A Welsh council will charge residents from a neighbouring local authority area to use a household waste recycling centre (HWRC) within its jurisdiction.
A HWRC facility in Powys, Wales
The issue has arisen as people living in Llangattock and Crickhowell – which falls under the control of Powys county council – want to use a recycling centre in Llanfoist, near Abergavenny, which is around six miles away.
But the Llanfoist HWRC is managed by Monmouthshire county council, meaning these residents have not paid for the service through their council tax.
The nearest HWRC provided by Powys council is in Brecon. Waste that cannot be disposed of in weekly recycling collections has to be taken to this centre, which is between 15 and 25 miles away.
Jackie Charlton, a Liberal Democrat councillor for Llangattock, raised the issue at a meeting of Powys county council on July 11.
Cllr Charlton said a constituent – who had been turned away from the Llanfoist HWRC – had told her that a clerk at Powys council had advised that as a “close neighbour” they may be able to use the site with a permit.
However, the Monmouthshire council office had informed her that though they had been actively trying to negotiate arrangements for use of the HWRC by out of county residents they had so far “only met with refusal” from Powys.
Discussions
Speaking at the same meeting, Phyl Davies, portfolio holder for highways, recycling and assets at Powys county council, said discussions between the councils were continuing but there would “almost certainly” be a charge for Powys people looking to use the Llanfoist facility.
Cllr Davies added: “All local authorities in Wales are facing significant reductions in funding and hence need to ensure that they provide the best possible service to their own residents.”
He added: “For Monmouthshire to allow Powys residents to use the site at no cost to the resident would incur a significant cost to ourselves (potentially tens of thousands of pounds) which we simply do not have within our existing budget.”
On June 1 Monmouthshire introduced new rules at its HWRCs, meaning that users must display a residence permit or show proof that they have an address within the county. Cllr Davies suggested that before this rule was brought in Powys residents had been using the Llanfoist HWRC “by the good grace of Monmouthshire” – though he said he appreciated that residents pay little attention to county borders.
Budget
A spokesperson for Monmouthshire county council said that before it introduced its resident permit scheme surveys had found 15% of HWRC users lived in postcodes outside the county, putting strain on their budget.
“We would support centralised provision of household waste recycling centres for all residents if funding and recycling targets could be adapted to make this possible at a local level.”
The coucnil added: “We would support centralised provision of household waste recycling centres for all residents if funding and recycling targets could be adapted to make this possible at a local level.
“We would be happy for residents living near to the borders to pay to dispose of their waste at our sites in Llanfoist and Five Lanes and this option is already available to traders and small businesses and could easily be expanded for non-residents.”
At the July meeting Cllr Davies said Powys had faced similar issues to Monmouthshire in the past.
Residents from Neath Port Talbot had been using Powys’ HWRC at Lower Cwmtwrch near Ystradgynlais and the councils had been unable to financially support this. After the closure of a site at Pontardawe, the councils are now sharing the use of the Lower Cwmtwrch site.
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Source: letsrecycle.com General
