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Thursday, November 18, 2021 35

Newbury Weekly News

NORTH HAMPSHIRE NEWS

Residents being forced to ‘pay more for less’ Row over waste recycling access rumbles on as council tax is set to rise

Waste service restarts GARDEN waste collections in Basingstoke and Deane have resumed this week after being suspended for more than six weeks. It said if crews were to take extra garden waste from some customers, it would impact on the crews’ ability to complete rounds.

The fortnightly service was restarted following an ongo- ing review by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council and contractor Serco after collections were suspended early last month due to a lack of HGV drivers and to protect core waste and recycling ser- vices. Since then, Serco has worked to recruit drivers by offering a 50-per-cent increase on salaries and enhanced ben- efits packages and is now in a position to offer a regular scheduled garden waste collec- tion service. The council said that staff- ing levels will continue to be reviewed during the winter period. As the service resumes, the council said crews will be un- able to collect extra garden waste, in order to provide a fair service to all customers.

The borough council is an- ticipating that on the first col- lection a large number of full bins will be put out for collec- tion and is asking customers to bear with the crews as they work their way around the area. As previously reported by the Newbury Weekly News , cus- tomers will only be entitled to the missed collections if they have a live subscription. Residents have missed around three collections – in addition to further missed collections in July when the ‘pingdemic’ caused many driv- ers to self-isolate. The council said extra col- lections have now been added to all customers’ subscriptions and customers will receive a letter four weeks before they are required to renew their subscriptions. The letter will display the new renewal date.

PARISH councillors have once again vented their frustration at the current tip arrangement, with one saying North Hampshire residents would soon be paying “more for less”. With Hampshire County Council facing an £80m black hole, council tax is expected to go up another 3.99 per cent for the forthcoming tax year – taking the amount paid to the county council for an average band D property up to around £1,400. Despite this rise, North Hampshire residents con- tinue to face either a 25-mile round trip to the household waste recycling centre in And- over or pay £7 to use the tip in Newtown Road in West Berk- shire – a situation labelled “Hobson’s Choice” by High- clere Parish Council chair- man Brad Norton. At a parish council meeting last week, Mr Norton queried whether Highclere residents were essentially subsidising the rest of Hampshire’s resi- dents by paying more in coun- cil tax than they received in

and the Cleres), who said there needed to be a regional or na- tional solution which would al- low residents to use whichever tip they wanted. He said: “Hampshire County Council’s obligation is to pro- vide a HWRC in Hampshire. “If they wanted to do it to the minimum they could have set up a massive recycling centre in Winchester, but we’ve actu- ally got at least 11 large ones around the county. “The fact is we’ve lobbied Kit [Malthouse, North West Hampshire MP] that we need to be able to have a regional or national solution which is funded, then Hampshire tax payers can travel to whichever HWRC is most convenient for them.” Mr Norton said it wasn’t a closed matter with Highclere residents and would “rumble on and on”. The debate came three weeks after East Woodhay parish councillors also voiced their frustration at the current arrangements, saying they felt they were paying twice to get rid of rubbish.

Newtown Road Household Waste Recycling Centre in Newbury

services. He said he had made a Free- dom of Information request to councillor Rob Humby, the county council executive member for economy, trans- port and environment, on the matter, but received no re- sponse. Mr Norton said: “I look at this quite simplistically – how much do they get from High- clere residents and how much do they spend in Highclere? “If there’s a surplus of the money they receive from the

parish why can’t it go towards subsidising our trips to the HWRC? “What’s the expenditure and what’s the income? I’d be very surprised if there’s a defi- cit.” He added that with council tax set to rise again, the par- ish’s residents were set to pay “more for less”, and that there were many “disgruntled” res- idents. The meeting was also at- tended by county councillor Tom Thacker (Whitchurch

Fun quiz night in Burghclere KEEN quizzers have the opportunity to show off their general knowledge with an evening of trivia in Burghclere to raise will take place at the Portal Hall on Saturday at 6.30pm. There will be “relaxed

questions” for teams of up to six and prizes, a bar, a raffle and a pasty supper. Entrance will cost £6 per person.

money for maintenance of the village Church of the Ascension . The quiz and pasty evening

The Newbury Weekly News, supported by Greenham Trust, Over 80s Parcel Fund 2021 Please help us raise £18,000 to buy food for the parcels in 2021

1897 The Two T’s Fund delivered tobacco and tea to the House on the Hill in Newbury. The tea for the ladies and the tobacco for the men. “The tea was strong, in fact the cup sampled was the best I had ever tasted. There was an abundance of tobacco, to say nothing of other luxuries.” Newbury Weekly News – Jan 3 rd 1908 2021 Newbury Weekly News Parcel Fund delivers parcels with a Christmas meal, tea and some extra goodies for a�ernoon tea and a few luxuries to nearly 1,800 elder residents in West Berkshire. The Parcel Fund has changed over the last 100 years, but the important message is s�ll the same, which is to make our elderly recipients feel special and let them know they will always be remembered by their local community. If you would like to support our fundraising, by dona�ng through The Good Exchange your money will be doubled by Greenham Trust. If you would like to make a dona�on please go to: h�ps://app.thegoodexchange.com/project/19160/newbury-weekly-news/newburynews-over- 80s-parcel-fund 2021

Parcel Fund Events Thurs Nov 18

Sports Quiz at The Bowlers Arms – 7.30pm for 8pm FULLY BOOKED Mayor’s Coffee Morning – join Cllr Billy Drummond for coffee and cake

Sat Nov 27

Sat Dec 4

Parcels Distributed

Rotary Club Newbury

Rivar

For any further details about the ‘Newbury Weekly News, supported by Greenham Trust, Over 80s Parcel Fund’ please contact Jo Fulker: Jo.fulker@newburynews.co.uk