Lib Dem Petition helps Tory change of heart on bins emergency
Independent Enquiry agreed at Full Council
At the 14th October Meeting of Derbyshire Dales Full Council a petition, signed by over 700 local residents, was presented by Lib Dem member Peter Dobbs. In addition Lib Dem Cllr Paul Cruise (Matlock St Giles) proposed a detailed motion setting out the reasons for an independent enquiry / review and a possible structure for its scope and terms of reference. This motion was seconded by Cllr Colin Swindell (Independent, Winster and South Darley).
It is important to emphasise that without the petition and Cllr Cruise's motion, there seems little evidence that the problems in waste collection were going to be debated at the meeting. Indeed there had been a deliberate decision to put the motion down for debate at the very end of the order of business, This is unusual for motions of this type and suggests that the controlling group were not intending to prioritise the matter.
Significant pressure from Cllr Cruise did allow sense to prevail. Working before the meeting, with Cllrs of all parties and with Council officers, the presentation of the petition and the debate on the motion to commission an enquiry were brought together near the start of the agenda so that a single debate on the issue was possible.
Not entirely unexpectedly the leader of the Council, Cllr Garry Purdy (Conservative, Masson) tabled an amendment, the text of which was only distributed to councillors once the debate had started. This tactic of 'surprise' amendments is surely not conducive to effective governance, giving little time for scrutiny.
Fortunately Cllr Cruise was able to flag up an issue with the amendment as proposed and was supported in this by Cllrs of all parties, including Conservative.
Paul comments "The amended motion is not perfect as it is seeking to use a consultant to lead the investigation when they were involved in setting up the contract. I sought assurances at the Council meeting that an independent chair / report author would be appointed before supporting the amendment. I will work constructively on behalf of our residents to get to the bottom of the waste collection crisis whilst making sure Cllr Purdy and Paul Wilson are held accountable for ensuring the review is independent and robust. The review must deliver a sustainable waste service for the Derbyshire Dales and I will work cross party as necessary to ensure it achieves this".
Making sure that the issue of independence is addressed will be a task for the Community and Environment committee as the process moves forward to consideration of its Terms of Reference.
Overall however, this is a significant U-turn by the controlling group who specifically rejected the call for an enquiry on 5th July and failed to present any motion calling for one on 27th July or 22nd September.
The amended motion was passed unanimously.
This is just the beginning of what will be a long journey out of the chaos created by the failure of the Serco contract. As Cllr Swindell said at the meeting "Our waste service is a complete mess, we are losing the confidence of residents and we look as though we have no answers as to how to get things back on track. We should not kid ourselves, things are only going to get worse before they get better."
At least with the enquiry / review, that journey has begun.
The meeting can be watched on YouTube here.
The full text of the amended motion is here and the original proposed by Cllr Paul Cruise here