Scrap online booking system for city tip, councillors urged
CLAIM IT IS HAVING ‘SERIOUS AND NEGATIVE’ IMPACT
DERBY City Council has been urged to scrap an online booking system for its Raynesway tip and go back to basics.
Labour councillor Hardyal Dhindsa wants the Conservativeled authority to take the site back to pre-Covid times so access can be allowed for everyone without the requirement of having to make a booking appointment online.
Councillor Dhindsa says the restrictions in place and the revised opening hours are having a “serious and negative” impact for Derby, with flytipping incidents increasing in the city and throughout Derbyshire.
Currently the opening hours for the Raynesway tip are 8am to 4pm. Before the coronavirus pandemic it was 8am to 6pm.
The Normanton councillor has called a motion for changes to be made at the Raynesway tip. The motion, which will be voted on at next Wednesday’s full city council meeting calls for the following changes:
Re-instating access to the site to at least pre pandemic opening hours
Removing the requirement to having access to recycling only through online prebooked slots
Removing the limit of slots available for domestic households per year
Mr Dhindsa said he would like to see the booking system removed or that it stay for those who wish to book – providing it is not the “only” method for using the Raynesway service.
Details of the motion come after it was revealed changes to the Raynesway tip service since the pandemic have resulted in a cash saving of more than half a million pounds.
But Mr Dhindsa says he is concerned about the state of Derby’s streets with fly tipping increasing. The motion says: “Despite all the hard work of council officers, the problem of fly tipping and keeping our neighbourhoods clean and green is being hampered by over £500,000 cuts to Raynesway Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC).
“If you are in a poor neighbourhood, can’t access online services or are a new tenant who can’t prebook a visit to the recycling centre, it has been made very difficult to recycle and remove bulky waste and general household rubbish easily.”
It then adds: “The decision to continue to open Raynesway Recycling Centre, in 2021-22 and beyond, with reduced hours, limiting slots available to each resident householder, and requiring prebooking online is having a serious and negative impact. “Whilst this was necessary at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic to protect the health of our communities it is unnecessary and unacceptable to continue this now when fly tipping, bulky waste dumping continues to increase and blight our neighbourhoods and city.”
New figures show flytipping is increasing in the city by 26 per cent with almost 1,500 further incidents in a 11-month period.
A Derby city council report into waste services shows that were 7,207 flytipping incidents between April 2020 and March 2021.
During the same timeframe the year previously (between April 2019 and March 2020) the report says there were 5,728 incidents.
But the city council says there is no link between an increase in flytipping and the revised opening hours and booking system in place at Raynesway.
The city council report says: “Data suggests that following the spikes in flytipping (in May 2020, June 2020 and October), this reduced to more normal pre-Covid levels in November 20 to June 21.
“Throughout this period, the HWRC maintained the opening hours and a bookable system.”
The city council does offer a bulky waste service collection with prices depending on the items to be collected. According to its website, charges cost from around £12.50 per item.
However, even if the motion is voted for by full council, it will then be up to Derby City Council’s cabinet on whether any action is taken.
A Derby City Council spokesperson said: “The motion will be debated and voted upon at the meeting, in accordance with the council procedure rules.
“Because the issue falls under the responsibility of the council cabinet, council can only recommend a course of action. If the vote is carried, it will still be for cabinet to determine the course of action it takes on the issue.”
Fly tipping, bulky waste dumping continues to increase and blight our neighbourhoods. Hardyal Dhindsa’s motion to council