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| THE SWP FAILS AGAIN! |
For months, Somerset Independents have been listening to residents and workers complaining about the contract for bins and recycling that Somerset's councillors have let using the Somerset Waste Partnership (SWP).
It hasn't been a once-off, thousands upon thousands of bin and recycling collections have been missed. And we have confirmed that it is still happening!
For months, Somerset Independents have been standing up for residents to get action on bins and recycling.
The Somerset Waste Partnership is a partnership between the district councils and county council. In other parts of the country, each district council runs its own bin collections and recycling. Those councils trust their own workers to do the bins and recycling.
But councillors in Somerset have decided to farm it out to contractors.
Such contractors like Suez are making billions from waste management across the World. Yet they do not seem to be able to get it right here in Somerset, and Somerset's councillors are letting them get away with it.
For months now, the over 250 district and county councillors have been failing to fix the problems with the bins and recycling.
We have had to put these councillors under pressure.
Now we've been told by Sedgemoor District Council, when we asked them:
"What penalties has the Council made for poor performance?"
They told us:
"The contract with Suez is managed by the Somerset Waste Partnership and they manage the penalties. All applicable deductions are currently applied to the monthly invoicing procedure.
They are passing the buck, instead of taking responsibility. And they are lending millions of pounds of taxpayers money for this failing contract. Our queries have discovered this.
Why have Somerset Independents had to do this?
BECAUSE NEARLY ALL OF SOMERSET'S 250+ COUNCILLORS ARE NOT STANDING UP FOR YOU!
WE HAVE TO VOLUNTEER TO STAND UP WITH RESIDENTS.
Because hardly any councillors have taken action that matters.
We are aware of only two councillors - out of over 250 - that seem to have got the message that residents are very unhappy and have spoken out in public.
Collecting our bins and recycling are basic services of what Somerset's councils should be doing for our council tax.
Do you think you are getting the service that you deserve? Residents tell us NO!
Do you think you are getting value for your council tax? Residents say NO!
Do you think workers on the bins and recycling are being treated fairly? They tell us NO!
Residents have told us so many horrendous stories about Somerset's councils' failures to provide these basic services that should be provided.
And workers have also told us how badly they have been treated by their employer, when working on the bins and recycling.
From what we have been told, it is no wonder that the Somerset Waste Partnership struggles to recruit and retain workers. The pay and conditions are terrible.
And the reputation of the SWP is appalling, and not getting any better.
The councils claim they can't pay better because of the cost of paying better. Yet contractor Suez makes billions on council contracts like the SWP. We think that residents and workers should come before profit. Do you agree?
Yet the district and county councils seem to find the money for their vanity projects, spending tens of millions of pounds on the wrong priorities:
- theatre renovations in Yeovil instead of getting your bins collected
- investing in commercial property outside of Somerset, risking tens of millions of pounds of taxpayers money that should be going on services
- proposing to prop up the privately-owned Yeovil Town Football Club using taxpayers' millions to pay off loans
And councillors put your council tax up too - with some councillors not paying their own council tax, as we discovered and reported on - our hard work which local and national media are now reporting on.
Now, following our calls for the Somerset Waste Partnership to be disbanded and the services run directly by the councils, our investigations have discovered that the penalties in the contract ARE now finally being activated.
How do we know?
Members of Somerset Independents submitted a large number of questions to Somerset's councils about the way they are managing their finances.
And the answers are very concerning. Some of the councils are going on a spending spree - WITH YOUR MONEY!
Amongst the answers, one of the more honest councils - Sedgemoor District Council - has told us what is really going on. They actually answer our questions, but other councils evade us, try to ignore us, or don't answer at all. And they do the same to other local media too.
Councils like Mendip District Council and South Somerset District Council are trying to hide what is going on, failing to give straight answers or even failing to meet the legal obligations to answer our questions.
We have been told in the above answer that the penalties in the contract have been activated.
But Somerset Independents says that it isn't enough.
Somerset's councillors are not doing enough to push for the contract to be terminated, and for the bins and recycling to be brought back in-house.
Residents have had enough of the lack of openness and transparency about our bins and recycling.
Residents have had enough of the barrage of fake news produced by the army of PR people at the Somerset Waste Partnership, who have blamed Covid-19, Brexit, their employees, agency staff and everyone except themselves. They've even blamed residents.
We say that the activation of the penalty clauses shows the failure of councillors to take the action necessary. They let the contract but they aren't managing the contractors properly to ensure our bins and recycling are done.
Councillors need to be held to account for their continuing failures to stand up for you.
Write to your councillor. Tell us what they say, if they do bother to respond. Tell us if they do not respond - this is what residents tell us happens too often!
Put your postcode in at the link here and you can use WriteToThem.com to write to your councillor to demand that:
- councillors cancel the contract
- bring the bins and recycling back in-house,
- ensure that any future failures can be directly attributed to the council, instead of passing the buck to a faceless contractor.
Somerset Independents doesn't just say that we stand up for residents.
Somerset Independents DOES stand up for residents.
Because the councillors from the national political parties do not stand up for you.
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