Feedback on future of environmental services published

In July, Harborough District Council asked residents to share their views as it looks to save up to £1.4million per year from its environmental services contract which includes bin collections, recycling, street cleaning and grounds maintenance.

The council said less money from selling recycled materials, and the end of recycling incentives from county council, as well as reduced Government funding to local authorities, has resulted in the need to make major savings.

Consultation forms on the future of the environmental service were sent to every home in the district and also completed by the public online via the council’s website.

Over 8,000 responses were received, equating to 21 per cent of all households in Harborough district.

The consultation report and findings have now been published online and will be considered by the council’s Executive committee on Monday 7 September 2015. The Executive will use this information to help inform their decision on service changes to be taken at this meeting.

The Executive will be considering service changes to deliver the required savings in the period up to 2022/23

Cllr Neil Bannister, the district council’s portfolio holder for environmental services, said: “The level of response from the public is very pleasing and we’d like to thank those who took part in the survey. They have given us valuable feedback as we face the difficult challenge of saving in excess of a million pounds whilst retaining a high quality service.”

Harborough District Council presently provides its environmental service in partnership with its private contractor FCC Environmental Services.

The contract covers a geographical area of 230 square miles – the largest local authority area in Leicestershire – and includes bin collections for nearly 38,000 homes.

You can view the data collected from the consultation on the Harborough District Council website at www.harborough.gov.uk/ecconsultation-results