Following the removal of the recycling service at Seaton by Devon County Council, Trinity Ward Parish Councils at Combpyne-Rousdon and Axmouth wrote to protest.

Chris Chandler of Devon County Council has just responded to Sheila Crees, Parish Clerk for Combpyne-Rousdon;

"Dear Mrs Crees

Re: Closure of Seaton Skip Service

Thank you for your letter of 16th March 2011 regarding the above. 

As you are no doubt aware, the County Council is facing significant reductions in Central Government funding in the coming years.

The authority has, therefore, conducted a review of all of its services. The aim has been, wherever possible, to retain front line services and maximise savings through organisational and back offices efficiencies.

However, the scale of the funding reductions, which amount to around £56 million in 2011/12 and 27% of budget over the next 4 years, has meant that such efficiencies alone will not provide sufficient savings to stay within the available funding.

In these difficult times, tough choices have to be made and Councillors were keen to give priority to services for the vulnerable young and elderly as well as services such as libraries.

The withdrawal of the Skip service throughout Devon was considered as part of a range of budget savings that the council needed to achieve. The service is very expensive to operate (at a cost of £160 per tonne of waste handled compared to £79 per tonne at permanent Recycling Centres across the County).

In addition, due to their temporary/mobile nature, the skip service cannot offer the full range of recycling facilities found at permanent Recycling Centres which makes them inefficient at generating the levels of recycling required. During 2009/10, the skip operations achieved a 53% recycling rate compared to 75% at permanent sites.

I therefore, regret to inform you that due to the significant level of budget reductions required to be made, the decision to discontinue the above service was made at a meeting of the Full Council on 17th February 2011. All skip services will be withdrawn from 31st March 2011.

Yours sincerely

Chris Chandler
Senior Waste Manager"

What do you think? Is this a real strategic saving, or merely passing the costs from one organisation to another? Is there any evidence of an increase in 'fly-tipping' as a result of the skip closures at the end of March?

or is it a justified step at times of budget pressure??

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