We simply want solution to bins

Last week’s Gazette article about the waste service [‘Council urged to bin waste firm - but leader hits back’, Gazette, September 2] described there being a “war of words” between Labour and the Tory leader.

But we’re not in a war of words with council leader Ben Fitterharding. In fact, in Labour’s press statements we didn’t mention him once. Perhaps that’s why he seems a little piqued.

But nothing can excuse his decision to tell his councillors not to attend the special council meeting to discuss the issues.

By deliberately making the meeting inquorate, Cllr Fitterharding is seeking to stifle debate and hide away from his responsibilities. Tory councillors who refuse to turn up are failing the residents they represent.

‘The non-collection of bins is probably the one issue that consistently concerns residents so it is perfectly proper to debate it and seek solutions. It is arrogant of the Conservatives to refuse...’

Labour’s position is that we believe there are serious problems with the service.

Councillors have been inundated with complaints about it over the summer, and Cllr Fitter-harding was featured in this paper in early August promising improvements, so he certainly accepted that a problem existed then.

Meanwhile, councillors have been denied any data on the performance of Canenco, the council’s arms-length company which provides the service, since February. So residents’ complaints are all the evidence we have.

A councillor working group on improvement was promised, but the policy committee planned for September 6, which should have set that up, was cancelled. As things stand there is no prospect of that working group starting its work any time soon.

Labour has called a special meeting of the council where we are proposing three things to allow councillors to finally gain an understanding of the actual position and consider possible remedies:

1) An assessment of the impact of bringing the service fully in-house

2) An assessment of the costs of some form of refund to green waste subscribers who have been let down by the service this year

3) The provision of performance data to allow an assessment of the problems, options and priorities for action.

None of that is “political”. It’s simply how an effective manager would approach this situation: identify the cause of problems and then formulate appropriate solutions.

The whole purpose of the meeting is to get the ball rolling on improvements. The council cannot do that without understanding the costs of change and priorities. Now the ruling Tories have decided to make the meeting inquorate, we can’t even discuss this. That is inexcusable.

Cllr Fitter-harding made a number of statements last week which are unhelpful to our moving forward. He said:

■ That our calling the meeting will “waste the public’s time and money”. We say that it is NEVER a waste of time to try to address our residents’ concerns. If the working group had been set up we could have worked together to improve the service, which is all we want.

■ That Canenco has “gone from strength to strength”.

There is simply no evidence for this. Cllr Fitter-harding admits that “yes, there are still issues… and some recurring ones have proved very difficult to remedy”. Does he accept that there is a problem or not?

■ Other districts are “plagued by driver shortages and COVID isolations”.

There is a national problem with driver recruitment and retention. We are sure that other districts are trying to address those challenges rather than use them as an excuse. But some of the poor performance in Canterbury has nothing to do with driver shortages. Roads being only partly collected and the reporting system not working effectively are just two examples.

■ That the meeting “will simply refer the motion on to a future committee” and that the Conservatives “may not attend the debate”.

The Lord Mayor can allow discussion of our motion.

As chair of the council he is politically neutral. It is not for Cllr Fitter-harding to tell him what to do. It seems obvious that to send the motion to committee without debate makes a nonsense of allowing councillors to call an extraordinary meeting.

Now the Tories have decided to boycott the meeting, it is clear that it is them, not Labour, who are wasting public time and money. Opposition councillors have had our ability to question the council, submit motions and hold the leadership to account systematically dismantled over the past 18 months.

Labour has submitted a call for a constitutionally permitted meeting to discuss a matter of significant public concern which needs an urgent response. We haven’t done that lightly. For the Tories to refuse to attend is cowardly and a disservice to the communities we are elected to serve.

Cllr David Wilson

Labour Group Leader