Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Leaders clash over bins controversy
An ongoing dispute between the city council’s major party leaders over bin collections has erupted again.
The war of words between Labour’s Dave Wilson and council leader Ben Fitter-harding (Con) was sparked after the former raised concerns about the service “getting worse rather than better” in recent months.
Barton councillor Wilson had taken the unprecedented step of calling for an extraordinary meeting in order to put forward a motion that included investigating the feasibility of disbanding operator Canenco.
But Cllr Fitter-harding and his party colleagues are set to boycott the gathering on Monday, September 20 – making it “inquorate” and unable to proceed.
Reacting to the decision, Cllr Wilson told the Gazette: “For them to refuse to attend is cowardly and a disservice to the communities we are elected to serve.
“Labour has submitted a call for a constitutionally permitted meeting to discuss a matter of significant public concern which needs an urgent response. We haven’t done that lightly.
“Labour’s position is that we believe there are serious problems with the service.
“Councillors have been inundated with complaints about it over the summer, and Cllr Fitter-harding was featured in this paper in early August promising improvements, so he certainly accepted that a problem existed then.”
Canenco is owned and overseen by the city council - but is run independently by director David Maidman.
Cllr Wilson has questioned the bin company’s transparency, saying the “arms-length” firm has denied councillors the chance to see data on its performance since it was formed in February.
Labour councillors want the meeting to request performance figures, as well as a report on the implications of winding Canenco up and transferring its operations to an internally managed and staffed service.
They believe a similar investigation should be launched into potentially refunding residents’ green waste subscriptions for this year, and into providing the service for free until 2023.
“We are proposing the three things to allow councillors to finally gain an understanding of the actual position and consider possible remedies,” Cllr Wilson added.
“None of that is ‘political’. The whole purpose of the meeting is to get the ball rolling on improvements.
“By deliberately making the meeting inquorate, Cllr Fitter-harding is seeking to stifle debate and hide away from his responsibilities.
“Tory councillors who refuse to turn up are failing the residents they represent. Now the Tories have decided to boycott the meeting, it is clear that it is them, not Labour, who are wasting public time and money.
“We say that it is never a waste of time to try to address our residents’ concerns.”
Despite the criticism, Cllr Fitter-harding insists Canenco has “gone from strength to strength”, with missed collection rates “already at historic lows” of about 0.3%.
The Conservative argues the urgent meeting this month would be a “waste of money”, estimating it could cost up to £2,000 to secure the venue, the Guildhall, and equipment.
“The motion wouldn’t even be debated on the night because it needs a report written – so it would be a two-minute meeting to refer the motion to a committee,” Cllr Fitter-harding said.
“Canenco are doing phenomenally well considering the national picture at the moment – so many councils have stopped their garden waste collections.
“I don’t see how Dave’s motion attempts to help any of that. It’s a political stunt by Dave Wilson.”
However, Cllr Wilson says the Lord Mayor, who would chair the meeting, can allow a discussion of the motion if he sees fit.
Cllr Fitter-harding insists the decision not to attend the meeting was made collectively by the Conservative group, and that his colleagues have not been whipped.
The leader also stresses that any Tories who decide to attend the event will not be punished by the party.
“Given that a review of Canenco’s first six months in operation is scheduled to go to the November community committee meeting anyway, there’s absolutely no benefit to what he’s trying to do,” he continued.
“We will not condone this kind of unnecessary behaviour.
“Councillors have been very well briefed on how Canenco’s doing – there just hasn’t been a public meeting exploring that yet.”
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