1 from customer support services and £1.9 million from the communities and neighbourhoods budget.
The cabinet agreed to the proposals, which will all go to the full council for final agreement later this month.
On affordable housing the cabinet agreed to the Get York Building scheme. This aims to address the housing needs of the city by investing £1 million in tackling overcrowded council homes and reviewing developers’ contributions to the authority when creating homes.
The scheme will also look at the creation of a new mortgage advice scheme to improve the housing market.
Liberal Democrat councillor Ann Reid said she objected to the proposals to charge for green waste removal.
She said: “Residents have already made it clear to us that they do not support a charge for green waste collection.
“Many have said that they will return their green bins rather than pay; 40,000 residents did just that in Newcastle. If that many residents opted out you would actually achieve your savings, but where would that green waste go?”
Conservative councillor Paul Doughty said he also objected to changing the opening hours at Towthorpe, which he felt could lead to queuing vehicles, fly tipping, and the council being issued with landfill financial penalties.
Coun David Levene, cabinet member for environmental services, said studies at Towthorpe had highlighted times the site was underused, and any changes would only affect these points.
He said: “Initial figures show there are periods of downtime which could stand to be affected but we are not considering closure of Towthorpe. I have had emails asking me that, and I want it to be on record.”
Coun Janet Looker, cabinet member for education, children and young people’s services, said the paper on housing was “one of the most welcome things” the council had passed in recent years, as it would help buyers come into the city, and free up rental properties, which would also benefit from investment.
Comments(21)
baldiebiker
says...
12:32pm Wed 13 Feb 13
I asked if it was legal to charge us twice for this service as we already pay for it in the council tax we pay, their reply was that other councils charge for this service.
I said people would either compost it if they had a large garden or put it in the other bin that goes to landfill.
I asked what they would do with up to 17,000 wheelie bins, they said they didn't think there would be that many, what planet do they live on?
jumpersforgoalposts
says...
1:07pm Wed 13 Feb 13
Whistlejacket
says...
1:34pm Wed 13 Feb 13
You save on the charges from the council and you save on having to pay for compost from a garden centre.
You can also chuck your kitchen waste in.
(No horse burgers though, leave them out for the foxes, so they won't chew your children's fingers off).
bob the builder
says...
1:59pm Wed 13 Feb 13
JHardacre
says...
2:03pm Wed 13 Feb 13
Just a thought though - Having returned your green bin and saved the fee, what stops you putting your waste into a neighbours bin?
twotonethomas
says...
2:54pm Wed 13 Feb 13
I only ask because the tory controlled P+R Committee has just voted to recommend to Ryedale District Council that all green waste collection should cease during the months of Dec, Jan and Feb.
At the same meeting they voted to recommend a 5 fold increase in the annual grant paid to Welcome to Yorkshire.
Yet another example that it is almost impossible for us simple creatures to tell the difference between the pigs and the humans. Just as George Orwell predicted.
ncov0310
says...
3:04pm Wed 13 Feb 13
Capt. Dobie
says...
3:21pm Wed 13 Feb 13
...as baldiebiker reported, Selby DC said 'other councils do it'...I hope they blurted that out whilst sobbing like a naughty school kid..!
Just fly tip as they never catch the little monkeys that do that with sofas, piles of tyres, rubble, baths, tricycles, James Alexander canvassing signs...
Mulgrave
says...
3:52pm Wed 13 Feb 13
BL2
says...
4:57pm Wed 13 Feb 13
Whistlejacket wrote:unfortunately not all green waste is suitable for a compost bin, and there is only so much you can put in at once until it rots down! They can have my green bin back - I'm not paying for it. How about saving money by not wasting it on all the ridiculous schemes they come up with behind closed doors?
Buy a compost bin!
You save on the charges from the council and you save on having to pay for compost from a garden centre.
You can also chuck your kitchen waste in.
(No horse burgers though, leave them out for the foxes, so they won't chew your children's fingers off).
JHardacre
says...
5:31pm Wed 13 Feb 13
twotonethomas wrote:East Yorkshire. Where the council has ignored the council tax 'cap' so they can continue to provide services such as this. Brown bin (garden waste, food waste, card) collections continue throughout the winter, as do blue bins (paper, plastic, tetra packs, foil, etc) and green bins (everything else).
Where do you live JHardacre?
I only ask because the tory controlled P+R Committee has just voted to recommend to Ryedale District Council that all green waste collection should cease during the months of Dec, Jan and Feb.
At the same meeting they voted to recommend a 5 fold increase in the annual grant paid to Welcome to Yorkshire.
Yet another example that it is almost impossible for us simple creatures to tell the difference between the pigs and the humans. Just as George Orwell predicted.
Mind you we're not getting the the Tour de France here so it's not all good news (sigh!).
Alfredd-g
says...
6:08pm Wed 13 Feb 13
Mork
says...
7:07pm Wed 13 Feb 13
twotonethomas
says...
9:38pm Wed 13 Feb 13
JHardacre wrote:In Ryedale the tories took the council tax bribe, so we are having to cut services.
twotonethomas wrote:East Yorkshire. Where the council has ignored the council tax 'cap' so they can continue to provide services such as this. Brown bin (garden waste, food waste, card) collections continue throughout the winter, as do blue bins (paper, plastic, tetra packs, foil, etc) and green bins (everything else).
Where do you live JHardacre?
I only ask because the tory controlled P+R Committee has just voted to recommend to Ryedale District Council that all green waste collection should cease during the months of Dec, Jan and Feb.
At the same meeting they voted to recommend a 5 fold increase in the annual grant paid to Welcome to Yorkshire.
Yet another example that it is almost impossible for us simple creatures to tell the difference between the pigs and the humans. Just as George Orwell predicted.
Mind you we're not getting the the Tour de France here so it's not all good news (sigh!).
Despite RDC's 5 fold increase to Welcome to Yorkshire, Ryedale too missed out on the TdF.
yorkborn66
says...
9:53pm Wed 13 Feb 13
bob the builder wrote:Just do what the council does when they cut the verges etc. Throw it onto the highway. I did phone the council a few years ago and ask them if I could throw my garden waste on to the footpaths and the road. The reply was “you certainly cannot “So I said if I cannot why can you!
I expect a legal challenge could be mounted to charging for waste when it is clearly included in a council's responsibility in essential services, paid for partly by the local council tax raised. However specifically collecting 'green' or plant waste may be exempted from being an essential service. I would be in favour of taking my green wheeled and recycling crates to the council offices and leaving them there as a protest and then bagging up all my waste in black bags and putting it in the black bin.
baldiebiker
says...
10:18pm Wed 13 Feb 13
ncov0310 wrote:Selby council is saying £26 for the first year then up to £81 depending how many pay, but they don't give the numbers they have based this on, there's 17,000 in the selby area, I would estimate the £26 is for a 90% take up, £81 for 50% take up but what about a 5% take up?????????? plus the extra they will have to pay for the green waste going to landfill, have they thought this through?
Out of interest...how much would the council charge to collect our green bin and how would they administer that charge?
Magicman!
says...
12:37am Thu 14 Feb 13
Mork wrote:They'd just ignore them anyway, they did with Water End / Clifton green.... and now we have morew cars from Shipton Road jumping the red light putting those at the head of the queue at Water End (normally cyclists) at greater risk. The results of the consultation were "leave it as-is", but that didn't tie in with their wishes so they did what they wanted anyway.
Where is the residents consultations
Just because "other councils do it" does give carte blanche for every council to do the same. I suppose if one council started burning witches at the stake would other councils start it up saying "other councils do it"?!
Paul Meoff
says...
6:55am Thu 14 Feb 13
Magicman! wrote:Probably would. Perhaps Grantham will set the trend with a former resident.
Mork wrote:They'd just ignore them anyway, they did with Water End / Clifton green.... and now we have morew cars from Shipton Road jumping the red light putting those at the head of the queue at Water End (normally cyclists) at greater risk. The results of the consultation were "leave it as-is", but that didn't tie in with their wishes so they did what they wanted anyway.
Where is the residents consultations
Just because "other councils do it" does give carte blanche for every council to do the same. I suppose if one council started burning witches at the stake would other councils start it up saying "other councils do it"?!
capt spaulding
says...
11:14am Thu 14 Feb 13
Paul Meoff wrote:Sounding more and more like Liz Edge on every post.
Magicman! wrote:Probably would. Perhaps Grantham will set the trend with a former resident.
Mork wrote:They'd just ignore them anyway, they did with Water End / Clifton green.... and now we have morew cars from Shipton Road jumping the red light putting those at the head of the queue at Water End (normally cyclists) at greater risk. The results of the consultation were "leave it as-is", but that didn't tie in with their wishes so they did what they wanted anyway.
Where is the residents consultations
Just because "other councils do it" does give carte blanche for every council to do the same. I suppose if one council started burning witches at the stake would other councils start it up saying "other councils do it"?!
quandaryqueen
says...
4:37pm Mon 18 Feb 13
We would put our waste food in the 'pig bin' for the local farmers to take away to feed their pigs.
We would burn most of our household waste on the back of the fire, then put the ashes and clinker to good use either on the compost heap, or directly onto the garden.
We would either compost garden waste, or have a jolly bonfire in the back garden to get rid of stuff that would not compost.
Then... 'THEY' decided we were polluting the air with our open fires, causing 'smog' and causing too many health problems to the pigs by feeding them our food waste. (THEY are obviously oblivious of the fact that pigs WILL and DO eat anything and everything)
So... We were forced into the 'smokeless zone' era. No open fires, no bonfires, no pig bins.... oh we are going to live in such a clean healthy world once all these disgusting lifestyles were done away with......
Need I say more... or have I made my point.
JC42 says...
12:17pm Wed 13 Feb 13