Budget Proposals 2025/26: Remove a proportion of the litter bins and dog waste bins from the Grounds Maintenance Contract
Help us balance our budget.
Consultation status Open - Final day
Background
West Berkshire Council owns and manages many hundreds of hectares of land; from large commons and public parks to small open spaces in residential areas and around 1,000km of urban highway verge.
Over many years, in response to growing dog ownership and the demand for better owner behaviour and cleaner parks, councils have provided bins for the disposal of dog waste. Dog waste bins were often provided in response to public requests at a time when council budgets were less pressurised. It is now increasingly common for visitors to the countryside, parks, and open spaces to take litter home with them.
Until recently dog waste had to be disposed of separately from other waste and therefore councils provided separate bins for dog waste. Many litter bins and dog waste bins are also found close to each other in the same location, reflecting the requirement for separated waste.
The council's grounds maintenance contractor empties approximately 350 dog waste and litter bins across the district. Litter bins and dog waste bins in parks and open spaces are emptied up to three times per week. Many bins are in isolated locations, requiring significant travelling time by the operative and consequently a significant cost to the local taxpayer.
The locations of dog waste bins can be found here.
Legislative and Statutory Requirements
The Environmental Protection Act 1990 places a duty on local authorities to ensure that the public highway and any other relevant land they are responsible for such as parks and open spaces is, in so far as is practicable, kept clear of litter and refuse. We comply with this through the litter picking and street cleansing operations we run.
The provision of litter bins and dog waste bins is not a statutory requirement and therefore we are not duty bound to provide them to the extent currently available.
What we are proposing
To remove 87 dog waste bins and 81 litter bins currently managed by the Grounds Maintenance contractor, on behalf of the Council's Countryside Service. A total of 168 bins overall.
Our street bins, cleansing and litter picking service, and all bins provided and maintained by Town and Parish councils are not affected by this proposal. Neither are the bins supported by a small number of Town and Parish Councils that reimburse us for emptying bins on their behalf.
This will leave a basic provision of dog waste and litter bins at selected high-profile locations e.g., public parks, selected visitor destinations, sports fields and large open spaces which are used for leisure and recreation purposes.
We will cease to provide litter bins and dog waste bins at the following locations: small residential grass areas, public rights of way, grass verges, play areas, and common land (except for Greenham Common and Snelsmore Common Country Park).
This would provide an approximate saving of £20,000. However, if this proposal is agreed, the Council will be required to negotiate and agree the change with our existing contractor, and therefore this figure is subject to change.
We will explore options for Town and Parish Councils to take on the maintenance and emptying of all dog waste bins within their areas. This is an option which works well elsewhere, and our Grounds Maintenance contractor could continue to empty bins on their behalf, with the costs being recharged to them on an annual basis. Alternatively, we could assist Town and Parish Councils to find a suitable alternative contractor.
At the most recent District Parish Conference held by the Council on 29 October 2024, we started discussions with Town and Parish Councils on opportunities to devolve responsibility for a number of services, including dog waste bins, into their care and maintenance.
Further details on devolution can be found in our brochure, 'Service Delivery Offers for Parish and Town Councils,' which is available on request.
What we think the impact will be
- Some Town and Parish Councils will become responsible for the servicing of bins, with the maintenance and emptying being carried out by one of more local contractors. Consequently there will be a variation in service from parish to parish.
- Increased littering and dog fouling of the roadside, countryside, parks and open spaces and rural villages, if people don't act responsibly and take their waste home if there is no dog waste or litter bin available. Dog waste is no longer considered to be a biohazard and therefore it can be deposited in any public litter bin or your black wheeled bin at home.
- To allow for the increased demand where the council continues to retain dog waste and litter bins, the council will, over time, seek to replace dog and litter bins with covered dual litter bins. These generally have a greater capacity for general litter.
- Incidences of ghost binning (where the public continue to leave litter and dog poo bags on the ground, hanging in trees/bushes despite the removal of a bin from that location).
- Increased number of complaints to the council, with a subsequent impact on staff workload in the form of increased inspections to determine if the level of dropped litter and dog waste requires intervention, and in corresponding with members of the public.
- Requests for attendance of the council's dog warden to address increased dog fouling.
Please refer to the Equity Impact Assessment to see what has already been identified [252KB] .
What else we have considered before arriving at our proposal
Removing all litter bins and dog waste bins that we currently provide as part of the Grounds Maintenance Contract, however this is not something that we want to implement, as it will be detrimental to the quality of the environment at those locations which people use for leisure and recreation purposes or where children play.
Why we want your views
We'd like to know what you think of our proposal, how it might affect you and the wider community, and any views you have on how we can minimise any negative effect of this proposed change. We'll also ask you a little bit about yourself, e.g. if you're a service user or how old you are, but you cannot be identified from your answers.
How to take part
If you'd like to comment on our proposal, please complete our survey by midnight on Monday, 23 December 2024. It should take about 10 minutes.
If you have any questions about the consultation, please email groundsmaintenance@westberks.gov.uk
For general information about rubbish and recycling, please visit our webpage here.
You can report problems on a road or pavement, or in parks, countryside and open space, including dog fouling on our website here.
What happens next
All feedback will be analysed by the service, and a recommendation made to elected Members as part of the budget papers for 2025/26 at the Executive meeting on Thursday, 13 February 2025. A final decision whether to proceed with the proposal will then be made by elected Members at the meeting of Full Council on Thursday, 27 February 2025.
The recommendations will also be reviewed and discussed by members of the Scrutiny Commission on Tuesday, 11 February 2025.
Shortly after the Full Council meeting, a summary of the responses we received, and the decisions taken will be published on this page.
If the decision is made to proceed with the proposal the change will be implemented sometime in 2025 after discussions with parishes and our grounds maintenance contractor.
All meetings will be open to the public, and residents can attend either in person at the Market Street Offices or online. If you'd like to ask a West Berkshire Councillor a question at a public meeting, find out what can and can't be asked, and how to submit your question here.
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