Two councillors in Maidstone have called for the suspension of Maidstone Borough Council’s new policy to charge residents for replacement bins introduced by its Conservative led administration. The two councillors state that the policy has not been discussed by councillors despite it having a significant impact on residents. The policy was introduced as a savings measure during the summer.
Cllr Stuart Jeffery (Green Party): “This policy has been imposed without debate or even consultation with councillors. It simply shifts the cost of replacing bins to residents, no matter who damages them. People are rightly angry.
“This isn’t how democracy should work. We need proper scrutiny of this new policy yet we have had not had that opportunity. I want to force a debate ton this.”
Cllr Paul Harper (Fant and Oakwood Independents): “The assumption by the Council that residents purposefully damage their bins is ridiculous. We all see daily that the bin men due to having to rush to meet quotas don’t have time to return the bins to where people put them out. If the bins belong to the Council they should replace them free when they reach the end of their lives. This whole charging policy needs to be scrutinised fully in public.”
Notes:
Cllrs Jeffery and Harper have proposed the motion below to full Council on 27th September following a series of complaints by residents that they are facing bills for replacing bins that have been damaged by others including the waste contractor Biffa.
Replacement Refuse Bins
The Council’s website has a published policy stating that replacement bins will be paid for by residents no matter who is responsible for the damage or loss: “Residents are responsible for looking after these bins and replacing them if they become damaged, lost or are stolen.” and “You are required to pay for replacement bins.”
The only time this proposal went to any committee was CHE PAC on 17th Jan and one short paragraph of a proposal was included in the budget paper. Within the paragraph these sentences are shown: “This proposal is to recover the costs for the provision of these bins by charging the relevant party for their replacement. A flowchart will be published setting out liability in each scenario where a replacement is required.”
The statement at CHE PAC is quite different to the published policy and no flow chart was presented to a committee for discussion or agreement.
The decision to implement this policy has not been discussed or published by the Executive / Cabinet and has not had the opportunity to be called in by Overview and Scrutiny.
There are increasing numbers of complaints including where CCTV evidence of damage by contractors has been refused by officers as grounds for the council replacing bins.
Officers have also clearly stated that bins degrade over time and need replacing through no fault of either resident or contractor. This suggests that all residents will be required to purchase new bins at some point but this has not be communicated to residents.
Officers have stated that the policy was agreed by Council yet there is no evidence in Council papers that this is the case. [note for us: if this is the case then only Council has the power to act on this I think]
Motion
This Council requires:
- That the policy of charging for replacement bins be suspended immediately.
- That the ownership of and responsibilities for the bins be carefully considered by councillors.
- That the consideration of a policy of charging for replacement bins be recommenced using the appropriate constitutional process via HHE PAC, Cabinet and potentially OSC.
