HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

WASTE MANAGEMENT CABINET PANEL

Tuesday 16 November 2010 at 2.00 pm

WATFORD HOUSEHOLD WASTE RECYCLING CENTRE

Report of the Director of Environment & Commercial Services

Author: Ray Greenall(01992 556160)

Executive Member: Derrick Ashley (Environment, Planning and Waste)

1. Purpose of report

1.1To review progress, in light of the financial pressures that the County Council is currently facing, on the decision reached in 2008 to reprieve closure and enhance the Watford Household Waste Recycling Centre.

2. Summary

2.1Following a review of the Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) service by the Environment Scrutiny Committee in June 2007, the Panel received a report on the 13September 2007 setting out a possible rationalisation of the HWRC network that would generate revenue savings without a substantial loss of amenity. A more detailed analysis was reported to the Panel on 4 March 2008 which resulted in a Panel recommendation that the HWRCs at Tring and Watford should be closed.

2.2This recommendation was then scrutinised by the Environment Scrutiny Committee on 16 May 2008 and subsequently reviewed by the Panel on 9 July 2008. The review was conducted in the light of an offer from Watford Borough Council (WBC) of additional land, at a peppercorn rent, in their Wiggenhall Road depot. This land would enable an upgrading of the Watford HWRC to overcome many of the shortcomings that were hampering its service delivery.

2.3The outcome of this review was a recommendation from the Panel that the Tring HWRC should close but that, subject to a formal agreement with WBC over lease arrangements for the existing site and the additional land that had been offered, the Watford HWRC should be retained and brought up to an acceptable standard.

2.4In the time that has elapsed since this recommendation, negotiations with WBC over the terms of a lease have been ongoing but they have so far failed to reach a mutually satisfactory conclusion.

2.5The reasons behind this failure to conclude a deal essentially surround WBC’s requirement that the County Council should fund all the works that would be necessary to reconfigure the depot in such a way that would enable the additional land to be released. The cost of these works would increase the County Council’s investment in the project significantly beyond the original estimate of £61,000.

3. Recommendations

That the Panel:

3.1Considers the petition at 5.1.

3.2Considers the motion at 5.2.

3.3Recommends to Cabinet that, in view of no agreement having been reached with Watford Borough Council and in light of the financial pressures that the County Council faces, permanent closure of the Watford HWRC, should now be implemented.

4. Background

4.1As part of a proposal to rationalise the HWRC network to generate revenue savings without substantial loss of amenity, a recommendation was made on 4th March 2008 to close the Tring and Watford HWRCs. This recommendation was made with a view to the suitability and sufficiency of the two HWRCs together with the level of alternative service provision that was offered by neighbouring centres. With regard to the level of service in the Watford area, it was viewed that the facilities at Elstree, Rickmansworth and Waterdale would provide suitable alternatives to those residents currently using the Watford HWRC. A copy of the 09/07/08 Panel report is shown as Appendix A.

4.2This recommendation was subsequently confirmed by the Cabinet in respect of the Tring HWRC but not accepted in respect of the Watford HWRC in the light of an offer from WBC of additional land alongside the HWRC in their Wiggenhall Road depot, at a peppercorn rent. Informing this decision was an understanding that the County Council would need to allocate around £61,000 from its Waste Infrastructure Capital Grant towards civil engineering works that would incorporate the additional land into the existing HWRC and make it fit for purpose.

4.3The Panel’s actual recommendation was that ‘subject to a formal agreement with WBC over lease arrangements for the existing and additional land, including an appropriate term and peppercorn rent, the Wiggenhall Road household waste recycling centre be retained and brought up to an acceptable standard, using funds from the waste infrastructure capital grant, but should agreement not be reached the centre will close on 1 October 2008.’

4.4This recommendation was based on a belief that formal agreement on a lease could be fairly readily reached. This has not, however, been the case because, after more than a year of negotiation, mutually acceptable terms for a lease have not been arrived at.

4.5The main obstacle to agreement surrounds WBC’s requirement for the County Council to fully fund all of the works that will be necessary to reconfigure the Wiggenhall Road depot in order to make it possible for the additional land to be made available. These costs would be in addition to the £61,000 that was originally estimated for works to make the expanded site area fit for purpose and would amount to somewhere between £221,600 and £277,000.

4.6Negotiations between the County Council and WBC are still ongoing but a mutually satisfactory resolution of the issues outlined above is now appearing very unlikely. The failure to secure a lease on acceptable terms and the level of alternative service provision in the Watford area all point towards permanent closure of the Watford HWRC as the most economically viable solution. The Borough Council has been asked for their views and a letter from Alan Gough, WBC’s Head of Environmental Services is shown as Appendix B.

5.Further information

5.1At the meeting of the County Council on 12October a petition was presented, containing 1,106 signatures, in support of the following statement:-

"We, the undersigned, call on HertfordshireCounty Council to retain the Household Waste Site in Wiggenhall Road, Watford. The site is popular with local residents and its loss will lead to an increase in car journeys and greater flytipping."

In response, the Executive Member, Environment, Planning + Waste said:-

“The Waste Management Cabinet Panel will, on 16th November, consider this matter in light of the County Council’s financial pressures. The views of the petitioners will be taken into account before making any recommendations to the Cabinet. The Panel will want to look at the review of the HWRC service carried out in 2008 and the recommendation made then on the basis of both the practical difficulties with the Wiggenhall Road site and the relative over-provision of the service in this part of Hertfordshire. That review also acknowledged the changing nature of HWRCs – no longer places for depositing materials in the same way as they once were because of investments made by the Waste Collection Authorities in local recycling services”.

The petition was referred to this Panel for consideration.

5.2At the same County Council meeting, the following motion was moved by M Cowan:-

"This council urges Cabinet to seek all possible ways of retaining the Wiggenhall Household Waste and Recycling Centre in Watford which receives over 200,000 visits a year.

This council agrees that officers should conclude the 2008 agreement with Watford Borough Council who had offered additional land at no charge. "

The motion was referred to this Panel for consideration.

5.3At the time of writing this report, nine letters have been received by the Director of Environment and Commercial Services objecting to closure of the Watford HWRC. Correspondents have cited the following:-

  • Alternative facilities are too far away
  • Additional traffic/car journeys will be generated
  • Flytipping will increase
  • Closure would be a disincentive to recycling

5.4On 20 October the county council received from Three Rivers District Council the text of a motion adopted by that Council, the details of which are shown as Appendix C.

6.Financial Implications

6.1As things stand at present, it would appear that a very basic upgrade of

the Watford HWRC together with associated works to WBC’s specification, as an alternative to closure, would require a capital investment by the County Council in the order of £300,000. In his letter (Appendix B), Alan Gough indicates that the Borough Council would contribute up to £100,000 towards the cost.

6.2The Waste Capital Infrastructure Grant (£1.786m) is used to fund HWRC service improvements, including the construction of new or enhanced Centres. Assessments of priorities are set out in the Annual Accommodation Statement. The current top priority is to replace the existing Cole Green site and there are good prospects of this scheme coming forward soon. In 2008, £61,000 was earmarked for the upgrading of the Watford site but this would now need to be balanced against present priorities.

6.3Closure of the Watford HWRC would, however, initially generate savings in revenue expenditure in the order of £100,000 per annum in the years up until the expiry of the current associated contracts in October 2013 and around £150,000 per annum after then.

Background Papers

Correspondence between WBC and the County Council’s property consultant, Lambert Smith Hampton.

Cabinet Waste Management Panel Reports dated 04 March 2008, 09 July 2008 and 09 September 2009.

161110 Watford Household Waste Recycling Centre report1