CALLS have been made for a council to withdraw from an under-fire waste partnership if problems aren’t sorted out.

Pressure is being put on the Dorset Waste Partnership to ‘get its act together’ or face the threat of losing Weymouth and Portland Borough Council from the union.

The issue was raised at a full council meeting where councillors supported a motion demanding that DWP senior management ‘accept full responsibility for mismanagement of new service delivery and gross errors in funding estimates’.

The DWP has been inundated with complaints about the roll-out of its rubbish and recycling scheme in Weymouth and Portland, and there were concerns as mountains of rubbish built up on the streets. DWP has also come under fire regarding financial management after going massively over budget.

The borough must find an extra £200,000 this year to allow DWP to balance its books.

Cllr Bill White unsuccessfully attempted to make an amendment to the motion stating the council should explore other possibilities for waste collection if problems haven’t been sorted out in a year.

“We should be prepared to look at alternatives,” he said, adding that the borough used to have a ‘very good’ service before it joined up.

Adding this amendment would have ‘financial repercussions’ so it wasn’t supported – but it did not stop councillors from saying this course of action should not be ruled out.

Cllr Ray Nowak said a year’s notice would have to be given.

Speaking after the meeting Cllr Nowak said: “It would be quite a wrench if we did walk away but they can’t have us over a barrel and get us to chuck another £200k at it when things go wrong again.

“They made out they could provide the service and do it at less cost with improved recycling rates.

“So far they have failed. We have to give them time to get their act together and sort out this shambles otherwise we should pull out. We want to see it work but it can’t be at an ever increasing cost.”

Cllr Ian Bruce said at the meeting: “We might be able to give a year’s notice and go in a different route but we all need to send a message.

“The public want us to get this sorted out.”

The motion for DWP to accept responsibility for failures was proposed by Cllr Penny McCartney who said ‘confidence needs to be restored’ in senior management.

“Had this been a private company someone would have been made accountable and would be made to resign or apologise,” she said.

Cllr Ian Roebuck suggested the motion was a ‘knee-jerk reaction’ and Cllr Mike Goodman said he was ‘offended’ and ashamed’ the council were talking about DWP officers in a way in which they had no way to reply.

Following support for the motion it was decided that senior councillors will put concerns to the DWP joint committee in an effort to find a way forward.

Additionally, all councillors have been invited to a private briefing next week when they will be able to grill senior DWP figures.

After the meeting, chairman of the DWP joint committee Cllr Anthony Alford said: “We have already apologised to the residents of Weymouth and we have been working hard to get the service up to standard.”

He added that recycling was up to 60 per cent even before the service has been rolled out to all of Dorset.

“We are confident that the DWP is delivering for all the partners and we are working hard to make sure it gets better,” he added.

Director of the Dorset Waste Partnership Steve Burdis said: “The inter-authority agreement that governs the Dorset Waste Partnership allows for the possibility of a partner leaving the partnership.

“To do this, a partner would need to provide a notice period of not less than 12 months to expire on the March 31 in any year.

“If we receive such a request a formal process is set out in the agreement to deal with this.”

Mr Burdis added: “The DWP recognises concerns in Weymouth and Portland regarding service delivery, and has worked hard to resolve outstanding issues and to ensure we provide a quality and efficient service in the future.”

 

• History of the DWP

DORSET Waste Partnership, formed in April 2011, includes the county council as the ‘host’ authority and the six district and borough councils.

The partnership provides street cleansing, beach cleansing and emergency support for all the councils, in addition to its core business of collecting, treating and disposing of domestic waste.

Weymouth and Portland and West Dorset councils became full members of the partnership in April 2013.

An important element of the business case was the development of a single collection service for Dorset.

The business case indicated that substantial savings could be made compared to the costs without a partnership.