Oxfordshires councils have voted to dissolve the Oxfordshire Waste Partnership (OWP) from April 2015 in a move that has been branded short-sighted by one of the organisations leading figures.
The OWP was established by the five Oxfordshire district councils Cherwell, Oxford, South Oxfordshire, Vale of White Horse and West Oxfordshire, alongside Oxfordshire county council to coordinate the waste and recycling strategy within the county.
Informal discussions between the authorities over cooperative work on waste which began in around 2003, were given a formal structure in 2007, when the Waste Partnership was officially established as a statutory Joint Committee.
It is credited by some as being one of the driving forces behind the countys strong performance in recycling in recent years, with three of the countys authorities among the top ten recycling councils in 2012/13 (see letsrecycle.com story).
The Partnership has worked extensively on communications projects within the county to encourage recycling and initiatives aimed at boosting waste prevention and reuse as well as setting Oxfordshires Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy, which outlines the shared waste policy within the region.
However, councillors have decided that having met its objectives to improve recycling rates, funding for the OWP, which totalled around 250,000 per annum, will be discontinued and the Partnership dissolved. The plans were formally approved by councillors at a meeting on Friday (April 4).
All of the councils have agreed to continue to cooperate on issues around waste management, but there will be no formal commitment for them to do so, and it remains unclear to what extent joint working will still take place.
Redundancies
The decision also means that the two full time staff employed on behalf of the Partnership coordinator Wayne Lewis, and communications officer Paul Mocroft who was named the recycling officer of the year in 2012 by the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC) – may face redundancy.
Cherwell district council the authority that officially employs the two staff, has said that it is yet to make a formal decision on their future with the council beyond April 2015.
Councillor David Dodds, chairman of the Partnership has criticised the decision to withdraw funding for the group, and said that there were still a number of areas where close joint working between the authorities is needed.
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He said: I think it is a short-sighted decision. I understand that they are trying to save money because of budgetary holes and therefore took the view that this is one of the things that they are not going to continue to support.
The Oxfordshire Waste Partnership has brought tremendous results, when you have three councils in the top ten in the country that is an incredible result. It was said at the meeting that we have done what we set out to achieve, that is not a good position because this is an ongoing issue. We need to be able to respond to changes and motivate the public as much as possible.
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