TODAY'S Southport Visiter features a report on the outcome of Sefton's latest environmental scrutiny committee, on the progress of rolling out Alternating Weekly Collections. I previewed
much of the grist in the report before the committee in my blog post last month – 'the politics of rubbish'. The report again claims the system's introduction has been “a general success�.
Scrutiny committees were introduced alongside the cabinet system at the start of the decade, as an intended check on potentially overweening executive power. The system certainly throws up some politically interesting situations, particularly on Sefton's hung council. The environment committee – without dissent and under a Conservative chair, Formby councillor Alf Doran (who incidentally, is prospective parliamentary candidate for Chorley) – agreed to accept the report by the department's chief officer, Bill Milburn.
The row we featured centres on the interpretation of two of the report's findings – over 'an incinerator for Sefton' and the use of kitchen waste disposal units – with the Tory leadership team effectively alleging Cllr Tattersall and co are attacking a straw man.
The Lib Dem deputy leader and cabinet member environmental responds by calling on councillors Parry and Porter to now make their policy position on the borough's bin collection system “crystal clear�.
Speaking approvingly of how his committee oversees Sefton's environmental policies, Cllr Doran told me of 'hiccups' in the roll-out of fortnightly wheelie bin collections. All parties seem to acknowledge this – 'backbench' Lib Dem councillors in Birkdale and Cambridge wards have recently been pro-active in bringing specific problems over collections at Christmas, at flats and of the Green Bee to the Visiter's attention.
The next big test will be how the bins play in May's local elections – the first since the introduction of the system on the ground. Some may say the rows are becoming old hat, but I predict they will feature quite heavily in the campaign. What's your view?
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