Published at 11:08, Thursday, 28 June 2012

SIR – I read your report “More changes to bin collections” (The Whitehaven News, June 21) in which the council is to consult on efficiency savings which will affect every householder in Copeland to save the council £120,000, or nine per cent of the current £1,3200,000 cost of the service, which of course is quite a lot of money funding a frontline service.

Interestingly, the council states it is operating at number one in cost-effectiveness. However the level of service delivered is not the same as some other councils. Just up the road, Allerdale provides its householders with a weekly collection, which Keith Parker, Copeland’s head of neighbourhoods, benefits from being a resident of Allerdale.

I am sure the householders of Copeland would welcome the opportunity for a weekly collection but this is very unlikely. Remember, the council itself decides the budget and which service area receives funding. Clearly Allerdale prefers to give support in this field. However, I am sure Copeland Council will find the savings, although, yet again, it’s at a cost of a frontline service.

The efficiency savings, at around the cost of the council’s chief executive – £3.63 per household – suggest the deletion of a single post rather that an impact on 33,000 householders?

Copeland is a small area in comparison with other authorities across the county. Surely efficiency savings can be found through a single service delivery for Cumbria? For example anyone with sense will know that delivering a refuse service to 225,844 Cumbrian houses (Cumbria County Council 2001 Census) will itself provide efficiencies through economy of scale (ask any contractor). Copeland represents only 14 per cent of the total households. A single service will also have the benefit of stopping postcode lottery of either receiving a weekly or fortnightly service and the range of recyclable materials that can be collected.

In the same paper, the county council is calling for talks on a single council. In a time of austerity, having seven authorities with repetitive costly managements and political structures certainly does not make sense. I am not advocating a single overarching structure; we still need accountable and local decisions. It’s just that many services provided can produce efficiency savings through the economy of scale. However I suspect common sense will not prevail as managers and politicians have a lot of built-in resistance to protect their own positions.

Name and address supplied

PAT GRAHAM, Copeland Borough Council’s Director of Services, replies: “This letter highlights that we are planning to make some changes to our waste collection service with the aim of increasing efficiency. In light of the cuts to budgets we are seeing, we believe that such changes, across all of our services, are not only necessary they are essential.

“As the letter correctly states, our service is already one of the most cost-effective in the country. However we believe we can still improve on that. The letter suggests that 33,000 households are set to be hit by the changes, but as your article states, in 95 per cent of cases, the only change people will notice is to their day of collection. We believe that most people will easily adapt to this change.

“The letter also suggests that councils should work more closely together on the delivery of services. I would like to reassure the author that this is something we are actively considering and have sought on numerous occasions, both for our waste and recycling collection services and for other services.

“The savings we will have to make over the next two years and beyond are substantial, and to meet these we, like the other Cumbrian local authorities, will have to conduct root and branch reviews of all the services we provide. We are doing this work, and our aim is to provide the services our customers need, and we can afford, not self-preservation.”

BUS DEPOT

SIR – It is pleasing to read (Whitehaven News, June 21) that the former Whitehaven bus depot is likely to be demolished and the area developed at long last.

Readers may recall that Copeland BC engaged consultants Hemingway Design in 2004 and charged them “to breathe new life in Whitehaven town centre”. The resulting report was quite pleasing in many respects and also covered the old bus depot area.

Hopefully the Hemingway Report will be dusted down and full use will be made of the many ideas suggested – thus saving a few hundred thousand pounds on further consultants?

In between times might I suggest that the area be made suitable for public use, especially the annual Whitehaven Festival, until such time that re-development work commences.

With fingers crossed.

Rob ROMANO

Ash Grove, Whitehaven

SIR – West Cumbria is usually a beautiful and friendly place. On Tuesday evening I was looking after my elderly dad and was saddened to witness what I would call heavy- handed policing when a boy, who couldn’t have been more than 14, was searched, arrested and handcuffed in the middle of Seascale and put into the back of a police van.

He was sitting on a bench with a friend, who was also searched, and was not a threat to the police at all. Whatever he had done it didn’t warrant him being handcuffed and taken away in such a manner.

Are the police in West Cumbria not able to deal with children without handcuffing them or putting them into the back of a police van?

Name and address supplied

A SPOKESMAN for Cumbria Constabulary replies: On June 18, a member of the public reported to the police how some money had been stolen and named the individual responsible. Police searched the area and located this individual, who was aged 13. He was searched and arrested on suspicion of theft. He has been bailed until July 10.

“It is routine to handcuff arrested people.”

SIR – A small number of schools in West Cumbria have recently been awarded funding for major building works by central government. I realise that finances nationally are tight, and so must congratulate them on gaining this funding.

However, on my recent visit to the Whitehaven School, I was disappointed to note that there was such a lot of repair work needed.

I will be inviting the leader of the council to come to the school before the end of term to have a look with me. I want to see whether there is anything more that the county council can do to help this school which, to me, appears to be in urgent need of some TLC.

Graham ROBERTS

County councillor for Bransty

SIR – Your article in last week’s paper was wrong to suggest that a university think tank has criticised the poll conducted by Ipsos MORI on behalf of the West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Safely Partnership.

The views in the article were those of an individual who is a geologist, not a polling expert, and he was speaking in a personal capacity. He is entitled to comment on the poll, as is any other member of the public.

We have always made it clear that the views of local people are of paramount importance in deciding whether the area should take part in further geological and other investigations to see if there is anywhere that is suitable for an underground nuclear waste repository.

We commissioned one of the country’s leading polling companies to carry out the opinion survey and two independent experts to give their views on the way the survey was conducted and the questions that were being asked.

We have also carried out what has probably been the biggest communications and engagement programmes ever seen in Cumbria. During the public consultation alone this included:

A consultation document

An overview leaflet and a newsletter which were sent to all homes in West Cumbria and to places like libraries and leisure centres

A DVD

Twelve community events across the county

Fifty-five discussion groups

Special materials for young people

Press releases

Advertorials in local newspapers

An article in the Cumbria County Council publication Your Cumbria which was sent to all homes in the county

Articles in newsletters and websites produced by member organisations

A comprehensive website

Adverts on billboards, buses, telephone boxes in West Cumbria and on Facebook and updates on Facebook and Twitter

A live webcast

This is on top of the large amount of communications and engagement work we have carried out over the previous two years.

There is no question that there have been a significant number of opportunities for people to learn more about these issues and get involved. It is up to each person to decide how much information they feel they need. However, in a democracy no one is prevented from having a view because some people feel they do not know enough.

It is also worth pointing out that, contrary to what some people have suggested, the poll shows support for taking part in further investigations is higher the more that people know about this issue.

Over the coming months the Partnership, and ultimately the Councils that will make the decisions, have to carefully consider the results of the poll alongside the responses to the consultation.

More information is available at www.westcumbriamrws.org.uk.

Coun Tim KNOWLES

Chair, West Cumbria MRWS Partnership

SIR – I am writing to clarify a number of the claims made by the geologist in your article “N-waste opinion poll criticised” on June 21.

He claims that the results presented have “cherry picked the two pieces of information most favourable”. This is certainly not the case. The questionnaire for this survey included three opinion questions, plus three screening questions (to ensure we were talking to a representative sample of adults in Cumbria) and seven demographic questions (for analysis purposes). A copy of the questionnaire used is available on the Partnership’s website (Doc 251 at http://www.westcumbriamrws. org.uk/all_documents.asp).

The results for these three opinion questions were reported in full in the presentation we made to the Partnership on May 22. The results from the key demographic questions were also included in the presentation slide pack for information but were not presented on the day. A copy of the presentation is available on the Partnership’s website (Doc 273).

The final wording of the questionnaire used was arrived at following review by the two independent reviewers and comments from the public.

Your article also carried claims that “no impartial analysis has been presented to expose the multiple inconstancies and flaws in the MRWS polling”. Ipsos MORI were specifically commissioned to ensure that polling would be representative of the population in Cumbria, to provide robust results and to ensure that the analysis was impartial. The survey was designed to ensure that this was the case and, in addition to our own internal scrutiny, was subject to scrutiny by two independent expert reviewers.

Gary WELCH

Research Director, Ipsos MORI

SIR – Having read P Wilson’s latest letter on the waste repository issue (Letters, June 14), I am appalled since, quite clearly, he has access to information that has been carefully – and deliberately – withheld from the general public. And, in such circumstances, quite how we can possibly come to an informed opinion on that issue is completely beyond me.

From his letter, it seems that all of the various design studies for that repository have been based on the presumption that it would be flooded, and eventually filled by ground-water.

And if – repeat, if – that is so, then the so-called ‘public consultation exercise’ that MRWS has been pushing so assiduously is – and always was – nothing more than an empty pretence. A total sham.

Since, as they have known perfectly well right from the start, the inevitable result of that flooding would be that, sooner or later, the ground-water would get into the waste containers – and wash them out. Which would be tough luck on the animals and birds, including the farm livestock that drink the water in the local ponds and streams, not to mention the kids who go swimming.

Then there is the matter of how fresh containers of liquid waste are to be set in place in that dangerously-radioactive underground lake. By frogmen?

He also asserts – while being careful not to go into any detail – that Nirex and its report was totally inadequate and should therefore be ignored.

As to his harping on about the unobservable effects of the natural radiation background: this, as he himself knows perfectly well, is totally irrelevant to the real issue. Which is: how best can the extremely dangerous active waste liquor be safely and permanently stored?

J TAYLOR

Dyke Street, Frizington

SIR – In response to Sue Blanchard’s letter (June 21) regarding dogs on St Bees beach, I’d like to clarify the situation.

Dogs are allowed off the lead on the beach and always have been. If Ms Blanchard heard something different from a passer-by that’s unfortunate, but the true situation is clearly set out on signs at the beach. Visitors planning their holidays here can be confident their dog will be allowed off the lead on the beach.

The letter also claimed there were “no signs”. On the contrary, there are three signs, several feet high, on the main entrances to the beach – outside the café, on the toilet block in the middle of the car park, and near the lifeboat ramp. We would urge dog owners to have a look at them as they set out where dogs can and cannot go on/off the lead.

In summary, supervised dogs can run free on the beach itself. They must be kept on a lead whilst on the grassed areas, paths, picnic areas, promenade and the main car park. Dogs are not allowed at all in the children’s play areas. We do, however, expect all dog-owners to behave responsibly and clean up after their dogs should they foul, regardless of location.

Pat GRAHAM

Director of services

Copeland Borough Council

SIR – Can I send a grateful thank you to the people of Whitehaven and surrounding area for their support of the Methodist Circuit Fundraising Day at St Nicholas’ Tower.

Even though the weather was far from its best there were still a good number of people that came along for a soup and sandwich or coffee and cake and were happy to leave with one of the many items that were on sale.

The day raised just under £900, which will be used to help with the work of the local churches as well as supporting the mission of the church abroad.

The tower is still an ideal setting for these charity events and the people of Whitehaven should continue to support them, for all the organisations play an important roll in our community.

Alan COYLES

Publicity Officer for Whitehaven Methodist Circuit

Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk