Spend a few minutes and have your say on future of household recycling centre service says Cabinet Member
More than 3,000 people have already responded to the Council’s household recycling centre consultation, and County Council Cabinet Member for Planning and Environment Bill Chapple OBE is continuing to urge as many as possible to spend a few minutes and have their say.
The County Council has a tough budget to meet from April 2019 onwards and needs the views of as many as possible before taking decisions about the future of the service.
The eight week consultation, which is open until October 22, asksfor views on a wide range of proposed options,including:
- the closure of the Bledlow siteand possibly also Burnham
- selected weekday closures atChesham, Aylesbury (Rabans Lane) and Burnham (if this site remains open)
- charging for some waste items thatsites legally don’t have to take for free
- charging or limiting access to Bucks recycling centres for people living outside the county.
Bill Chapple OBE saidthat with theever-reducing funding in the public sector, difficult decisions have to be made across all services.
“I’m really grateful to everyonewho has taken the time torespond to ourconsultation already.We’ve also talked to over 350 local residentsat thedrop-in sessionsat local libraries that we’ve organised and there are at least 5 more sessions to go.Overall, it’s been a great response.
“We have also been invited to evening meetings at parish and town councils as well as local area forums, so we have more opportunities to get the views of as many as possible.
“Although, much of the focus has been around the one or two site closure options, we also need as many views as possible about theother proposed changes that we have set out. I would really like to hear people’s views.
“The site closure proposals havepromptedconcerns about increasing fly tipping. I was really concerned about this too, but research and the experiences of other councils show the link simply isn’t there.”
Bill added, “In my experience, fly tippers never have any intentionof taking their waste to atip, they simply off load it wherever they can. It’s also worth saying that around half of all fly tips in Bucks arecaused bypeople who live outside the county. Fly tipping is a criminal act and we will continueour zero-tolerance approach and bring dumpers to justice.
“Please spare a few minutes to complete the online survey – the more responses we get, the better informed we will be when we take finaldecisions later in the year.”
For more information and to complete theconsultation, visitwww.buckscc.gov.uk/hrc-review. You can stillattend a drop-in session and talk through your concerns face to face. The dates and locations are:
Buckingham library – Wednesday 26 September – 10am to1pm
Burnham library – Thursday 4 October 4 – 10am to 1pm
Chesham library – Monday 8 October 8 – 2pm to 5pm
Beaconsfield library – Friday 12 October – 10am to 1pm
Drop-in sessions have already been held at the Bucks County Show, and High Wycombe, Princes Risborough and Aylesbury libraries.