Skips face axe to save council £50,000

Shropshire Council watchdogs have voted in favour of ending the service, which operates in the former north and south districts of the county. But opposition councillors claim the skips are highly valued by residents and have proposed it should be expanded to cover all of Shropshire.

A skip is located on a particular day at 21 sites in north Shropshire and at four sites in south Shropshire. The service has operated for around 20 years.

A report to the development services scrutiny committee said the sites where the skips operate are staffed only by the driver of the collection vehicle, meaning their use is relatively unsupervised.

By stopping the service, operated for the council by Veolia, potentially 264 tonnes of waste a year could be diverted from landfill to proper recycling centres.

The report says there has been significant investment in new waste facilities at Whitchurch, Craven Arms and Oswestry.

But Liberal Democrat councillors have voiced disappointment and anger as the committee's decision to back moves to scrap the service. Councillor Chris Mellings, of Wem, said there had been no consultation with service users or parish councils.

"The council is reneging on its commitment to improve service levels to those of the best and now a valuable local service is in serious danger of being lost," he said

Lib Dem group leader Nigel Hartin said the service was "highly valued" by residents, and a petition of 634 names from the Bishop's Castle area calling for its retention had been presented to the council.

John Wallen, project development manager for the council, said: "The council pays Veolia to provide the service and because most of the waste that is placed in the skips ends up in landfill sites, we also pay landfill disposal charges and landfill tax on the waste.

"Payments to Veolia and in landfill tax will therefore reduce."

A final decision will be taken by the cabinet on March 31.

By Dave Morris