Extraordinary council meeting called over North Devon trade waste petition

Businesses in North Devon campaigning to stop local authority trade waste collections being cut have secured a petition of 1,500 names to get the issue debated at an extraordinary council meeting.

Braunton’s SQ Bar and Restaurant owner Olly Seymour presented the petition to chief executive of North Devon Council, Ken Miles, at the authority’s hub in Green Lane shopping centre on Monday.

He is one of 1,800 users of the North Devon Council trade waste and recycling service who will have to find alternative private arrangements if the service stops.

They say they could be facing thousands of pounds in extra costs each year at a time when businesses are already struggling.

North Devon Council’s decision-making strategy and resources committee voted to end the service at a meeting early this month, on the chairman’s casting vote, as it was losing around £67,000 a year and that was set to increase to £200,000 this year as a new waste vehicle was needed.

Councillors rejected raising the charges by 25 per cent to break even, or by a lesser amount to run just a waste service and abandon the recycling element.

Council officers consulted 20 businesses and said they did not believe, from comments, that the end of the service would have a “catastrophic” effect on local companies. However, the decision has been met with anger across the district.

A motion to get the issue debated again was lost at the full council last week by one vote, but the requirement for a formal debate has now been triggered by a petition of 1,000 signatures.

Mr Seymour said his family had a number of hospitality businesses in the area and had used the council’s trade waste service for decades.

“The operation and service we have received from the council has been excellent,” he said. “This decision to end it has been taken by a small committee and there has been no debate. Everyone has been completely unaware of it. Fortunately, we have a good relationship with some local councillors who explained the implications of it to us.”

He said although businesses in Braunton could find other providers, the cost to his company would be upwards of £20,000 a year, and he was concerned about those in rural areas who were struggling to find any providers at all.

“We believe there would be a 70 or 80 per cent rise in waste collection charges to us if the council service ends. Everyone we have spoken to would be happy to pay more, we understand it has to break even at worst, we are commercial people. The problem the council has is down to years of neglect of not looking at the prices.

“Consulting one per cent of the people who use the service is not a fair presentation of the customers.”

Martin Filsell, who runs Pure Home in the village, said he could see a rise in fly-tipping as a result of the decision.

He said he believed there was money in waste, as according to Companies House one local company with fewer customers than the council had turned over £22 million last year and was in profit by over £800,000.

“I personally feel it is the council that can’t do the sums,” he said.

Gary Jarvis, who runs GT Ales, a one-man-band microbrewery at Chivenor Business Centre, said he believed it would impact every small business who used the service: “Fundamentally we think the council are there to offer support for local businesses, care homes, and schools, in times of economic and environmental challenges, and it seems at the moment they could be creating one.

“The majority of my neighbours on the industrial estate are North Devon trade waste customers, and we have all been happy with it. It’s been competitively priced, and I guess that is where the problem lies.

“We would be happy to pay more, but we haven’t been consulted, it’s come as a shock. Yesterday I received an email and got eight weeks’ notice that the service is coming to an end.”

North Devon councillor for Braunton West and Georgeham, Pru Maskell (Con), said she understood that the council did not have an infinite amount of money, budgets were tight, rural funding had been cut by successive governments, and it was “incredibly difficult” for all councils to operate.

But she added: “If you have a service that can potentially bring an income into the council if run in a more businesslike way, surely that is a good thing. I do not think we have investigated that enough.”

Leader of the Lib-Dem-run council David Clayton (Barnstaple with Westacott) said it was “a very difficult decision but a necessary one” as the service was not financially sustainable.

He said they had lost customers because they could not take on food waste collections, which would be mandatory next year.

“We are not a commercial organisation, and this is not a statutory service,” he said. “Our neighbours in Torridge do not operate a trade waste policy, and there are only four district councils that do in Devon.

“Any losses have to be covered by the local taxpayer, and I don’t think it is right that people have to subsidise this to the tune of £200,000 a year. I would rather spend the money on what we have to do and do that well.”

He said he was happy to debate the issue again, but he still believed the committee had made the right decision.

It will be up to the full council to vote on whether it wants to send the item back to the strategy and resources committee, who will make the final decision.