The politics of rubbish

With the end of the year looming, it seems appropriate to both look back and consider the latest on two issues that proved most politically divisive (and therefore interesting) on Sefton Council in 2007.
First, let’s take the great bin collections bust-up, which came to the fore over the summer.

You’ll probably remember the blazing row which followed the switch in Tory position – from voting for the introduction of Alternating Weekly Collections to calling for an ‘immediate review’ of the decision – announced only days before the borough went to the polls on May 4.
The extent to which this took their Lib-Dem opponents in Southport by surprise can’t be underestimated. I remember Shakespeare Street putting out an initial press release suggesting that one Conservative candidate distributing anti-AWC leaflets (Mike Swift in Meols) was “kite-flying” policy of his own accord. This was far from the case, and their line had to be adjusted, sharpish.
Local politicians then engaged in a series of tit-for-tat exchanges, both in the pages of the Visiter and in the town hall chamber at area committee and full council.

That crushing feeling: Sefton's politicians have squabbled over the new waste collection system, but any policy has to be able to cope with a fast-rising landfill tax regime

But the roll-out of AWC only came up for more forensic consideration at an environmental scrutiny committee meeting in September. The committee was presented with very sizeable petitions from Formby and Ainsdale residents opposing the change – the later presented by Cath Regan, since confirmed as next May’s Tory candidate for Birkdale.
The scrutiny committee batted the petitions over to Sefton’s Lib-Dem environment tsar Cllr David Tattersall, He has proved a very eloquent and personally committed advocate of a policy which is being increasingly taken up by local authorities, of all stripes, across the country, but which has attracted the ire of a hefty slab of public opinion. Even if that slab correlates purely with the readership of the Daily Mail (and I don’t believe it does), the evident popularity of Rothermere’s organ in Southport makes it a force to be reckoned with. Officers were also asked to report to Cllr Tattersall on the feasibility of some potential alternatives to AWC that had been put forward. I remember Lib-Dems on the committee being particularly keen that two suggestions separately raised by the Tory group leader and deputy leader – over an innovate new waste treatment centre for Knowsley and under-sink waste disposal units respectively – be put under the microscope.
The outcome of those evaluations by officers have now been presented to Cllr Tattersall’s environment committee, and can be seen here. In them, there has certainly been considerable evidence marshalled in favour of staying the course with AWC. In the report, under-sink units are linked to increased sewer vermin and the cost of reverting to weekly collections is put at £7m per annum – only £1m short of next year’s projected budget shortfall that is so vexing our civic leaders.
But that’s not the end of the story. An additional 180-name petition of Sandgrounders seemingly calling for a return to ‘weekly collections’ (it isn’t 100% clear what they’re demanding from the report) also dropped on Cllr Tattersall’s desk. Huge areas of Sefton are yet to receive their wheelie bins, and they include places in the south that have the worst recycling records.
Rubbish was one of the most explosive political topics of 2007. Last May, bins were blamed for toppling a clutch of council leaderships across England. But in Sefton at least, (with Labour yet to deviate from its pro-AWC position) the close of the year sees the political whip-hand with the proponents rather than opponents of the new waste regime.

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