Take collections truly in-house

It is not true that transferring the waste collection contract from Serco to the Canterbury Environment Company Limited will bring waste collection “in-house”.

It will transfer it to a company of which the council is the sole member, which is entirely different from making waste collection a function of the council, delivered day-to-day by council employees.

Mr David Ford, an officer of the council, was conspicuously vague as to how this company will be constrained to do its job properly. He told the Gazette “So we’ll be coming up with different ways of incentivising performance.” [‘Bin not emptied? Call trucks back using app’, July 23]. Readers will recall Shakespeare’s portrayal of King Lear wandering on the heath: “I will do such things—/ What they are yet I know not, but they shall be/ The terrors of the earth.” Mr Ford promises an app to recall lorries when bins are not emptied.

We recall Henry IV Part 1: Glendower: “I can call spirits from the vasty deep.” Hotspur: “Why, so can I, or so can any man; But will they come when you do call for them?”

This exercise threatens to be another expensive fiasco further undermining local democracy in our district.

What is needed is a small and competent management team, employed by the council, who will deal promptly either with a phone call to the council or with a message from a councillor raising an issue for a resident in their ward.

Bin collection needs to be under the supervision of elected councillors.

Under Articles drawn up under the Companies Act 2006, the directors of this new company can only be given instructions by the council through a resolution at a special meeting.

This will require a meeting of the council or a committee with delegated powers. Councillors will have no legal power to review the performance of the management of the company, while they would have power to review the performance of the council employees. Elected councillors will find themselves toothless and unable to deal quickly and effectively with problems raised by residents.

In May 2019, the electorate gave the boot to Simon Cook and Ben Fitter-harding, the leaders of the group that had cooked up this mad scheme. Councillors elected in May 2019 should consider it afresh. There is nothing wrong with taking refuse collection in-house – but please let it be in-house.

Palace Street, Canterbury

Sheila Webb captured this serene shot from the Great Stour Way on a sunny Sunday afternoon