MOVES by Cornwall Council to cut the number of days Cornwall’s Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) are open as well as cutting its popular handypersons service have been stopped. The council’s Conservative administration agreed to a U-turn after pressure from opposition councillors and an unexpected grant windfall.
In order to make almost £50-million of savings over the next year, the Tory cabinet agreed to a whole raft of cuts and savings in its budget, which comes before full council tomorrow (Tuesday, February 25) for approval. Among those was a £200,000 saving by reducing the opening hours of HWRCs from seven days a week to five in Bodmin, Bude, Connon Bridge (near Liskeard), Helston, Newquay, Redruth (Pool), St Day (United Downs), Tintagel (Bowithick) and Truro. It was mooted that centres at Launceston, Saltash, St Austell, Falmouth and St Erth could possibly follow suit.
The move proved unpopular with residents in Cornwall as well as opposition councillors, with a representative of HWRC staff, who are employed by Suez, telling us that they had no idea about the cuts until they read it in the Cornish media earlier this month.
A spokesperson from the council’s media and communications department argued that residents should have been aware as details of the proposals, including how the council operates its household waste recycling centres, were outlined in a recent draft budget consultation.
However, opposition councillors – many of whom didn’t know about the cuts until details were raised at a recent Cabinet meeting – have told us it is incredibly difficult to gain access to the full information. Details of all the cuts are only available by finding and searching the council’s online finance dashboard.
Cllr Leigh Frost, leader of the Liberal Democrats group at the council, told us: “As opposition councillors we don’t have the luxury of seeing the whole detailed budget with most cuts buried deep in the inner workings of the ‘online dashboard’. I can only imagine how some people felt finding their livelihoods were at risk by reading it in the paper. This is unacceptable and all of this shows the complete lack of leadership from this administration.”
It was Cllr Frost, backed by Independent councillor Julian German, who proposed an alternative budget which included removing the HWRC hours reduction and cuts to the Home Solutions Redesign (handyperson service – £133,225 a year), which provides affordable amendments and installations in elderly and disabled people’s homes. He also called for the adolescent intervention service to be saved (£327,000 a year) – a specialist team which works with young people where there are significant concerns about their safety and wellbeing. The council has now agreed to remove all three of them from the budget cuts proposals.
He also proposed removing a bid to cut two roles – Independent Sexual Violence Advisor and Missing Children & Exploitation Officer. However, he was happy to drop those elements when the council revealed that no one had been in those posts for over 12 months and the roles would now be covered by other services.
The Tory administration also agreed to his suggestion of a commitment to put £250,000 towards a feasibility study to improve safety at the notoriously dangerous Plusha junction on the A30.
Cllr Frost said: “I am delighted that the Conservative administration have backed down, following our alternative budget proposals, which save vital services like the handyperson service, adolescent intervention service, and stops the reduction in hours at the HWRCs, along with finding money for Plusha junction feasibility.
“However, just a few weeks ago these services were unaffordable but after pressure from the Liberal Democrats and other opposition councillors, they now are easy to save? What else could they have saved if they just worked a bit harder in the first place?”
Cllr German added: “Following the budget changes proposed by Liberal Democrat and Independent councillors, it is great to see that the Conservatives have taken these on board. The investment to ensure that we have a scheme ready to go at Plusha junction is what we need to secure National Highways funding and stop the fatal accidents happening.
“Other changes include keeping the Household Waste Recycling Centres open seven days a week which is great news. However, the Conservatives are still planning on downgrading street cleansing and litter collections in our towns, getting rid of lollipop ladies, cutting the two to three-hour car parking rate, so people will be forced to pay more for their parking, as well as applying car parking charges to currently free car parks.
“A five per cent rise in council tax alongside these vicious cuts are going to mean more pain for Cornish residents.”
Cllr David Harris, the Conservative deputy leader of Cornwall Council and its portfolio holder for resources, explained how and why his administration was able to save the HWRC opening hours, handyman service and adolescent intervention service from being cut.
He said the opposition councillors’ suggestion to save them by using money from council reserves was not possible. However, an unexpected additional £1.4-million from a Public Health Grant meant the council could release money elsewhere to fund the services. “It was a mixture of reacting to concerns raised by others and also the fact that we found some money – not down the back of the settee, which is the normal accusation aimed at councils.
“I’ll give Leigh credit, because he raised these areas, and we looked and could find the money, but not where he thought we could find it. It was genuinely something extra coming in after we set the budget. To answer his question, ‘what else could they have saved if they just worked a bit harder?’, frankly that’s a bit insulting given the hours and hours that officers have put in. It’s a little bit off.”