COUNCILLORS have voted to keep Wokingham’s blue bag system for rubbish, just two days after the ruling executive approved a switch to fortnightly collections.
A debate was held at a council meeting on Thursday, March 23, triggered after a petition attracted more than 1,800 signatures from residents, and the proposal received a backing from a majority in the chamber.
In a tweet following the debate, Cllr Charles Margetts said the decision was “a big step forward”.
“We won a crucial vote which will force the council to maintain weekly collections against the wishes of the liberal / labour coalition which runs Wokingham council,” he wrote.
However, Cllr Rachel Bishop-Firth (Lib Dem, Emmbrook) wrote: “Very strange #Wokingham Borough Council meeting tonight as the Conservatives attack a plan to save a million pounds a year on refuse collection by moving to a system used by 85% of councils. Where will that £1,000,000 come from?”
On Tuesday, Wokingham Borough Council’s ruling executive approved the plan intending to swap blue bags for wheelie bins as early as summer next year. In all, 60,000 wheelie bins will be bought and delivered to residents except for those living in flats or properties with narrow access.
The council argues this will save £500,000 for the next financial year, then £1 million every year thereafter, and also increase the borough’s recycling rate by 10%.
But the vote, caused by a petition handed in at the last council meeting, could change that.
Introducing the debate, Cllr Norman Jorgensen (Con, Hawkedon) said residents wanted to keep the weekly collections currently in use, and if the Conservatives were still in control of the council after the May local elections, they would find the money to do so.
Cllr Chris Bowring spoke in support of the Conservative motion, saying “the blue bag system is not broken”, and wanted to know why this option was not given in the recent resident consultation. He added that people “dislike wheelie bins” and said they made Cemetery Junction in Reading “an eyesore”.
He added that the green bag system for recycling waste was initially rubbished by the Lib Dems when in opposition, but now they were keeping them.
Cllr David Cornish (Lib Dem, Finchampstead South) joked that the misuse of statistics meant that “76% of residents didn’t like my friend Cllr Charles Margetts”, and he felt the petition was a “total travesty”, as residents were asked for their views on change, and 74% of respondents said they could live with a switch to at least fortnightly collections.
He also pointed out that some Conservative-run councils used fortnightly collections, and no one was calling for them to be switched back to weekly.
“This stunt is for the benefit of a small clique who have forgotten any purpose for being in this chamber other than to play party politics,” he added. “It is an insult to the officers who worked on this project.”
Cllr Michael Firmager (Con, Sonning) said he couldn’t see how the plans would lead to an increase in recycling, adding that “many simply do not have the space to store this recycling, this rubbish”, and it would cause problems for wheelchair users and people pushing prams.
A different view was taken by Cllr Andy Croy (Lab, Bulmershe and Whitegates), who said the council had a duty to try and reduce the amount of waste to the lowest possible levels, as recycling was cheaper to progress.
“Changes in recycling behaviour are more effectively driven by changes waste disposal service combined with effective messaging on waste disposal,” he said, adding that he had been a fan of the blue bags, but now wanted to switch to help the council save at least £1m a year.
The Conservatives, he said, “want the least effective method of driving higher recycling rates and they want to spend money in the least efficient way to do so”.
Cllr Laura Blumenthal (Con, South Lake) said she had spoken to people in her ward who “live in small houses”. She said they had told her “Why are we paying so much council tax for cuts in services, making it worse for residents. Please listen to them, their concerns are valued and real. It is not about the chamber, it is about them and the impact on their lives.”
Cllr Imogen Shepherd-Dubey said that more than 85% of council already use a fortnightly waste collection service, which is tried and trusted.
The money saved is “£1m a year that could be spent on supporting children in care, looking after disabled or elderly adults”.
She added there were “very few places left )for the council) to look at reducing services or increasing council tax”.
“This strategy is a good strategy which will save money, and most of the country are already happily doing this, so why shouldn’t we?”
Woodley councillor Alison Swaddle (Cons, Coronation) said that she was speaking on behalf of many residents in Woodley who “have serious concerns about a move away from weekly collections”.
She also raised storage for residents: “I can’t see how residents are going to store these extra bags?”
The money for investing in the new scheme was also a concern.
Cllr Swaddle also said the proposal to switch to all-out elections once every four years would have also saved £1 million, but the Lib Dem-led administration ignored that consultation.
The executive member for environment, Cllr Ian Shenton (Lib Dem, Evendons), said the Conservatives had a “reckless addiction to single-use plastic bags that are specially made from petrochemicals just to be incinerated into greenhouse gases and particulate matter”.
He added the government might force Wokingham to change systems to ensure a uniform arrangement across the country.
“Surely it is better for us to make an orderly transition now than to be forced into a hasty change in a couple of years, because Councillor Canute, you cannot hold back the tide of wheeled bins,” he said.
Independent councillor Gary Cowan (Arborfield) took a swipe at the Lib Dems for “horrendous remarks” to members, while adding he felt the “blue bag system worked”.
He also said parties should be ashamed about proposed savings without producing supportive evidence.
Lib Dem deputy leader Cllr Stephen Conway (Twyford) said not a single resident had raised the issue with him.
“The councils that are performing best with recycling rates are those that have alternative weekly collections,” he said.
Cllr Sarah Kerr, Executive Member for Climate Emergency and Resident Services (Evendons) reminded the chamber that in a council meeting in July 2020, Cllr Gregor Murray (Cons, Norreys) had told the chamber “let there no excuse for single use” in a motion calling for the council to eschew single-use plastics, like the blue bags. Instead, they should be “eliminated from use within the council, and all council controlled environments as soon as possible”.
“Removing the single-use plastic bags from our waste service is one of the ways we’re leading by example and the hypocrisy from the opposition benches is astonishing,” Cllr Kerr.
Cllr Murray wanted to clarify that he said at the time “there had to be exceptions to our ban on single-use plastics”, and residents would put plastic bags into the wheelie bin.
“It’s a complete fallacy, residents will still use them,” he said.
Cllr Jorgensen then summed up by saying the petition was to retain weekly waste collections, “an option not offered in that consultation”.
The Conservatives, he said, would introduce “other service changes to drive behaviour change, as we have previously done over the last five years …
“We provided a budget only a few weeks ago which showed how we would balance the books, so we’ve done the work on that work.
“The government is planning to bring in a new legislation around recycling so things are likely to change quite substantially in the next couple of years. Now would seem a very bad time to make any change.”
Independent councillor Cllr Gary Cowan voted with the motion, while Cllr Jim Frewin voted against. This gave the Conservatives a majority and the motion passed.
