Dear Editor
District Councillor Kay's report [see NEWS 11/01/07] of the recent Lancashire County Council's Sustainable Development Overview and Scrutiny Committee is a splendidly misleading one.

It is the responsibility of the Cabinet members to ensure that the services under their charge provide not only quality services, but also value for money, and in a very tight financial situation, to suggest areas in which savings can be made. This is particularly true in the case of waste disposal, where the County must spend every penny wisely, as landfill costs escalate, and we introduce schemes to maximise our level of recycling. They are hugely expensive.

Under the County's constitutional system, the appropriate means for councillors to express their views on Cabinet proposals is the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The meeting is not whipped, and Councillors are free to express their views.

I am a Labour councillor. Councillor Kay is quite right that I did highlight access problems to and from the Abbey Lane site, but, I also, along with Councillors Cropper and Barron, drew attention to greatly increased journeys faced by residents of the Northern Parishes to reach the Burscough Waste Reception Centre in the event of its Rufford counterpart closing. The Labour Chair of the Committee, Councillor Penny Martin, suggested that, in view of the committee's concern, there should be a task group of county councillors charged with reviewing the Waste Reception Centres. Members suggested this should consider a range of issues, including suitability of the sites in terms of size, access, facilities provided and location.

The most constructive contribution made by the Conservatives was from their most experienced member in matters of waste disposal, Cllr Bernard Whittle.

He welcomed a review of the facilities. He said that we should remember that the sites were originally just for waste disposal, not recycling, and he was not satisfied that all now met the necessary standards, or were in the right place. He thought that as a result of the review there would probably fewer sites, but it was the quality that mattered.

I am wholly in agreement with Councillor Whittle. We have to have waste reception facilities that are up to date, and cater for as wide a range of materials to be recycled as possible. We also have to move to a system of split-level sites, where residents do not have to climb up steps to access skips. The task group must look at the effectiveness of the network of reception centres as a whole, then come to its conclusions, whatever they may be.

It is constructive comments like Councillor Whittle's that residents of the County should take note of, not pointless party political point-scoring by his Conservative West Lancashire district colleagues.

Francis Williams
County Councillor for Ormskirk West 15th January 2007

Sir,
With reference to Mr Rydings letter of the 8th, I do not need to "levy the same criticism" at anyone else as I already did! I did not draw any distinction between the tiers of local government or the political affiliations of the elected members in any of my letters.

Perhaps we should get back 'on topic' and, if only for the sake of Mr Rydings, ask questions that are fully within the remit of WLDC and, in order to avoid further "confusion" be very specific:

Why was the (rescheduled) 5th January Hesketh Bank green bin collection abandoned?
What communication have WLDC or our elected councillors made to residents?
How much will WLDC be refunding?

WIll any answers be just as specific?

Sincerely,
J.B., 10th January 2007

Sir,
Perhaps Mr Rydings should have read my letter just one more time before reaching for his keyboard.
For clarification:

1) Rather than condemning him, I was actually commending Mr Rydings for bringing this matter to the attention of the general public. However, in light of him explaining the political motivation for doing so, my commendations are hereby withdrawn but I still do thank him for letting us know about this important issue.

2) The crux of my letter was that all our elected representatives are remiss with their communications on this and all other topics of local importance and I think it somewhat mischievous of Mr Rydings to quite deliberately engineer a different conclusion to my letter. How possibly could anyone conclude that they are not doing enough when no one has any idea of what they are doing?

3) I will judge the performance of my elected representatives by what actually happens in our environment rather than what they choose to discuss within the council chambers. Mr Rydings and his colleagues really do need to try hard to understand that conveying "the state of our local roads is also high on the Conservative Councillors agenda" is actually of no consequence at all to the vast majority of people. Us being told when the necessary remedial work will begin, however, will be of great interest to many.

4) I suspect it would be a topic worthy of its own thread to discuss why Mr Rydings immediately assumes JB is male.

Returning to the issue of closing our Recycling Centre, the news item on this website [5th January 2007] provides little more detail than Mr Rydings originally conveyed except that the selection of Rufford for closure has probably nothing to do with performance and possibly everything to do with political bickering.

Perhaps we the electorate should ponder that a tactical vote to align the political persuasions of WLDC with whichever party controls Lancashire County Council would possibly thereafter prevent us being on the receiving end of the petty party political games being played out at our expense.

Sincerely,
J.B., 8th January 2007

Sir,
As I drove on my 11 mile round trip to Rufford with a car full of our Christmas cardboard today I witnessed our lengthsman conducting his thankless bi-weekly task of recovering the drifts of milk cartons laid to rest in the hedge bottoms resulting from the ridiculous blue boxes blowing about in the wind. Tonight I read on this website that there is a proposal to shut the Rufford Centre. Despite the fine words from the grandly titled Councillors that we were treated to when these schemes were introduced "for the benefit of the environment and our children" it is becoming very difficult to accept that we have a cohesive and considered recycling policy in place.

When the "grey" waste collection was halved by WLDC with no change in the frequency of collection of (or type of) recyclable materials accepted on the doorstep the Rufford recycling centre responded admirably; efficiently coping with the 1000s of additional car journeys made necessary to deposit recyclable household waste that the council would no longer collect but we still had to get rid of.

Council waste recycling targets may well have been met but the net impact of all those additional car journeys on our already congested village roads together with the unprecedented surge in fly tipping is nothing short of a disaster.

Whilst the proposal to close the Rufford recycling centre is of grave concern, it is even more worrying to hear that our local councillors have all but thrown in the towel and have already taken to blaming each other for the potential demise of this essential local facility.

I suppose that we in the so called "Northern Parishes" of Tarleton, Rufford, North Meols and Hesketh Bank have long since accepted that we live in a forgotten corner of Lancashire (exhibit a: the apparently acceptable state of disrepair of our roads) but it is a sad day indeed when our own elected Councillors forget about us also. When did you last hear any of them on the local radio, on the telly, in the papers (other than the usual stage managed press release / photo opportunity) defending the few services we have left in our villages? Why is it always left to Mr Rydings to raise these issues in the public domain? Why is there never any input from our MP? Why are any of our councillors abstaining on a vote about key local services - have they really no opinion on the matter?

No amount of finger pointing will shift the blame from ALL of our elected representatives when any local service is cut, especially if we are left guessing as to what, if anything, they did or tried to do about it. From our MP down to each Parish Councillor and all the wannabe's in between I really do want to hear what you are doing about this and all other local matters also! Speak up now or stand down!

J.B. 4th January, 2007

The waste re-cycling facility at Rufford has been targeted for closure by the Labour controlled Lancashire County Council as a cost cutting exercise. The Conservative group on West Lancashire District Council is against this and is strongly of the opinion that this would cause great inconvenience to residents of the Northern Parishes and adjoining areas of South Ribble and Chorley. The Conservative Group feels that the closure of this facility will increase fly-tipping in the area and undermine the recycling habits of the local population who will have no alternative facility within 10 miles.

The actions of Lancashire County Council are very ill advised and will increase the incidence of fly- tipping in the Northern Parishes and the bill for the removal of this problem will fall on West Lancashire District Council and the rate payers of the District.

Conservative District Councillors have been vociferous at Lancashire Locals meetings speaking against and voting against this proposed closure whilst the Labour Councillors’ of the District have abstained and not voiced an opinion either way about this closure it would appear they are happy with the proposals or they are not willing to go against the will of their political masters(County Council).

The County Council receives the majority of the rates paid by the residents of West Lancashire and a facility such as the one at Rufford is one of the few services they provide to residents that is useful and much needed by everyone. It will be a sorry day if this facility is closed and we feel they should think again and not be so glib as to closedown a necessary much used service. Maybe some of the wasteful services provided i.e. The ‘Vision’ newspaper should be closed down and save some money. I will bet that 99% of the local residents do not even open the paper never mind read it. The only use it has is to boost the re-cycled newspaper in the District.

It must be remembered by all that the controlling Conservative Group at West Lancashire is totally against this closure, The County Council must think again over this one and find some way to keep the facility open they are wasting money on so many other projects that have no impact on the residents and seem to be done totally for the benefit of officers not the public (maybe we have an opportunity here to look at staffing levels throughout L.C.C) I don’t remember many officers leaving when the council became smaller as a result of Blackpool and Blackburn leaving the control of L.C.C.

Dave Rydings, 4th January, 2007

I am absolutely fed up with any colour bin. Last week (Grey) bin out on the kerb, on top I had put 2 white bags with household rubbish in, the collectors who are not allowed to pick bags up from the pavement and put them in the bin, removed these bags from my bin and left them on the pavement.

This week (Green?Blue) week, on top of the blue box I left a black bin bag with tins and bottles in, as I was led to believe if you left extra bags out for blue collection it was fine, no the black bag was left on the pavement still full. I telephoned WLDC you are only allowed to leave extra bottles, cans etc out in white supermarket bags but not black bags.

This is really a fiasco.

Norma Goodier, 28th February 2006

Dear Sir
I am experiencing problems getting both sets of refuse collected. Every week our house is missed as the wagons sail past the end of our side road. We weren't even included in the new scheme (nor were we informed that we would be kept on the old one) until I contacted the council offices in October 2005 to ask them what was happening to our refuse collection, only to discover that we hadn't been considered in any way. We had ceased to exist on their records. This was an oversight which should not have occurred since we are on the electoral register and I note that WLDC always manage to contact us about payment of the council tax. They never miss us out with that one. Someone then arrived, unannounced, with two wheelie bins and a blue box (no blue bag or info pack - I had to request them later). I was also promised a visit by someone from the council to discuss our provision but that never materialised.
It is now January 2006 and we are 3 months down the line. Whilst I was prepared for a few "teething troubles", nothing could have prepared me for the catalogue of errors and incompetence on the part of the refuse collection department, which I have encountered personally or witnessed evidence of in the trail of debris which lays uncollected for weeks on our streets. Only once has our refuse been taken at the right time. Am I being cynical when I say that it was the Christmas collection when that they managed to cheerily take my rubbish on time? This scheme is a blatant cost-cutting devise masquerading as an environmental initiative, and all at a time when our council tax is rising at more than five times the rate of inflation.
I welcomed the recycling scheme when it was first introduced but am very disappointed in the way it has been handled. The waste disposal service in Tarleton is the worst I have ever encountered in over 40 years living here. The bin bags and swirling litter on our paths evoke images of a deprived area from the past. Come on West Lancs! You can do better than this!!
Liz Cheetham, 7th January 2006

Tony will no doubt respond in due course but, in the interim I can assure Mr Rydings that I did fill in the form requesting extra bin space and returned it the same day – no response or acknowledgement has yet been received.
I also specifically went to the roadshow at Marks Square to ask about extra bin space and was told that they would get someone to call me with an update – no response as yet.
I rang the council on the week the grey bins were introduced and was told that no-one in the northern parishes had yet had the visit to sort out any extra bins – but they were “monitoring the response”. In light of the above I would return the question to Dave - are YOU being fair?

But, whilst we are on the topic, did anyone else observe the not so cost effective "advanced party" from the council clearing away any additional bin bags such that the "real" waste contractors were not compromised during the honeymoon period of the initial collections? I must admit to being surprised that a council is allowed to spend our money so blatantly to avoid a political backlash over what must be one of the most poorly communicated initiatives in living memory.

It certainly does appear that the honeymoon is now over with uncollected bin bags littering the streets of our villages and, no doubt, some fines are already in the post both for those who "couldn't be bothered to apply for more bin space" and also those who did but were ignored.

Not withstanding the above, it would be really interesting if Cllr Baldock would provide an update on the key objectives of this scheme:

And if I may add another:

Mark O'Hanlon, 5th December 2005

Dear editor,
I am a tax paying member of the community and can I say the issue of the Grey bins is a good idea if the bins are emptied per week and not the current two week cycle.
I have five adults in my home and the grey bin is insufficient for the amount of waste that is generated. Last week I placed my grey bin outside my house full to capacity and I placed two bin bags full of rubbish on top expecting the waste to be taken away. The 'jobs worth' bin people empitied the grey bin and left the black bin bags behind. Driving around the area of tarleton i notice several un-emptied bin bags still at the entrances of several houses.
It's nice to see the council bin system working !
Thanks,
Tony Chana, 3rd December 2005

Dear Sir,
Further to the recent correspondence regarding the grey wheelie bins, people may find the following facts from the WLDC website of interest.

If you want more than one bin, the council will need to visit your home and assess the need before providing any extra ones.
Each wheelie bin will be microchipped to your property - so its either a dog or big brother is rearing its ugly head.
According to WLDC you will have sufficient space in one bin for two weeks rubbish, no bin bags will be collected.
You will be responsible for putting your own bins at the front of your property - the bin men will no longer collect from the rear.
Only bins with the lid closed will be collected.
The council will only replace bins they damage, if yours is damaged or stolen, you will have to pay for a new one.
If you are old or disabled, the council will need to visit you to assess your ability to put your own bin out, before arranging someone to collect it for you.
The council still insist that fortnightly collections are going to increase the amount of recycling, personally I think it will dramatically increase the incidence of fly tipping.

The following list details what MUST go in which collection receptacle

Green bin - garden waste like grass cuttings, hedge trimmings, dead plants.
Blue box - for glass, plastic and cans
Blue bag - for waste newspapers and magazines
Grey bin - household waste that can't be recycled like nappies, food scraps etc.

Any deviation will provide the binmen with an excuse not to collect.

And the final quote from WLDC:

Advantages of alternate collections
Alternate weekly refuse collections are the best way to:
· reduce the amount that goes to landfill
· increase the amount of waste that is recycled
· make it easy for people to recycle
· help safeguard our environment for our children and future generations

What a load of co**lers. Personally, I think we should all demand a rebate on our council tax. WLDC claim there is no reduction in services, however if you do the maths, they currently collect rubbish every week = 52 collections per annum. They collect garden waste every two weeks = 26 per annum plus recyclable materials every alternate fortnight = 26 per annum. They are going to do one collection of some form per week = 52 per annum, a reduction of 50%. Do they think we are all totally stupid! What comments have our local Parish and District councilors got about this matter? It would be interesting to hear their views.
Chris Stringfellow, 4th September 2005

Bin Spin
I would be very much in support of any initiative that would make it even easier to recycle household waste and so have been eagerly awaiting details from WLDC about the proposed changes for waste collection. Today I received my copy of the explanatory letter from the Council but can find nothing at all in it that even attempts to explain how their worthy objective of "making it easy for you to recycle your waste" will be achieved.

I note there will be no change whatsoever to the frequency of collection of recyclable waste, there is no change to the materials collected for recyling (still no cardboard?) and the size of the blue box will not change - limiting the amount any household can recycle via doorstep collection. The only changes being made are to the collection of non recyclable waste.

It is the Council who has chosen to justify these changes under the recycling banner (rather than cost saving) and so it does not seem unreasonable that they at least make some attempt to explain the rational behind it. Perhaps our Councillors would care to share with us their thinking on this matter.
Mark O'Hanlon, 25th August 2005