Council leader: waste plan is ‘stupid’

The leader of South Holland District Council has reiterated that he will resign if the authority brings in fortnightly waste collections while its cabinet passed a waste management plan he called “tailored stupidity”.

Coun Lord Gary Porter made the comments as SHDC’s Cabinet gave its backing to adopt the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership Strategy on Tuesday, January 15.

He also criticised the Government’s Resource and Waste Strategy announced before Christmas which aims for “a consistent approach to recycling across England”.

Coun Roger Gambba-Jones, SHDC’s holder for place, said: “The problem as a council is that some of the statements made by central government about their direction of travel about what they wish to encourage and promote are going to make it a difficult route for us to follow and maintain our policy at this level. That’s going to be the challenge.

“While yes, it’s a good message to continue to promote as long as we can, at some point, if that strategy becomes a policy and direction for us to follow, then we’re going to have some very significant decisions as a council to make in terms of how we bring the public along on the recycling strategy.”

Lord Porter told the meeting: “The national waste strategy is one of the most stupid documents any minister has ever signed off.

“Michael Gove, as far as I’m concerned, has ruled himself out of the running of being Prime Minister any time soon because of his absolute stupidity listening to the idiot civil servants advising him on what’s doable and what’s not doable.

“You can not compel every council in the country to collect certain materials on the basis there’s nowhere to recycle the stuff to.

“If you start telling the public we’re going to make you sort stuff out and then we’re going to burn it or bury it anyway you will get massive disengagement with the whole of the recycling agenda and we will end up putting more rubbish away. It’s an idiot policy and it shouldn’t be encouraged or agreed with.

“I’ve said it no end of times, If this council chooses to move from weekly collection without it being the law then I will resign as leader.

“I am not prepared to have my name in front of a council that can’t do the primary function of a council which is picking up the rubbish.

“If we decide we can no longer do that then I will resign.

“It’s unequivocal. There’s no way this council will move to fortnightly collections unless someone says you will go to jail if you don’t.

“It’s insanity. Councils were invented to pick up the rubbish and if we stop picking up the rubbish we might as well all pack up and go home.”

On the Waste Strategy for Lincolnshire, Lord Porter, said: “This is only Lincolnshire’s stupid version, it isn’t the national stupid version. This is tailored stupidity.”

SHDC is the only authority in the county that has weekly collections and does not use wheelie bins.

Lord Porter joked: “I think all the other councils in Lincolnshire are going to move over to weekly collections and sacks.

“If we’re all going to do the same thing we know ours is better than theirs because the public tell us so.”

Coun Gambba-Jones said of the Lincolnshire strategy: “The ambition is to seek ways of working together to find solutions that will work for all of us to achieve a local solution.

“We’ve written in clearly we will not be manacled into a Lincolnshire wide solution of any design.”

“Bags are an aspect of any urban area that has wheeled bin collections.

“When bin collections are used they sit there all the time. Bags, hopefully, come and go.

“In places you’re talking about there’s no storage for them.

“There’s a different set of issues to deal with.

“We’re working already on how we’re going to manage that and hopefully you’ll be buoyed somewhat by some of the solutions we’re coming up with.

“I will be presenting those shortly and they will be better publicised when they’re confirmed.

“You’ll see some solutions in the short term.”