Issue - items at meetings - City Centre Communal Recycling - Permission To Consult

Report of the Strategic Director, Place (copy attached).

1.                  That Committee gives permission to consult all households in the city centre communal refuse area on proposals to also introduce communal recycling and that a report is brought back to committee with the outcome of the consultation to inform any decision on extending communal recycling.

48.1          The Committee considered a report of the Strategic Director, Place that sought permission to consult on introducing communal recycling in the city centre.

48.2          The Chair stated that the trial of communal recycling in Brunswick and Adelaide had proven a great success. Residents there greatly preferred the communal bins to having to store black boxes in their homes. The Chair stated that the streets were now cleaner, and recycling rates were up 70%, benefitting the environment and reducing cost. The Chair added that the council had also been successful in their funding bid to government, who have granted £840,000 to the scheme so the council were now able to offer the benefits of communal recycling to all 29,000 residents across the city centre.

The proposed scheme included provision of 12 new recycling points on the seafront, which will be a great help combating litter problems on hot summer days

The Chair supplemented that he was particularly keen on the proposed incentive schemes that had been developed to support take up, and he was very grateful for the enthusiastic support the whole initiative has received from the Tourism Alliance.

48.3          Councillor Mitchell stated that she fully supported consultation and hoped for a good response. Councillor Mitchell commented that the proposed number of parking spaces to be lost under the scheme would be quite high and she hoped this could be re-evaluated as it would potentially have a knock-on effect on resident parking permit waiting lists.

48.4          The Head of Projects and Strategy replied that the proposals had been considered thoroughly with the Transport Team however, he would re-visit the parking space figures. Whilst the percentage of parking spaces lost would be low citywide, he agreed that this could create pressures in certain areas.

48.5          The Chair stated that he agreed that loss of parking should be kept to a minimum and he hoped the fuller scheme would confirm this. The Chair commented that initial concerns about loss of parking in the Brunswick & Adelaide ward prior to the trial had been allayed when the scheme commenced. The Chair reminded the Committee that their primary focus should be the benefits of communal recycling and not the loss of parking related to the scheme.

48.6          Councillor Theobald noted that he had written to the Secretary of State in support of funding and he was pleased that this had been received from central government. Councillor Theobald agreed that the loss of 271 parking spaces was very high and he felt this needed to be re-examined.

48.7          As ward councillor for the area, Councillor Sykes stated that Brunswick and Adelaide  had lost 30 spaces out of 1300 for the trail which equated to approximately 3%. Recycling rates during the trail had increased steadily and that initial concerns about loss of parking and been allayed when the scheme was in practice.

48.8          Councillor Pissaridou asked that the number of parking spaces lost be prominent in the consultation documents.

48.9          The Head of Projects and Strategy replied that the priopoosals covered a very large area so the consultation documents would list the number of spaces lost specifically in each area.

48.10      Councillor Cox commented that the opportunity to remove the black box recycling containers was positive. He asked Councillor Sykes if the communal recycling trial had improved street cleanliness in Brunswick & Adelaide.

48.11      Councillor Sykes clarified that it had been significantly popular particularly as Brunswick & Adelaide had very narrow streets. This point had been made both formally in the consultation and informally to him by residents of his ward. It had also removed obstacles that presented difficulties to those that had sight or mobility issues.

48.12      Councillor Janio stated that he agreed with the reservations made about the loss of parking. He stated that the consultation documents should address this with total numbers for each controlled parking zone.

48.13      The Chair replayed that he would take particular interest in the issue to ensure that the consultation documents were clear and concise with regard to effects on parking.

48.14      Councillor Janio noted his disagreement with the collection of demographic information in the consultation process which he found to be overly bureaucratic.

48.15      The Strategic Director, Place clarified that the procedures for collecting demographic information was set out in the council’s consultation framework. It would be necessary for the Committee to receive a report on the matter to amend the framework.

48.16      RESOLVED- That Committee gives permission to consult all households in the city centre communal refuse area on proposals to also introduce communal recycling and that a report is brought back to committee with the outcome of the consultation to inform any decision on extending communal recycling.