(a)

Councillors Churchill, Martin Leaves and Michael Leaves had called the decision for the following reasons –

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the apparent lack of consultation with customers who used the household waste recycling centres; no detailed information had been provided to evidence the need for the proposed reduction in the operational hours of Chelson Meadow and Weston Mill;

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the reduction in the opening hours of both household waste recycling centres would encourage fly tipping, as people would be unable to use these facilities to dispose of their rubbish; fly tipping was on the increase across the city, especially in Military Road, Central Park and Pennycross; this had a detrimental impact on the environment and would incur additional costs in removing it;

further restrictions would be placed on customers with the introduction of permits for trailers;

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reduced recycling was against council policy; 

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the reduction in the opening hours would restrict the ability for working families to use these facilities;  with the change in working patterns, it would not be possible for people to easily dispose of their rubbish;

(b)

Councillor Vincent (Cabinet Member for Environment), Mark Turner (Waste Projects and Commercial Developments Manager) and Mark Vincent (Waste Disposal Services Manager) responded that –

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an analysis of customer usage of Plymouth’s household waste recycling centres, had identified that there were relatively few visits early in the morning and decreasing after 4pm; a recent analysis of usage (which was evidenced to the Board) showed this would affect less than five per cent of users at worst; this information highlighted the scope to significantly reduce the opening hours with minimal impact on the vast majority of customers which would provide better value for money for all Plymouth charge payers;

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the inclusion of trailers within the household waste van permit scheme would limit the number of trailer visits per household, and would address the excessive misuse of the sites and increased illegal usage by traders; the restrictions on the size of the trailers would also improve site safety and reduce congestion;

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the enhanced control of soil and rubble acceptance was necessary to prevent illegal tipping by traders and misuse by residents particularly in light of tighter constraints imposed by neighbouring councils which was likely to result in Plymouth receiving waste from outside its administrative area;

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it was acknowledged that within the first year of the new opening hour arrangements, there was a potential for fly tipping to increase and as such an additional provision of approximately £15,000 had been made within the budget allocation for additional fly tip clearance;

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the household waste recycling centre at Chelson Meadow would operate extended hours on Mondays and Saturdays to allow some flexibility in access times to cater for customers who were unable to access the site during working weekdays.

(c)

there had been an  ...  view the full minutes text for item 145.