Why the rules on tips are a load of rubbish

WE are as angry and frustrated as the residents of Weetslade Ward in North Tyneside who have contacted us about not being able to deposit excess refuse at the waste collection tip in Brunswick village, which is less than 100 yards away but over the border into Newcastle City.

It is not the fault of either council nor the private operator of the tip, but it is political.

Ever since Mrs Thatcher’s Conservative Government brought in Compulsory Competitive Tendering (CCT) all council services have to be offered out to the private sector to run.

From school meals to swimming pools, waste disposal to council tax collection, every service must be offered to those with profit as their priority. Some services have been run OK, others given back to councils because a profit could not be made and some taken back because the job was not being done properly. But there is no choice.

The private business that operates Brunswick Tip is paid by contract to collect excess refuse from council tax-payers in Newcastle only, just as the operators of the North Tyneside Tip in Howdon are paid to take rubbish from council tax-payers

in that council area. It is a costly and unwieldly way to run public services.

We have asked many times for some sort of reciprocal agreement to be drawn up to avoid Weetslade residents having to make costly, airpolluting trips to the tip in Howdon but with the present contracting system it cannot be done.

We firmly believe that in the best interests of supporting local communities and tackling the climate change agenda it makes sense to let people take their excess rubbish to the nearest waste collection tip.

Ending privatisation of local public services and allowing councils to work together without the constraints of CCT would enable this to happen.

Councillors Anthony McMullen and Muriel Green,

Weetslade Ward