Agenda item

Petitions may be presented to Council. These will normally be referred to the appropriate body without discussion.

Councillor Phil Barnettpresented a petition containing 50 signatures requesting a pedestrian crossing on Hambridge Road.

Councillor Alan Macropresented a petition on behalf of Theale residents which contained 403 signatures and which objected to Reading Borough Council’s proposal to extend its boundary to include Theale. Theale had a clear physical separation from Reading and was a self contained village.

Councillor Matt Shakespeare presented a petition on behalf of residents living in Pangbourne, Tidmarsh and Sulham. The petition contained 582 signatures which supported these parishes remaining part of West Berkshire Council.

The Chairman thanked the Members for presenting their petitions which would be forwarded to the relevant officers for review and response.

Petition for debate: black bin collections

A petition for debate had been submitted for this meeting which made a request of Council to pause the changes and reconsider the three weekly black bin collection policy. It was eligible for debate as the number of signatories exceeded 1500.

Councillor Stuart Gourley gave thanks for the receipt of the petition and responded to the main points raised in the petition, as follows:

·       It would be costly to pause the three weekly collection policy.

·       Councillor Gourley understood the concerns that had been raised, but highlighted that the majority of residents were managing well with this change. Support was however available to residents and 3% of households had applied for additional support.

·       Larger bins had been made available for 585 households. Additional recycling containers had also been issued (approximately 27,000).

·       The equality impact assessment was published with the budget papers in February 2025.

·       The objectives for making this change were to improve the recycling rate and reduce black bin waste.

·       Councillor Gourley explained that it was important to make these changes and not delay them. New legislation was due to be introduced by the Government in 2027/28 in relation to emissions from waste which could result in a significant tax bill, in the region of £1.4m per annum, if these changes were not introduced.

·       This would provide greater value for money to tax payers and help to protect essential front line services.

Mr Richard Garvie, petition organiser, highlighted the following from the petition:

·       He also wanted to see an increase in recycling. However, was concerned that support measures had not been put in place.

·       Clear eligibility criteria needed to be published for receiving larger bins.

·       Mr Garvie felt it was important to understand how many applications for support had been approved and how many applications had been rejected.

·       There was concern that the consultation was only a box ticking exercise. This view was supported by comments in the petition. Mr Garvie felt that communication with residents on this matter had been poor.

·       Residents’ views needed to be heard and appropriate support put in place.

Councillor Shakespeare stated that financial pressures were being felt by local authorities across the country. Many other local authorities had already moved to three weekly black bin collections and more would follow. He was pleased that West Berkshire Council had taken this step for the reasons outlined. Residents could apply for a larger bin and criteria had been published.

Councillor Shakespeare proposed that Council should not take the action proposed within the petition and not pause the changes/reconsider the three weekly collection policy.

The proposal was seconded by Councillor Justin Pemberton. Councillor Pemberton commented on the consultation that had taken place on this matter. The Liberal Democrat Administration had been engaging with residents since 2023. This included on the Waste Strategy which was published in 2024 after going through scrutiny.

Communication had taken place, this included advising residents of when changes would be introduced. Information was published on the website and residents could make contact if they needed support.

The decision to move to a three weekly collection took into account expert advice from officers, and sought to benefit residents.

Councillor Ross Mackinnon was concerned that questions raised in the petition remained unanswered. It was not clear how many residents who had requested support had been turned down.

The move to three weekly collections had not been included in the Liberal Democrat Manifesto. Consultation had taken place but the responses to the consultation had not been taken into account when making the decision.

Councillor Mackinnon felt the changes should be paused.

Councillor Adrian Abbs noted that West Berkshire’s recycling rate was lower than within South Oxfordshire (who operated two weekly collections). He acknowledged that South Oxfordshire operated different recycling arrangements, but he queried why efforts were not made to improve recycling in West Berkshire prior to moving to three weekly collections. If this was due to financial constraints then he felt this should be made clear to residents.

Councillor Jeff Brooks explained that since the Liberal Democrat Group produced its Manifesto, Central Government had indicated that they would be introducing a tax on emissions from waste.

He made clear that proposals were consulted upon and residents were listened to. As an example, 12 proposals were consulted upon as part of the 2024/25 budget consultation. Three were cancelled post consultation and a further seven were amended post consultation.

Similarly for the 2025/26 budget consultation, three proposals were cancelled post consultation and three amended post consultation (from a total of nine proposals).

It was recognised that there was some uncertainty among residents for the proposal to move to the three weekly bin collections. However, it was necessary to move forward with difficult measures when the Council was facing financial pressures. There was also the need to improve the recycling rate.

Councillor Brooks concluded by stating that he had offered to meet with Mr Garvie to discuss his concerns.

Councillor David Marsh felt that the case had not been made for this proposal, with many residents unhappy about it. There was significant concern with regard to the consultation process, with the perception that responses to the consultation had not been listened to. These concerns needed to be addressed.

Councillor Jo Stewart described some of the contact she had received from her residents on this issue. One resident had requested a larger bin but this had been refused and they had been directed to make a complaint. Extra waste was created by larger households. There was also concern about disposal of increased waste over Christmas, with residents having to transport waste to household waste centres. It was also difficult for some residents to put their bin alongside the highway with access in/out of properties a difficulty for some.

Councillor Stewart felt that time should be taken to iron out these issues.

Councillor Shakespeare, as proposer of the Motion, made reference to the assisted collection scheme which could assist with one of the issues raised by Councillor Stewart. He added that support was available and potential ways to improve this subject to ongoing review. The experience of other local authorities who operated similar support schemes was being looked at and lessons could be learned.

MOTION: Proposed by Councillor Matt Shakespeare and seconded by Councillor Justin Pemberton:

That the Council:

“should not take the action proposed within the petition and not pause the changes/reconsider the three weekly collection policy.”

The Motion was put to the meeting and duly RESOLVED.