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Leaders Viewpoint July 2011

Published Thursday 1st September 2011 in Council and democracy news

View from the Deputy Leader, Councillor Munsif Dad.

In case you were expecting to see the Council Leader, Cllr Miles Parkinson in this slot, I'd better explain that he's asked us, his Cabinet, to use this space to tell you about the work we're doing to make Hyndburn a better place and this month it's my turn to give you a quick update.

I look after a fairly wide ranging portfolio, including licensing, pollution control, contaminated land, street cleaning and cemeteries, refuse collection and disposal and recycling, so you'll see there's been plenty of things to keep me busy since we took over control of the Council in May.

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Recycling is a subject close to my heart, we only look after the planet for future generations so we've got to find ways to recycle more and preserve our earth for those yet to come. Hyndburn people have always been enthusiastic recyclers and we want to do more, so since we took control of the Council in May I've been busy looking at ways to boost our impressive recycling record and one of the first things on the agenda was to set up a panel to look at how we recycle now and what we could do better in the future. 

The review will take place over the summer and autumn and we'll be looking at our current recycling streams and examining opportunities to mix materials and recycle additional waste; the types and numbers of recycling containers and our collection methods and the replacement of collection vehicles. We'll be talking to residents about any new ideas in the pipeline, so I'll let you know in future viewpoints how we get on.

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Still on the recycling theme I'm pleased that I've been able to play my part in bidding for an innovative new scheme to boost recycling.

As you know here in Hyndburn we are no strangers to schemes aimed at promoting recycling, Waste Watching for Schools, High School Challenge and our Reduce, Reuse and Recycle campaigns to name a few.

Just recently we've submitted a bid to government for funding which we hope to use to introduce a recycling incentive scheme, where we'll work with supermarkets to boost household recycling rates.

The scheme is quite simple, basically supermarkets would reward increases in Hyndburn's household recycling rate by giving vouchers to all householders to spend in their stores, with the bigger boost in recycling, the bigger the reward.

We believe it's the first scheme of its kind in the country, and it has huge potential to drive up Hyndburn's recycling rates, which is better for the environment and also your pockets as we'll pay less landfill tax, which all helps to keep Council Tax down. I'll let you know how we get on with the funding bid, if we get the money from government it'll be the green light for go for this exciting campaign.

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Cemeteries and crematoria are part of my portfolio and relatives and visitors may have seen that some improvements have been made to Accrington cemetery recently. A new access road is now finished which will make it easier for vehicles to turn around and a new vandal proof water stand pipe has also been installed for relatives to use.

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And finally we're also at looking ways to develop our taxi licensing scheme, we are at the very early stages yet and I'll let you know more as things develop.