Arun District Council leader has say on weekly bin collections

Letter from: Dr James Walsh, leader, Arun District Council, Maltravers Road, Littlehampton
Dr James WalshDr James Walsh
Dr James Walsh

Dr Walsh’s letter is in reply to former councillor Philippa Bower, who last week wrote: “It has been a year since Liberals took over Arun District Council. I am sure they mean well but there are two things I wish they would take on board. 1: You should not balance the budget by drawing on reserves. 2: Don’t mess with the weekly bin collection.” Here is his reply:

Mrs Bower asks about the use of council reserves funding, implying that whilst under Tory control there was never any take from reserves.

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This year we are taking some £650,000 from reserves to maintain and increase services, and we are planning to replenish that relatively small take. Under Tory control £1.87million was taken from reserves in 2016/17, and £719,000 in 2016/17, with not a squeak from Mrs Bower or the Conservative councillors.

Nationally, many councils are having to do this, including Tory West Sussex County Council (took some £15-20million this year, and more next year). It was all certified as legal and prudent by the chief finance officers at Arun District Council.

Secondly, she asks a question on maintaining weekly refuse collections. The fast-moving agenda on this is being driven by the Conservative government and county council.

Arun District Council has clearly stated that it is our intention to maintain weekly collections, and two-weekly collections for recyclables.

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Together with WSCC we will be conducting a food waste trial later this year to test a better way of separating food waste from general waste, with the aim of increasing our recycled waste from around 45-50 per cent currently to somewhere nearer 60-70 per cent.