A COUNCILLOR has slammed Thurrock’s unambitious recycling targets.
Ben Maney, chairman of the corporate overview and scrutiny committee, which met on Tuesday, questioned whether the council’s performance indicators are setting the bar too low reports the Local Democracy Reporter.
A report to the committee showed the level of the council’s performance in 81 areas, with services rated green and on track, amber and within tolerable levels or red and off track.
The report rated 94 per cent of areas as green, three per cent amber and just one per cent as red.
Basildon Council has set its target at 55 per cent while Southend has a 50 per cent target and achieved a 43.47 per cent collection rate for 2023/24.
Thurrock Council’s recycling service was rated green after it met a 30 per cent target, prompting Mr Maney to question why it wasn’t set higher.
Sara Muldowney, councillor responsible for resources, said the target was realistic given the council’s disastrous financial position. She said: “The target is 30 per cent and they’ve reached that target. I agree it’s not an ambitious target however, we do need to be mindful about the financial situation that we find ourselves in and be reasonable about what we can actually achieve in the very tight financial constraints that we’ve got.
“We’ve had to be sensible because we’re having to deliver year on year cost savings as part of our financial plan so there is no point having an overly ambitious target which is going fail and stretch services to the point of breaking.”
In response, Mr Maney, Conservative councillor for Little Thurrock Blackshots, said: “I’ve got to respectfully disagree with you in the strongest possible terms because this is not just about the financial position of the council. That implies because we’re a failing council it’s okay to list things as green when they’re not good because we don’t want to overburden ourselves.
“This isn’t about finances. It’s about recycling. We have a blue bin collection system it’s just residents aren’t using it. No amount of money is going to change that. Recycling levels have been falling for a while because residents, for whatever reason, are choosing to not recycle waste as they should be. That’s got nothing to do with the financial position of the council. We’re using it as an excuse.”
Mr Maney added: “ “What is that 30 per cent based on? I’ve heard it’s what we achieved in other years. We know it’s dreadful but we’re going to put it green anyway because we’re a council that hasn’t got much money. That sends a chill down my spine if that’s the kind of thinking around some of these indicators.”
