Dorset Waste Partnership predicting £1.3m underspend in current financial year

The Dorset Waste Partnership (DWP) is currently predicting to be more than £1.3 million under budget in the 2017/18 financial year.

The partnership provides services for Christchurch, East Dorset, North Dorset, Purbeck, West Dorset, Weymouth and Portland, Dorset councils.

Each authority puts varying sums of money into the scheme.

This share of the funding is used by DWP to calculate how much each council is entitled to from the underspend.

The overwhelming share of the finance for the DWP comes from Dorset County Council, which provides around 64 per cent of the money.

The latest estimates would see Christchurch Borough Council's 3.98 per cent share equating to £50,802 from the underspend.

The authority is yet to decide whether it would like to take this share, or reinvest it into the DWP.

However, Cllr Trish Jamieson, who sits on the DWP joint committee, said it was a good position to be in.

"There was a lot of doubt when we joined the Dorset Waste Partnership, but it has proved to be an extremely positive set up," Cllr Jamieson said.

"It is doing really well at the moment and it has provided a good service for the people of Christchurch.

"There were queries to start with because people didn't think it was going to work, but it has gone well for residents and for the council."

On the expected underspend, a spokesperson for the DWP said: “The Dorset Waste Partnership (DWP) currently predicts that we’ll be underspent on the 2017/18 revenue budget by £1.347m, continuing the improving trend that we’ve reported before.

"This is due to a number of factors, but is mainly down to better-than-anticipated market rates for our good quality recycled material, as well as lower amounts of waste being processed than predicted.

"The DWP would like to thank the people of Dorset, whose recycling and waste prevention efforts have helped contribute to this great financial performance.”