County and District Tories At War With Each Other Over Waste!

5.18.42pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 17th Jun 2008

Conservative-run Stratford District Council look likely to dump thousands of tonnes of green garden waste into landfill, despite pleas to think again from the Liberal Democrats who have pointed out that alternatives were available.

The decision was taken at a District Council Executive meeting on Friday 13th June, which decided to go ahead with its previous decision to dump the green and kitchen waste collected from August to October into landfill and then suspend the collection of green waste until the following April. This follows the planned 'in vessel composting facilities' (IVCs) not being available when the new waste collection system starts in August.

The decision was taken despite receipt of a letter from the County Council stating, 'this decision causes us serious concerns' because of environmental and cost implications and asking the District Council to reconsider its position. The County Council is expected to incur extra costs of £150,000 through having to put 6,000 extra tonnes of material into landfill.

In return the District Council has accused the County of being insufficiently proactive, stating their understanding that County officers were under instructions from the Tory County Council Leader not to discuss the matter with the District Council.

At an earlier District Council Overview and Scrutiny meeting the Liberal Democrat opposition had pointed out that the County Council believed that an alternative solution to landfill was probably available.

Warwick District Council are sending green and kitchen waste to out-of-County IVCs after bulking up the material at the County Council's Princes Drive facility in Warwick. The County had confirmed to the Lib Dems in writing the probable availability of extra capacity at Princes Drive which could be used to take some or all of Stratford's green and kitchen waste.

Instead of welcoming the possibility of a solution, the Conservatives at the Council's Overview and Scrutiny meeting tried to get the County Council information thrown out, a move disallowed by the District Council's Legal Officer.

'This is a shambles,' said Cllr Hazel Wright, Leader of the Lib Dems on the District Council. 'The Tories running the District Council seem more intent on fighting the Tories running the County Council than in solving the problem. It doesn't seem to matter to them that thousands of tonnes of material could be dumped into landfill at huge cost to the Council tax payer. It's even more annoying since there seems to be a possible solution to the problem'.

Nigel Rock, District Councillor for Stockton and Napton and Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for the new constituency of Kenilworth and Southam, said "I thought this a really poor move and I signed the 'call-in' to have the decision looked at again under the Council's constitution. The problem comes about because the addition of kitchen waste to the green waste means it has to be processed differently - in a sealed vessel. The intended in-vessel composting facility, it has now been discovered, will not be ready. How such a mistake came about is a concern, but with other Lib Dem Councillors, I tried to concentrate on exploring better options. I am disappointed to say that the ruling administration - the Council's Executive - were not receptive to alternative ideas and voted to carry on with the landfill plan. The pile at Ufton is big enough without another estimated 6,000 tonnes of green waste being added, which should in my view be recycled."