| RTF.186 | Councillor Cummings welcomed everyone to the first meeting of the Radcliffe Township Forum. As this was the first meeting, Councillor Mike Connolly (Leader of the Council) was introduced and invited to address the meeting.
Councillor Connolly explained that he intended to visit each of the Township Forums at their first meetings. He thanked everyone for attending and for the hard work that had gone into setting up the initiative. The Township Forums had been introduced as part of a commitment to provide local people with a strong community voice and enable involvement in local decision making. There were six townships and each would develop via their own local agenda.
The Township Forums also had the authority to request the Leader to attend a meeting to discuss the work of the Executive and refer matters to the Overview Management Committee for consideration by a Scrutiny Panel.
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| RTF.187 | There were no declarations of interest made at the meeting. |
| RTF.188 | Chris Shillitto, Head of Democratic Services, informed the meeting that there were to be up to nine Advisory Group members on the Township Forums, with one place allocated to a young person via the Youth Cabinet.
It was reported that members of the Advisory Group had been chosen by a ballot of the core members on the Forum and following this ballot, the Advisory Group members were nominated as follows:-
Richard Dandy - Radcliffe Traders
Ray Vevers - Radcliffe Carnival Committee
Yvonne Shawcross - Bolton Road Tenants & Residents Association
Colin Jones - Radcliffe Girls and Boys Club
Beverley Higson - Bradley Fold Residents Association
Tony Taylor - Groundwork Bury
Colette Jones - Friends of Close Park
Gordon Hartley - Ainsworth Community Association
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| RTF.190 | The Township Forum received a presentation from Glen Stuart, Head of Waste Management, on the key changes to be made to the way the Council collects household waste. The changes would take place from 4 October 2011 and would include a grey bin collection every 2 weeks. At the moment Bury had the second lowest recycling rate in Greater Manchester at 28%. Under the new system it was anticipated that this would be increased to a 50% recycling rate with a potential of a 75% recycling rate of items taken from the kerbside. The cost of waste collection and disposal to the Council was £14 million, which over the next few years could rise to £21 million in 2015.
In order to promote and encourage recycling in Bury it was proposed that a green bin for paper and card would replace the use of green bin bags and these would be distributed during September. From October, both cooked and uncooked food waste could be placed the brown bin. A small kitchen caddy would beprovided with a role of 52 biodegradable liner bags and instructions to use to wrap the food waste when it is placed in the brown bin.
The collection of bins would be as follows:
- Green bins - every 4 weeks
- Blue bins - every 4 weeks
- Brown bins - every 2 weeks
- Grey bins - every 2 weeks
In addition new technology would be used in refuse collection vehicles to increase efficiency through communication between the public and the
service call centre.
The use of new collection regimes has proved to be very successful within other local authorities and there had been no problems regarding odours or pests. Families with six or more members would be provided with an extra grey bin with a red lid and smaller bins could be provided where necessary. Work was ongoing within communities to raise awareness through advice sessions and the issue of information leaflets on the new collection regime. Further information was available on the Bury Council web site which included a frequently asked questions page. There was also a 24 hour information line and a help line.
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| RTF.191 | The Chair, Councillor A J Cummings, invited questions, comments and representations from members of the public present at the meeting. Questions were asked and comments made on the issues detailed below. The Township Forum Co-ordinator undertook to obtain a reply to matters which could not be dealt with at the meeting.
 Concern that money was being wasted on high tech gadgets in bin wagons when it could be better spent elsewhere within the authority.
 A resident had requested a brown bin in April but had still not received one.
It was reported that 60,000 brown bins had been distributed borough wide. This resident may not have been part of the brown bin collection scheme. The Council were looking into invest-to-save policies next year in line with the increased savings in disposal costs.
 Residents should be made to make even greater efforts to recycle.
Although the Council do have the authority to fine individuals, there is evidence that the move to fortnightly collections would encourage an increase in recycling.
 Not everyone is aware of what items can be recycled and where they should be placed.
Information leaflets had been sent out to all residents in the Borough informing them of how and what to recycle
 Clarification as to the £25 charge for bins.
The £25 charge would be for the replacement of the grey bin only. Residents would receive bin stickers and would be encouraged to take greater ownership of their bins in order to reduce the numbers of bins stolen or vandalised.
 Was their a suggestion scheme for recycling?
There is a facility for residents to post suggestions on the Council’s website.
 What happens to non-recyclable waste?
It was reported that non-recyclable waste currently goes to landfill but this would be diverted when the new facilities become available across Greater Manchester. The meeting was informed of the
process for the disposal of non-recyclable plastics.
 Why do we need four bins for recycling?
Four different recycling bins are required in order to avoid cross-contamination.
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| RTF.192 | A presentation was given by Steve Kenyon, Assistant Director of Resources (Finance) on the Council’s Plan for Change consultation exercise which asks people who live, work or study in the borough what they think are important priorities for the council.
The ‘council choices’ exercise was taking place during August and
September and asks participants to pick which priorities they see as most important by placing tokens numbered 1 to 10 into 10 boxes.
A copy of the list of priorities and priority tokens was circulated to those present and each person was asked to indicate which of the choices they considered to be important. The tokens were then placed in the relevant box. The Plan for Change was also available on the Council web site. People could also go to the Council web site, write or send an email to be involved.
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| RTF.193 | Christine Maksymowski, Township Forum Co-ordinator informed the meeting of the next steps forward for Radcliffe Township Forum. It was reported that future meetings would focus on setting priorities for Radcliffe for the next twelve months working with community groups and partner organisations. Regular updates would be provided at the Township Forum meetings. |
| RTF.194 | It was reported that the next meeting of the Township Forum would take place on Thursday 10 November, 2011 at 6 pm, at Radcliffe Civic Suite. |