Thursday, 20 October 2011

Calderdale Council's Cabinet to look at improving recycling, broadband and bad weather services.

Calderdale Council's Cabinet will discuss proposals which will improve household waste collections across the borough when they meet on Monday (October 31)

Some recyclable materials - kitchen/food waste, plastic bottles and textiles are currently collected weekly. But glass and cans are collected on one week while paper and card is collected on the alternate week.

Members will consider a proposal which would see weekly collections of all recyclable materials.

A report to be considered by Cabinet says that the current arrangements can be confusing, leading some households to put recyclable waste into collections of non-recyclable materials. The new arrangements could boost Calderdale's recycling rate , already the best in West Yorkshire , by as much as 2%.

Superfast broadband could soon be available to thousands of homes and businesses in Calderdale.

Calderdale Council's Cabinet will discuss a recommendation to back a West Yorkshire bid for government funding to improve broadband speeds.

BDUK is a government initiative which has made £530m available nationally to fund faster broadband.

By backing a bid, put together in partnership with other West Yorkshire councils, Calderdale could benefit by up to £7.4m of investment to improve the broadband network.

Key to faster broadband in Calderdale would be work to link into an existing broadband line, which already runs through the Calder Valley but which is not currently accessible to homes and businesses in the area.

Funding from BDUK would depend on any match funding from councils. Calderdale Council will seek to gain additional funding from the Yorkshire & Humber European Regional Development Fund for 2007/13.

Calderdale Council's Cabinet Member, Employment and Environment Services, Cllr Barry Collins, says faster broadband will be good for residents and good for the local economy.

"If we are going to attract and retain high technology businesses we must ensure that we are providing them with every opportunity to compete.
"Better broadband access and faster line speeds means that businesses are able to innovate and increase productivity, particularly in knowledge-based enterprises."

Cabinet will also look at a number of measures which would improve the service during periods of bad weather. The weekly collection of all recyclable materials will allow quicker catch up after bad weather whilst other proposed improvements include:

Better information to the council's waste collection contractor ? Sita regarding local highway conditions and improved communication with the public regarding any suspension and resumption of collections

• Possible identification of waste collection points in the event of prolonged severe weather
• Collection crews could also be issued with snow shoes to help them get to and from homes during the worst of the winter weather
• Smaller vehicles available to deal with vulnerable customers in localised ice bound streets
  

Calderdale Council's Cabinet Member, Economy and Environment, Cllr Barry Collins, says the Council has listened to people's concerns.

"Calderdale is working towards recycling 45% of its household waste by 2015, so we have to help people recycle as much as we can.

"These measures will make collections simpler and will help people to know when collections are being made during periods of particularly bad weather."

His comments have been echoed by Council Leader, Cllr Janet Battye:
"These new arrangements reflect feedback from our customers and we have negotiated with Sita to introduce these improvements at nil cost to Council tax payers."