Changes to remove the booking system at a Derby tip for one day a week has been called a “failure” by a Conservative councillor who feels taxpayers have been fooled.
Councillor Matthew Eyre strongly criticised Derby City Council’s Labour administration after a new report stated the change was expected to cost the council thousands more than first envisaged.
But Derby’s leading Labour councillors have hit back saying the change has been a success and the council has been “responsible” by giving the change a six-month review.
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The council says the change to have no booking slots on Sundays and free up access at the Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) at Raynesway has had advantages and disadvantages over a six-month period between April and September last year.
Advantages, the council say, include “the free sessions provide more choice for customers, recycling levels have been maintained, and concerns around queueing traffic have not materialised to the extent anticipated.”
Since the non-booking sessions started, the site has typically received 700 to 800 visitors each Sunday. This is around double the number of visitors compared to when booking on Sundays was required.
But the report states that it was anticipated the Sunday change would cost the council around £141,000 a year – but this is now expected to be around £200,000. Costs include managing the additional waste sent to the recycling centre and the increase in staffing to manage the busier Sundays.
The report also said fly-tipping had increased when it was hoped the change, as well as free bulky waste collections, would reduce incidents. The increase in fly-tipping over the six-month period has cost the council an additional £26,958, the report said.
At an executive scrutiny board meeting on Monday (January 6), Councillor Eyre expressed anger over the situation. He said the change made had been a “failure”.
He said: “A decision was made which has messed with the (booking) system that was evidenced to work, which was in contrast to what officers had warned previously. The actions have resulted in a huge overspend, a dirtier city and no discernible public positivity. I cannot read some of what is in this report on Raynesway as anymore as a failure.
“A near £27,000 cost increase (in fly-tipping) in just six months, that’s catastrophic in terms of trying to prove any correlation between the booking system and fly-tipping. We have a dirtier city as a result.”
The report also stated that having a booking system in place is better for managing and controlling visitors and the waste brought in. The council says there was an “extreme” level of misuse on Sundays.
Evidence shows 96 vehicles visited the site in the 26 weeks since April more than the limited 12 times a year. Data also showed one visitor has been to the tip 44 times in six months. The council said in the report extra waste materials brought in are “often associated with tradespeople” when usually trade waste at the tip is prohibited.
Councillor Eyre added: “I think we’ve been had on this, the council has been had and the taxpayers have been had. And the administration allowed it to happen.
“They allowed the violation and misuse of the system by creating a loophole to allow it to happen when there was a system in place which was pretty good at stopping it. Taxpayers have felt the cost for having to deal with trade waste.”
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But Labour councillors hit back at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, January 8.
Derby City Council leader Nadine Peatfield said: “Both of the initiatives were trials at the end of the day. We said we would bring back a review to cabinet and that’s what this is today – to look at the successes and the failures of these trials. I think that’s the responsible thing to do.
“We certainly had an ambition to reduce fly-tipping and, while the stats do not show that has happened, nationally there are stats that show fly-tipping has increased across the country.”
Fellow Labour cabinet councillor Hardyal Dhindsa was in agreement. He added: “Both initiatives (no-booking Sundays and free bulky waste collections) have been a success. We wanted this to happen and to offer choice and that’s what happened.
“On Sundays, more people are using the facility. But the important thing is some of the concerns at the time about queuing and blockage but they didn’t transpire.”
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