(i) To answer questions from members of the public pursuant to Procedure Rule No. 10.
(ii) To answer questions from members of the Council pursuant to Procedure Rule No. 11
Minutes:
QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC NO. 1
Under Procedure Rule No 10, Ron Brown, of 4 Adonis Close, Tamworth will ask the Leader of the Council, Councillor D Cook, the following question:-
"Is the Council Leader aware of
the following discovery by Tamworth Resident and Elector, Ron
Brown? A collection of Borough Council Employees has been posing as
official representatives of Elected Councillors, posting statements
(purportedly from the Council and Councillors) and soliciting
public responses. Via that "man in the middle" attack on
Public-Councillor intended dialogue, they have taken extensive
steps to suppress and censor selected Public responses - none of
which were abusive or contained other than factual statements. At
the time of submitting this question, this group of impostors has -
presumably in an attempt to cover their tracks -
altered the Facebook-required truthful description of
their identities, from one of pretence and actually BEING
Tamworth Borough Council, to one of being merely the output of
TBC's Communications Team. Furthermore, they are VISIBLY
constructing for themselves the ability and authorisation to BLOCK
any responder whom they deam (without
Council Approval) as unacceptable to their purpose.
Supportive copies of "before and after" Facebook "about us"
descriptions and a complete (at time of writing) copy of a thread where the impostors are visibly
attempting to suppress the responses - which they originally
requested - have been provided to the above Councillors. Please pay
careful attention to the Councillor's
submissions?”
Councillor D Cook gave the following reply:-
Other than is the Leader aware I’m not sure here is a question there!
Mr Mayor with your permission as the resident is not present I will offer to write to the resident to answer the question. I believe it is also subject to a Freedom of Information request with the exact same content from the exact same resident so I suggest we let that process run its course and when it has I will write to the resident also enclosing a copy of the complaints procedure. However I have absolute confidence that our communications team are doing a superb job and I will not have them questioned in such away.
QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL NO. 1
Under Procedure Rule No 11, Councillor T Peaple will ask the Portfolio Holder for Housing, Councillor M Thurgood, the following question:-
“At the annual joint scrutiny of budgets the members requested that the cabinet investigate the potential for moving high earning council tenants on to a market rate of rent. Has this investigation been carried out and if so what were the results?”
Councillor M Thurgood gave the following reply:-
Thank you Mr Mayor and thank you too to Councillor Peaple for his question.
Councillor Peaple you will be aware that the potential move to charge high earning council tenants market rates for their rent was a provision allowed for under the Housing and Planning Act 2016. The scheme was designed to charge those households earning more than £31k (£40k in London) up to market rents.
Our housing team prepared detailed assessments last October for what was intended an April 2017 implementation. However, as members will be aware, following the housing sectors response to this proposal - the then housing Minister Gavin Barwell announced it was no longer mandatory for Councils and should be considered in the spirit of Localism and political discretion. In other words it was voluntary.
As I stated at joint scrutiny (budgets), and was widely supported by members, I was keen to see if Tamworth Council could make this work. It may have been ‘scrapped’ as a must, but was still on the proverbial table. Ultimately, I would love to be able to ensure those who can afford to pay do so and hopefully to free up some accommodation for people who do not have another choice.
Unfortunately, having reviewed the evidence, it was clear that whilst the option was there, it was not feasible for this council to take it forward. This is due to the following reasons:
· The costs to administer were assessed as likely to be higher than the income generated. As recipients of housing benefits and/or universal credit are exempt, as are low income families – income projections were assumption based only and could have been as low as c£57k. With administrative costs assessed to be around £70-80k it appeared uneconomical to proceed
· The requirements for tenants to declare their income remains voluntary – therefore arrears would have been likely to accrue as tenants are reluctant to share personal financial information.
· And finally, even if we could make it work, Councils do not keep the additional income locally it must be returned to the treasury. This means we could generate additional income and have to endure the full cost locally – this does not make sense for us.
Therefore; until there is further regulation from the government around this scheme – the risks to this council unfortunately far outweigh the benefits. And we will not be taking it forward.
I am of course happy to meet with Councillor Peaple or any other member to discuss the details further. Thank you.
Finally just also to confirm that the team are currently reviewing affordability of rents as part of wider commercial considerations within the Housing Revenue Account. A report on affordable rent levels is on the Councils forward plan for 2nd November 2017.
QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL NO. 2
Under Procedure Rule No 11, Councillor T Madge will ask the Leader of the Council, Councillor D Cook, the following question:-
“With regard to the planned green bin charges, as you are aware I am opposed to any charges to the public for collection of green waste. I understand why you are bringing in this charge but I did offer an alternative which would bring in revenue for the green waste which would remove the need to charge residents of Tamworth. I know you agreed with me that this was possible and I ask that this system can be considered for possible implementation in the future?”
Councillor D Cook gave the following reply:-
Thank you Mr Mayor, and can I thank Cllr Madge for his question.
I believe there are 30 of us in this room, all Councillors who want the best for the residents of Tamworth we represent and would dearly love not to have to implement the charges for green waste.
Unfortunately at this time we have two choices, either implement the charge of £36.00 per green bin or severely cut back the services we provide to our residents.
I will not get into the state of the national finances or the ever increasing demands / need of a changing age demographic in the UK that is putting all levels of public finances under increasing pressure. We all know the challenges we face today and over the next decade or so in the public sector.
I have indeed spoken with Cllr Madge about his idea for a site that would be owned by Tamworth Borough Council where green waste could be composted thus potentially saving money or perhaps creating a profit for the Council to underpin the cost of services. I also confirm to all colleagues that it is certainly not the worst idea I have ever heard.
Myself, the Portfolio Holder and officers have had a brief look at the idea, but have not yet had a deep dive to see seriously how feasible it would be. But from early conversations no one is saying it’s impossible, just that any pay off, if there was a pay off or pay back is at best very long term. It does not create income, if there was to be income it would not be quick enough in the short term to potentially off-set the need to charge for Green Waste collection.
By the time we have purchased land, set up all the licences required, purchased the required equipment, analysed any effect on our Waste partner in Lichfield District Council and what impact or continuation effect this would have on the joint waste service then the implementation and pay off would be years away. Yet we need the income within the next year or so or we have to cut services. As all will be aware, this Council is employing two new Homelessness Officers, continues to maintain its commitment to the voluntary sector, is investing in and protecting our heritage at great cost. All this with ever decreasing government financial support.
The Commercial Investment Strategy (CIS) is gathering pace and I hope will create the required income streams to underpin our finances long term and I give Cllr Madge the promise that once the governance of the CIS is in place I will ask that his project gets a serious look in the future against the agreed criteria set out by the CIS.
QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL NO. 3
Under Procedure Rule No 11, Councillor R Bilcliff will ask the Leader of the Council, Councillor D Cook, the following question:-
“The Environmental Protection Act 1990 -- Section 45 (3) says this:-
“No charge shall be made for the collection of household waste except in cases prescribed in regulations made by the Secretary of State; and in any of those cases -
(a) the duty to arrange for the collection of the waste shall not arise until a person who controls the waste requests the authority to collect it; and
(b) the
authority may recover a reasonable charge for the collection of the
waste from the person who made the
request.”
If I use my green bin no
more than once or twice a year. If, on those occasions, I
properly request the authority to collect my green bin will they
arrange to collect this bin and if so what would their reasonable
charge be?”
Councillor D Cook gave the following reply:-
There is no legal obligation on any waste authority to provide a separate collection of garden waste irrespective of whether a householder requests occasional or regular collections.
However Tamworth and Lichfield both recognised that it was far better to offer its residents an opt-in subscription service rather than to provide no service at all. After careful consideration it was determined that the most cost effective way to provide the service and keep the cost down for residents was to deliver it on an annual basis with a single subscription charge.
This means that residents can then use the service at their own convenience without having to pre book a collection. Even if an on demand service was provided the charge for such an arrangement would have to reflect that the same overheads for staff, trucks and depot still exist plus the added expense of collecting a payment each time a collection was requested.
Paragraph 4 of Schedule 1 to the Controlled Waste Regulations 2012 specifies when collection and disposal charges can be made for household waste and the scheme which will be introduced in January 2018 is fully compliant with this legislation.
I have with me a copy of this legislation and I am happy to E-mail Cllr Bilcliff a copy should he wish it. If he takes a good look at page 11 it clearly states under this legislation that you can indeed charge for the collection of garden waste. It actually quite simple, the first column entitled “Description of Household Waste” on the table says Garden Waste, the second column entitled “Collection Charge” simply says YES. Not difficult to pull the meaning from that, quite rare in my experience with government legalisation.
As I stated earlier to Cllr Madge, no one wants to do this, everyone is aware it will be unpopular. What we lack is an alternative choice that does not hurt the vulnerable in our town.
Councillor R Billcliff asked the following supplementary question:-
“Can you just explain if I’ve got this right even though I only use my bin once or twice in a year you are prepared to charge me £36.00 for that? Can you explain as I said I need to see the regulations to what is a reasonable charge within the meaning of those regulations?”
Councillor D Cook gave the following reply:-
In my day job this qualifies me to answer this question. As many of you will be aware I am a distribution manager with many years’ experience running very large depots. When legislation says that it is to charge a reasonable amount it is so that a service does not lose money. We could send a truck to you once a year but we still have to pay for that truck on a yearly cycle and so we have to offer the driver and the crew a yearly salary which must be funded by a yearly cycle. Logistics has two running costs which you pay no matter what. Those standard costs i.e. the vehicle, the insurance etc are all the things that go into owning and running a vehicle is still costs the same over the course of the year. So we cannot offer one off collection and otherwise we cannot budget for a service to function.
QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL NO. 4
Under Procedure Rule No 11, Councillor R Bilcliff will ask the Leader of the Council, Councillor D Cook, the following question:-
”Before we were supplied with green bins I would put some green waste I collected into my black bin. Does the local authority seek to stop this practice and, if so, under what specific regulation?”
Councillor D Cook gave the following reply:-
The Joint Waste Service has no plans to invoke Section 46 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and prohibit residents from disposing of their garden waste in the black bin. Instead those residents who do not subscribe to the scheme will be encouraged to dispose of any garden waste they may have by either home composting or taking it to a Civic Amenity Site as these options are more environmentally friendly.
This Council is trying to create the required finance to underpin services to some of the most vulnerable in our society, which is drawn out from our corporate plans and vision. We are not looking to create an environment of draconian punishment. I truly hope the public in Tamworth and Lichfield buy in to what we are trying to achieve.
I hope that this helps?
Councillor R Billcliff asked the following supplementary question:-
“How will the authority make it publicly clear this option remains available to the public when you go ahead with the green bin tax?”
Councillor D Cook gave the following reply:-
Most Council’s charge more than £36.00. This council is not in fifty percent of this in the country charging for green waste. What I would honestly say is do you recall when the recycling boxes were fetched in and we were told the public would go mad and that nobody would have it. Within a couple of months it was the norm. When waste went to a two weekly collections I was told the public would go mad but it became the norm. When boxes were changed for recycling bins this became the norm. There was no room in the garden but this became the norm and this will become the norm. It does rely on residents actually buying into this scheme. But on every single example that I have given you what the Council has chosen to do. We have talked to residents and helped them to understand what we are trying to do. Throwing green waste in your black bin ends up in landfill which is incredibly environmentally unfriendly. What we are trying to do is protect the environment. I would hope that thirty Councillors will encourage residents to buy into this scheme and not try to abuse it.