Stop messing about and make decision (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Stop messing about and make decision

2:54pm Thursday 22nd October 2009

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)

Rsidents of all parts of Wiltshire are entitled to know what the Conservative leadership of Wiltshire Council intends to do about household waste collection. And they deserve answers now, not in six months time, after the General Election.

It is simply not good enough for Coun Sturgis, who is paid over £20,000 a year to lead on this issue, to waffle on about waiting for advice from committees.

He had two years in charge of waste in the old North Wiltshire council, and must have a pile of reports setting out the options. He and his cabinet colleagues should tell us what they have in mind, and then launch a proper consultation with the public on their proposals. All the rest is a mix of political flummery and lack of proper leadership.

Wiltshire Liberal Democrats are clear about our preferences, which were spelt out in our manifesto for the June elections. It’s a pity other parties didn’t offer the public clear proposals in June, but we were (and are) committed to : Weekly collections of food waste Additional doorstep collection of plastic and cardboard Asking households to sort recyclable waste from the waste going to landfill This amounts to ‘sorted weekly collections,’ and allows the option of collecting recyclables and non-recyclable waste on alternate weeks. We believe the public would accept this as the right way to reduce our landfill.

Had we been in a majority in the new council, we would by now have set out our plans for public consultation. Coun Sturgis and his colleagues know very well what the options are. It’s time for them to stop messing about and get on with the tasks for which they were elected.

Coun Chris Caswill, Wiltshire councillor, Chippenham Monkton ward.

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)