Agenda and minutes

Question:

Can the portfolio holder please give me some indication when waste sites will be assessed for accessibility to the site and getting waste into bins on site?

Operatives are available to assist but the challenge is making sure that operatives are available at busy times and when the site is under extra pressure.  It is important that contractors are aware of the need to address barriers to those who are less able and specifically where the height of bins make it a struggle to put rubbish into the bins available.

I look forward to your response.

Response by the Portfolio Holder:

Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, local authorities are required to provide places where their residents can take their household waste, known as Household Waste Recycling Centres.  The legal requirement is for one site with the proviso being that they must be within reasonable distance for residents to travel.  As with many things in a large rural area such as Powys, this poses a considerable challenge.  For example, in an authority like Newport there is one facility, whereas more need to be provided in Powys, currently five for relatively low population.  Inevitably this does mean that some residents will have further to travel than others.

Where authorities such as Newport have only one site, they are able to channel all their resources into this one site, which does mean that more investment can be made into this one facility.  When more are needed the investment is spread more thinly.  Ideally, all sites would be split level with plenty of staff available to assist the public with their recycling.  However, with a limited budget, it is essential that we do utilise the facilities that we do have most effectively.  Payloads need to maximised, which means that larger skips are needed which require steps to access them.  Staff are there to help out as much as they can but need to carry out a number of tasks and hence cannot always be immediately available to help residents.  There have been some issues with certain staff members, which hasn’t helped the public perception, and this has been, and will continue to be, addressed with the contractor who operates the sites.

In terms of reviewing and assessing sites, savings proposals have been put forward for the sites over the years, which have included potentially closing facilities.  The site in Machynlleth was closed which was a very unpopular decision and there has been considerable political opposition to any further closures.  We have introduced restrictions, including reducing the number of opening days and introducing a permit scheme for commercial type vehicles and trailers.  You will be aware that other authorities have had to make similar savings and this is why neighbouring Monmouthshire are now restricting the use of their sites to their own residents.

There is a proposal for capital investment in the Brecon site, which is the nearest site to Llangattock, and this is being considered along with a number of other capital projects.  This would allow for the extension of the site, which would alleviate some of the congestion experienced at busy periods.

We do appreciate that there are concerns with how some of the sites operate but we do need to provide as wide a service as possible with severely restricted resources.