Agenda item

To consider the report of the Maintenance & Environmental Services Officer (To follow)

The Committee received and considered the report of the Deputy Town Clerk.

Members were advised the District Council had completed its bin replacement programme in Witney and all those which remained in place had been upgraded to dual use bins, while a number of bins had been removed and not replaced. It was understood that there was no intention to install single use dog waste bins anymore or any dual use bins in residential areas by the District Council; its adopted policy was to encourage dog owners walking in these areas to take the waste home with them to dispose of.

The Committee agreed this appeared to be counter-productive in trying to reduce littering, but the District Council had based its decisions on evidence indicating the majority of residents would act responsibly and not litter. The education of the public, publication of the scheme and policy change had clearly not been satisfactory.

Members heard that the automatic response from the District Council, that all new bin and additional bin requests must be made by town and parish council’s, had resulted in complaints and requests being received for several areas due to bin removal. A review of the response had been promised by the District Council, but the requests left the Town Council in a difficult position of wanting to help residents, but not having the funds to pay for continued emptying of litter and dog waste bins previously paid for by the District Council.

It was agreed the Town Council should collect dog waste from any remaining single use dog waste bins on its land with immediate effect.

Recommended:

1.       That, the report be noted and,

2.       That, bin emptying on town council land is taken over in its entirety by Witney Town Council and,

3.       That, the Town Council considers requests for new or additional litter and dog waste bins on its land, differentiation made on each with separate bins as appropriate and,

4.       That, requests for any bins on West Oxfordshire District Council land are forwarded to them to deal with, the town council declining such requests and,

5.       That, requests for bins in other areas are not the responsibility of the Town Council and in line with the District Council’s policy on bins in residential areas, will be declined and,

6.       That, the above be reviewed in the next Council year to ascertain the current position.