Derek Deedman

The County Cabinet Member for Waste Services has decided to establish a Task Force to review the County and District Councils decision to discontinue the existing mobile household waste service. This is a direct result of the concerns and opposition to this expressed by the communities and their County and District Councillors in the Chanctonbury area.

Although some parishes have responded to the proposed closure to say that they foresee no issues for their communities, others, including Steyning and Storrington, see major problems which the Cabinet Member has recognised.

The proposed Task Force Group will advise the Cabinet Member on future service provision for the affected communities. The Group is expected to comprise two County Councillors, two Horsham District Councillors and four parish council representatives, all from the Chanctonbury area. All parishes will be invited to comment on the Task Force Group findings.

It is thought that there will be three meetings of the Group, probably as follows:

• An initial meeting to be held before Easter to look at the requirements for an alternative service. Much of the feedback so far centres on green waste with some comments about bulky household items. Are those the key issues or are there others? What priorities should shape the future service?

• Two further meetings during April. The first will look at the broad range of options, assessing the pros and cons and narrowing down to a shortlist that can then be worked up for the second meeting that will form some recommendations to the Cabinet Member.

Hopefully the Task Force working in this way will ensure that the issues of key local concern are tackled and the eventual solution is acceptable to the community.

County Councillors Derek Deedman (Bramber Castle) and Frank Wilkinson (Storrington) have put their names forward to be on the Task Force Group. The names of all the finally agreed Group members will be posted on this website in due course.

Finally the Chanctonbury County Local Committee will be discussing the Mobile Waste Service at it’s meeting on 18 March, starting at 7pm in Pulborough Village Hall. Hopefully a large number of local people will be there to make their views known.