Agenda item

That this Council:-

(a)       recalls the Notice of Motion proposed by Cllr Jillian Creasy at the Council meeting on 13^th June 2012, and expresses disappointment at the decision of the largest party in the council chamber to oppose moving the item up the agenda, given the clear interest in the public gallery;

(b)       notes that following the change of Administration in May 2011, a further £150,000 was removed from the budget of recycling centres, and believes this was a short-sighted move given the Administration’s plan to end weekly black bin collections;

(c)        understands that Blackstock Road has the highest tonnage of any recycling centre, and therefore expresses dismay at the Administration’s decision to close Blackstock Road three days a week, while the recycling centre in what the Council believes to be in one of the Administration’s  ‘favoured areas’ remains open seven days a week;

(d)       furthermore, notes with disappointment the failure to avoid strikes, and regrets the effect this has had on the service for local residents;

(e)       in addition, recalls the decision of the present Administration to end the free collection of garden waste, and notes that more than a year after it was first agreed, the flexible blue bin/box offer has still not been fully rolled out;

(f)         believes the simultaneous strategies of the present Administration to end weekly black bin collections and reduce recycling services always amounted to a recipe for disaster; and

(g)       therefore, in light of the Administration’s decision to enforce fortnightly bin collections, calls upon the Administration to re-consider its reductions to recycling centre opening hours.

It was moved by Councillor Shaffaq Mohammed, seconded by Councillor Colin Ross, that this Council:-

(a)       recalls the Notice of Motion proposed by Cllr Jillian Creasy at the Council meeting on 13^th June 2012, and expresses disappointment at the decision of the largest party in the council chamber to oppose moving the item up the agenda, given the clear interest in the public gallery;

(b)       notes that following the change of Administration in May 2011, a further £150,000 was removed from the budget of recycling centres, and believes this was a short-sighted move given the Administration’s plan to end weekly black bin collections;

(c)        understands that Blackstock Road has the highest tonnage of any recycling centre, and therefore expresses dismay at the Administration’s decision to close Blackstock Road three days a week, while the recycling centre in what the Council believes to be in one of the Administration’s  ‘favoured areas’ remains open seven days a week;

(d)       furthermore, notes with disappointment the failure to avoid strikes, and regrets the effect this has had on the service for local residents;

(e)       in addition, recalls the decision of the present Administration to end the free collection of garden waste, and notes that more than a year after it was first agreed, the flexible blue bin/box offer has still not been fully rolled out;

(f)         believes the simultaneous strategies of the present Administration to end weekly black bin collections and reduce recycling services always amounted to a recipe for disaster; and

(g)       therefore, in light of the Administration’s decision to enforce fortnightly bin collections, calls upon the Administration to re-consider its reductions to recycling centre opening hours.

Whereupon, it was moved by Councillor Jillian Creasy, seconded by Councillor Robert Murphy, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by:-

1.         the deletion of paragraphs (b) and (c);

2.         the addition of new paragraphs (b), (c) and (d) as follows:-

(b)       recognises that, due to global resource depletion, the value of materials is increasing and the profit to be made from re-using and recycling is rising;

(c)        would prefer any such profit to be used to maintain and improve the service to the public and the business community and to create local job opportunities rather than boost the income of profit-making national or multinational companies and their share-holders;

(d)       recognises that the front line workers and their union representatives can provide inside knowledge about services and make useful suggestions about more efficient and innovative ways of running services;

3.         the re-lettering of original paragraphs (d) to (g) as new paragraphs (e) to (h).

On being put to the vote, the amendment was negatived.

(Note: The Deputy Lord Mayor (Councillor Vickie Priestley) and Councillors Simon Clement Jones, Clive Skelton, Shaffaq Mohammed, Rob Frost, Colin Ross, Joe Otten, Keith Hill, Diana Stimely, Roger Davison, Sue Alston, Andrew Sangar, Janice Sidebottom, Anders Hanson,  Denise Reaney, Ian Auckland, Bob Mccann, Katie Condliffe, Alison Brelsford and Trevor Bagshaw voted for Paragraph 2, sub-clauses (b) and (d), and against the remaining paragraphs and asked for this to be recorded.)

It was then moved by Councillor Jack Scott, seconded by Councillor Leigh Bramall, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by the deletion of all the words after the words ‘That this Council’ and the substitution of the following words therefor:-

(a)       regrets that the Council has had to reduce spending by £55 million in the 2012/13 budget and that by 2015/16 the Council will have £170m less to spend than it did in 2011/12 and regrets that the main opposition group continue to fully support the level of cuts imposed on the Council by the Conservative-led Government;

(b)       further regrets that to meet this unprecedented financial gap in the budget, the Council has had to reduce the opening hours of the five Household Waste Recycling Centres, however acknowledges that the previous Administration made the majority of the cuts to these Centres in the 2011/12 budget;

(c)        notes that the Council makes every effort to provide the best possible waste service, including sufficient opening hours at the Household Waste Recycling Centres to offer a sustainable service, working within the severe financial constraints imposed by the Government; 

(d)       recognises that the present Administration have made several improvements to original proposals to manage  the reductions in opening hours and under the revised opening hours, Sheffield's five Household Waste Recycling Centres will be open a total of 23 days every week, with all sites open on the peak days of Friday to Monday, sites open every day of the week and summer opening times until 6pm which better suits the needs of users;

(e)       notes that in their 2012/13 budget amendments, neither opposition group proposed to reverse any savings to Household Waste Recycling Centres which would be required to re-consider reductions in opening hours and believes that the late involvement of the main opposition group after the revised opening hours have already been implemented is nothing more than blatant political opportunism;

(f)         deplores the outrageously misleading and factually inaccurate accusations made in the press in recent weeks by the Leader of the main opposition group that the distribution of reductions in opening hours across Household Waste Recycling Centres have been politically motivated;

(g)       confirms for the record that there is absolutely no truth in the claims that the distribution of reductions in opening hours across Household Waste Recycling Centres have been politically motivated, and notes the following statement made by the Director of Finance and Corporate Services at SOVA:- "SOVA Recycling Ltd were asked, as were all those organisations who submitted a tender to run the sites in 2011, how they proposed to allow commercial waste to be accepted at the sites. Due to the licenses under which the sites operate, household waste and commercial waste must be kept separate. This meant that a site had to be chosen which would need be closed to the public during the periods it would be accepting commercial waste. SOVA specifically chose Blackstock for this purpose, with the decision being based on its more central location, with Douglas Road being deemed unsuitable due to its layout and the fact the buildings on the site were needed to process recycling materials."

(h)        further confirms that the only favoured area of the present Administration is the whole of Sheffield;

(i)         calls upon the Leader of the main opposition group to apologise to the people of Sheffield for what this Council regards as an attempt to mislead them by claiming that the distribution of reductions in opening hours were politically motivated;

(j)         further remembers that  the Leader of the main opposition group was previously the Cabinet Member who oversaw the most shambolic mismanagement of the waste service the City has known through the introduction of blue boxes to recycle paper which angered many local people and welcomes that the present Administration are now resolving this issue across the City;

(k)        reiterates its regret for all cuts to waste services, however, recognises that they are ultimately a consequence of the Liberal Democrat Party’s, led by the Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hallam, decision to support a Conservative-led Government which is heavily cutting Sheffield’s budget at the same time as some of the wealthiest councils in the Conservative heartlands receive almost no cuts at all and regrets that the Liberal Democrat Party both locally and nationally continue to refuse to stand up for Sheffield; and

(l)         regrets that when Sheffield is facing one of the most challenging periods in its history, the main opposition group continue to resort to making petty and factually inaccurate accusations in an attempt to deflect the responsibility from the Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hallam and the Liberal Democrats who are part of a Government that is imposing unprecedented cuts to the Council’s services, which is inevitably impacting on the services that are provided for Sheffield people.

On being put to the vote, the amendment was carried.

The original Motion, as amended, as then put as a Substantive Motion in the following form and carried:-