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Tribute:
Mr Charles O Murray
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The Chairman referred to Mr Charles O
Murray, father of former Director of Technical Services Mr Murdo Murray, who
had passed away recently. The Chairman, on behalf of the Committee, extended
condolences to Mr Murray’s family.
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Tribute:
Lochs Football Team
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The Chairman
referred to the Lochs Football Club who had won the Highland Amateur Cup.
The Chairman, on behalf of the Comhairle, congratulated the Manager and
Players of the Lochs Team on this achievement.
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Written Questions to the Convener and the
Chairmen of Committees
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2
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Mr Angus M
Graham asked the Chairman of the Environmental Services Committee the
following question:
Is the
Chairman aware that owing to the lack of resources the Department for
Sustainable Communities are unable to operate an efficient response time with
regard to the emptying of community skips?
In the absence
of the Chairman, the Vice-Chairman of the Environmental Services Committee
responded as follows:
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The Community
Skip service is indeed very popular and the demand for the service is
continually rising. Since the inception of the scheme, 10 years ago, the
service has dramatically changed the appearance of the Islands, such that fly
tipping is now rare despite the impossibility of policing illegal dumping.
When the Comhairle invested in creating this service, assumptions were made
regarding the demand and uplift frequencies that would be required in order
that the service could be costed. It was assumed then, that there was a
backlog of bulky crofting waste that would reduce with time and lead to the
service levelling out. The assumed frequency was a fortnightly uplift
requirement. In practice this has not been the case and tonnages collected
have risen, such that demand is in effect being restrained by the budget
available for uplift and disposal.
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In the last 5
years the tonnages collected had levelled out at approximately four thousand
tonnes per year, almost a thousand tonnes above the initial prediction. Last
year, the figure rose to four and a half thousand tonnes, almost certainly as
a result of the storm damage, which led to an overspend which was claimed for
under the Bellwin scheme. It is likely that the continued high level of
demand is also related to continuing works as a result of the storm.
It is accepted
that some of the growth in waste going to the Community Skips comes from
avoidance of charges by commercial users and additional domestic waste, which
is a national trend. Furthermore, we are seeing a growth in gardening waste
in rural areas, which was not expected, and would be better dealt with at
home. The current level of service is that community skips are normally
uplifted within 2/3 days of a request being made.
As waste in
Community Skips is not compacted before transport, it is not the most
efficient way of collecting it, but clearly it is convenient and has had a
major impact on fly tipping.
As a
consequence of the investment by the National Waste Fund, we will be
diverting biological waste from landfill through the new waste plant, which
is under construction and will be in operation for the next financial year.
Additional bins are being provided where necessary for organic waste. This
should have an impact on the demand for Community Skips and, any reduction in
tonnage from the service going to Landfill, could free up resources to allow
a modest increase in uplift frequency, should demand for the service not fall
with the increased bin space.
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