Agenda item

Three petitions had been received on the following matters:

·        ‘Shaping Surrey’s Community Recycling Centres 2017’ (526 signatures received)

·        ‘Save Surrey’s Tips’ (3245 signatures received)

·        ‘Stop their plans to cut fire and rescue cover in Spelthorne by 50% (1355 signatures received)

Responses to these can be found at Appendix 3.

Three petitions had been received on the following matters:

·         ‘Shaping Surrey’s Community Recycling Centres 2017’ (526 signatures received)

·         ‘Save Surrey’s Tips’ (3245 signatures received)

·         ‘Stop their plans to cut fire and rescue cover in Spelthorne by 50% (1355 signatures received)

Responses to these can be found at Appendix 3.

Ms Lesley Bushnell presented the petition entitled ‘Save Surrey’s Tips’, she was informed by the Leader of the Council that the Cabinet Member would provide a response to the petition during his introduction to item 7 ‘Consultation on Proposed Changes to Surrey’s Community Recycling Centres’. While presenting petition to Cabinet, Ms Bushnell made the following points:

·         Ms Bushnell highlighted the large number of signatures that the petition had attracted which she stated was demonstrative of the strength of feeling there is in Surrey about community recycling centres (CRCS).

·         The petitioner expressed support for the proposal in the report’s recommendations to retain all CRCs currently operating in Surrey but suggested that reducing the opening hours of CRCs would be self-defeating. In particular, Ms Bushnell stated that making it harder for residents to dispose of their waste responsibly would lead to an increase in instances of flytipping generating additional clean up costs for the Council. Ms Bushnell also highlighted that longer car journeys and larger queues at CRCs would have an adverse impact on the environment through increased vehicle emissions.

·         In reference to the recommendation contained within the report to stop the free daily allowance of chargeable waste at CRCs, the petitioner indicated that this would jeopardise SCC’s ability to achieve the Government’s 70% waste recycling rate target by 2030.

·         Ms Bushnell invited Cabinet Members to revisit the recommendations to reduce CRC opening hours and to stop the free daily allowance of chargeable waste in light of the concerns that she raised during her statement.

Mr Andy Pattinson presented the petition entitled ‘Stop their plans to cut fire and rescue cover in Spelthorne by 50% ’. While presenting petition to Cabinet, Mr Pattinson made the following points:

·         He made reference to the large number of signatures that the petition had attracted as well as drawing attention to the actions and demonstrations which had taken place locally as evidence of the concerns that local residents had about the proposed reductions to the fire and rescue cover in the area. Mr Pattinson further called on Cabinet to release the results of the public consultation which SCC had undertaken regarding fire and rescue in Spelthorne and suggested that these had not been made public due to the unpopularity of the changes that were being proposed.

·         The petitioner highlighted that Surrey has fewest number of fire officers per head of population in the country and that within the county Spelthorne already has the fewest number of fire officers. Mr Pattison expressed concern that further reductions to fire and rescue provision in Spelthorne would put the safety of residents at risk particularly give the large number of high rise tower blocks in the borough. The petitioner stated that Spelthorne should have two fully crewed fire engines available for dispatch at all times as well as a water rescue team by virtue of its location on the River Thames and urged Cabinet to review proposed changes to fire and rescue coverage in the area.

The Cabinet Member for Communities thanked Mr Pattison for presenting the petition and stressed that the views of residents would be taken into account when deciding on any future changes to fire and rescue coverage in Spelthorne.