We hear and understand why residents are concerned that charges for green waste collection remain in Barrow after the transition to Westmorland and Furness Council.
In this statement I hope we can share with residents some of the details and context for the current situation, the issues the new council must consider around harmonisation of services and what is happening with waste and recycling collections.
"On April 1 this year Westmorland and Furness Council took over the delivery of council services, replacing the former district councils in Barrow, Eden and South Lakeland and Cumbria County Council.
"While the county council had delivered its services across the whole of the county, prior to April 1 the district councils had, over nearly 50 years, developed ways of working that suited their individual areas, their individual communities’ needs and, as ‘sovereign’ councils, were able to set their own priorities and their own policies on how services would be delivered in their respective areas, within any rules laid out in national legislation.
"This meant that, on April 1, Westmorland and Furness Council inherited services from the former district councils that had many differences in the way they were managed.
"Some of those differences were subtle, perhaps a different type of form being used for a grant application or a different reporting procedure for certain services.
"But others, such as the way waste and recycling services are delivered, are more obvious, as they are services that are used and relied on by almost all of our residents, every week.
"The former district councils had developed collection solutions to suit the different areas and differing needs, meaning differences between areas in how often your waste and recycling was collected, what type of containers were used (bins, bags, boxes etc), differences in collection arrangements around bank holidays and winter suspensions - and whether certain collections were subject to a separate charge.
"In the Barrow Borough Council area, it had been decided that a separate charge would apply for collections of green (garden) waste, which councils are not legally required to carry out.
"With a largely urban footprint and a high proportion of properties without gardens, it was decided this was the fairest option, rather than asking all Council Tax payers in the borough to subsidise a free service that was only used by a proportion of its residents.
"In the South Lakeland and Eden areas, the local decision was that green waste collections be provided as a free additional service, alongside the statutory general waste and recycling collections.
"As a new authority, Westmorland and Furness Council is committed to improving and harmonising many of its services, to ultimately ensure that services are all delivered in the same way, and to the same consistent standard, across the whole of the new authority area.
"But this is a huge undertaking, and will require robust and careful planning to ensure we are providing the very best services for our communities, that meet their needs and deliver the best value for money.
"Westmorland and Furness Council is England’s third largest unitary authority by area, delivering services to 225,000 people across nearly 4,000 square kilometres. The work to harmonise waste and recycling collections, in particular, across such a large and diverse area, will be a significant project and require considerable investment and planning.
"Harmonising waste and recycling is a priority and, in the first few weeks of the new council, much work has already started to consider the challenges, practicalities and impacts of various options that will need to be considered by me and my colleagues in the new administration.
"One of the keys to that work will be understanding the impacts of the Government’s National Waste and Resources Strategy.
"This is yet to be published by Government, but it is likely to include proposals around green waste collections and possibly food waste collections, with the council required to comply with any new legislation and design its services around the strategy.
"This means the council really needs to understand the requirements of the national strategy before it can undertake the harmonisation work, to make sure we are aligned to the new rules.
"This will all have implications for our resources and understanding how much the harmonisation programme will cost.
"For example, the resources – number of bins, wagons and crew - required to deliver green waste collections in Barrow are currently determined by the number of people signed up to pay for the service.
"If that service became free, to bring it in line with South Lakeland and Eden or to meet requirements in the new national strategy, that would likely result in more people in Barrow requesting the service – which means more bins needing to be purchased and delivered to the extra homes and possibly more wagons and staff required to empty the bins.
"If food waste is included in the strategy the council will need to work out how it will collect that, buying and distributing suitable containers to residents and also how that waste will be transferred and processed.
"The whole harmonisation project will be complex and will require substantial logistical and contract changes. It will also take some time to get it right.
"Done correctly and carefully, harmonisation provides the opportunity for many benefits - including consistent collections, simplified and more cost-effective contracts, integrated customer support and information, optimised routes and the economies of scale that come from serving such a large area, resulting in financial savings over time.
"We also have an opportunity to utilise the most up-to-date collection and treatment methods and ensure that we meet our carbon neutrality targets by making sure as much as possible is reused, recycled or treated in a sustainable way.
"To allow for that harmonisation work, and an understanding of the new national strategy once it is published, it was decided that the best option, for now, was to continue to deliver waste and recycling services as they had been under the former district councils.
"This provided continuity and consistency for residents and minimised any service disruption during the move to the new council. Your waste and recycling still gets emptied on the same days, on the same weeks and by the same crews as previously.
"However, that did mean any differences in the services in different areas also remained. So there are still different arrangements for collections over bank holidays, different frequencies of collection and different containers used, depending where in the new council area you live.
"It also means that the green waste service in Barrow will be separately resourced and paid for by an additional charge on service users.
"We recognise that this may not appear fair or balanced. We have been asked several times why the service is different in different areas when we are now one council.
"There is no ‘quick fix’ to this situation. The current waste and recycling services have evolved over nearly 50 years. We have had just a year as an administration to plan for and launch the new council and, as explained, we have many, many factors, including logistical and financial implications, to consider when tackling the harmonisation of such an important service, relied on by so many people, across such a large area.
"We understand people’s current frustrations on this issue, and we want to be open and honest with you about the background, the challenges and what we are doing about it.
"We are committed to making this work in the best interests of all our communities. It is a priority for the council and we will consult and engage fully with residents on any changes.
"In the meantime, our intention is to maintain the highest levels of service while we examine the opportunities for improvements and harmonisation.
"Thank you for taking the time to read this, I hope it helps to explain the situation."
Councillor Dyan Jones
Westmorland and Furness Council Cabinet member for Customer and Waste Services