Changes To Waste Collections Christmas 2018

Posted on by Pauline

Cotswold District Council’s waste and recycling collection service provider, Ubico Ltd, will be making normal collections up to and including Friday 21 December.  The following week, the crews will NOT be working on Monday 24, Tuesday 25 December and Wednesday 26 December.  They will also be on holiday on Tuesday 1 January 2019.  As a consequence, there will be changes in collection days until the normal schedule resumes on Monday 21 January 2019. 

The collection days will change from week commencing Monday 24 December and The collection schedule will return to normal on the week beginning Monday 21 January 2019. Please note crews will be working on four Saturdays – 29 December, 5 January , 12 January and 19 January – to catch up.

Northleach’s waste collection calendar, including holiday changes:

 

Please also note that Christmas trees can be taken to the following Garden Centres after Christmas for recycling up until 13 January 2019. (Once collected they are turned into peat-free compost):

  • Dobbies Garden Centre, Cirencester, GL7 6EU
  • Batsford Garden Centre, Batsford, GL56 9QB (will be taking trees from 6th January)
  • Wyevale Garden Centre, Lechlade, GL7 3DP

Commenting on the arrangements, Cllr Sue Coakley, CDC’s Cabinet Member for Environment, said:

“As always, we try to minimise disruption to the schedules over the Christmas and New Year holidays while providing the crews with a reasonable break.  Residents are now familiar with our revised schedules during the festive period and they have always responded favourably in the knowledge that everything gets back to normal within a few weeks.”

She continued: “We anticipate that households will accumulate larger amounts of waste during Christmas and New Year.  I would urge everyone to recycle as much as possible and to make the most of our kerbside recycling services, and recycling facilities across the district. Many large gifts use cardboard packaging and it is worth emphasising that the Ubico crews will only collect folded cardboard at the kerbside.  We also encourage everyone to recycle all the extra bottles that seem to accumulate over the festive season.

“For those who like to clear things away very quickly, please note that Household Recycling Centres will be open on most days during the holiday period.  However, please note that both Household Recycling Centres in Cotswold District now close for one day during the week  (Fosse Cross on Tuesdays and Pyke Quarry on Wednesdays). Both will be closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. The new winter opening hours are 10 am to 4 pm. For more details see www.recycleforgloucestershire.com.

“North Cotswold district residents should note that we have an agreement permitting the use of the Shipston on Stour recycling centre in Warwickshire. For more information and opening times for that site, please visit Shipston on Stour recycling centre.

“Additionally don’t forget that there are many excellent recipes for leftovers on the ‘Love Food Hate Waste’ website.  It’s also encouraging to hear about the growing popularity of recyclable wrapping paper rather than the metallic – and expensive – option which is not recyclable.

“While we hope to see a big upturn in recycling figures during this period, we realise that there is still going to be a build-up of non-recyclable waste at such a busy time.  For this reason, we will be allowing a ‘side waste amnesty’ for every household’s first full collection after Christmas Day; residents will be able to leave out additional amounts of non-recyclable waste in bin liners next to their grey wheeled bin/beige refuse bags. Please place all containers at the kerbside by 7 am on the revised day of collection so we can ensure that everything is picked up.”

For queries and further information about the waste and recycling services, please log on to www.cotswold.gov.uk or contact the CDC Waste Hotline on 01285 623123.

Via press release from Cotswold District Council

Northleach Resident Honoured in Cotswold Champions Awards

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Please find below the winners of the inaugural Cotswold Champions award. It is great to see a Northleach resident amongst the winners and well done to all those who were nominated.

Kind regards,
Cat Crompton, Town Clerk

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Via press release from Cotswold District Council
  
Public-spirited local residents were honoured at Cotswold District Council’s first ever Cotswold Champions Community Awards ceremony and celebration dinner which took place at the Royal Agricultural University on Friday 9 November.

This date was chosen specifically to coincide with the ‘We remember 1918’ weekend when the Cotswolds commemorate and celebrate the 100th anniversary of the end of WW1.

CDC Chairman Cllr Julian Beale, had asked people to nominate residents and teams in the District to be chosen as Cotswold Champions, and many applications from all parts of the District were received across seven categories. Short listed candidates were invited to the 9 November awards ceremony and the following were announced as the winners, each receiving a prize of £1,000 courtesy of the award sponsors:

  • Young Volunteer of the Year Award – a young person (18 or under) who gives up time to help others (sponsored by Royal Agricultural University) Chelsey Dyson
  • Carer of the Year Award – a person who cares for a relative, friend or neighbour (sponsored by Badham Pharmacy) Bridget Salvage
  • Community Team Award – people from a sports club, activity group, health group etc. who give time to assist others (sponsored by St James’s Place Wealth Management) BEAM Gymnastics
  • Village Hero Award – a person who goes above and beyond for their village (sponsored by Air Salvage International) Elaine Drayton
  • Charity Event Award – a team that organises events to raise funds for charities (sponsored by Aura Care Living) Relay for Life
  • Town Champion Award – a person who makes an impact in their neighbourhood (sponsored by Tayler & Fletcher) Jennie Rainsford
  • Unsung Hero Award – a person who quietly makes a difference to other people’s lives (sponsored by Ian Carling, Founder of The Barn Theatre) Kate Lee.

Commenting on the inaugural awards Cllr Beale said, “Congratulations to the winners and runners up in each category – and many thanks to everyone who took part in the competition.  I would like to thank also the sponsors for their generosity and overall support, the Gloucestershire Rural Community Council for judging, and Council offices for creating a successful event.  The number and quality of nominees proves that the Cotswolds breeds champions.”
 
Professor Joanna Price, Vice-Chancellor of the Royal Agricultural University (RAU) said, “It was an honour for the RAU to host these inspirational awards, celebrating Cotswolds residents who discreetly invest their time and energy in the community. We are very proud to have sponsored the Young Volunteer award which epitomises our belief that young people who give back to society and who put others before themselves are best equipped to become future leaders and good citizens.”

Five Simple Steps to Kerbside Recycling

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Please find below information from Cotswold District Council about recycling changes.

Please follow ‘five simple steps’ to pre-sort your kerbside recycling
Release date: 21st June 2018

Cotswold District Council is launching a ‘five simple steps’ campaign which asks residents to pre-sort their recyclables before they present them for collection at the kerbside.

At the moment, residents tend to use: a black box for all used paper, magazines, glass items, cans/tins; a white sack for mixed plastic bottles, pots, tubs & trays; and a blue sack for cardboard.

However, the Council is now encouraging people to keep paper and magazines separate from glass items – either within the confines of one black box (if they only have only room for one) or by acquiring a second black box at no cost. To make life easier, residents can now place tins/cans and aerosols into their white sacks with plastics as these can now be separated at the recycling plant.

The ‘five simple steps’ are as follows:

Step 1 – Use one black recycling box for paper and magazines. (If you only have room for one box – put the papers at one end and the glass, jars and bottles at the other).
Step 2 – If you can accommodate a second black recycling box use this for all glass bottles and jars – no broken glass please. (You can order a second box for free if you need one).
Step 3 – You can now use the white recycling sack for tins/cans, aerosols, as well as for  plastic bottles, food trays, yoghurt pots and other types of mixed rigid plastics.
Step 4 – Use the blue recycling sack for corrugated (brown coloured) cardboard or light (grey coloured) card.
Step 5 – Use the green caddy for food waste (or you can also pop your food waste into your garden waste if you subscribe to this service).

Cllr Sue Coakley, CDC Cabinet Member for the Environment, explains the benefits of additional pre-sorting: “We are delighted that so many people across the District are keen recyclers and we want to make sure that all the materials they present can be recycled. This now means that we need their help to do a little more pre-sorting before the items are collected.  Keeping the glass and paper separate means that both materials can be recycled more easily. The ‘five simple steps’ also help to speed up collections, cutting down on disruption to traffic flows caused by Ubico vehicles.”

The Council will be happy to supply a free extra black box on request. “I hope that being able to recycle tins and plastics together will make life easier for residents, but I would ask that they “wash and squash” the items first to make the most of the white sack’s capacity and also to keep it clean,” she added.

To request an extra black box or contact the CDC Waste Team email cdc@cotswold.gov.uk or phone 01285 623123.

Revised Proposals for New Cotswolds Constituency Published

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Press release from Cotswold District Council

The independent Boundary Commission for England (BCE) has published revised proposals for new Parliamentary constituencies, including the Cotswolds. The publication marks the start of eight weeks of public consultation, during which the Commission is inviting feedback to help shape the proposed new constituency boundaries.  This is the last round of public consultation before the Boundary Commission makes its recommendations to Parliament.

Insofar as Cotswold District is concerned, the current parliamentary constituency (known as ‘The Cotswolds’) encompasses the Cotswold District Council area plus the wards of Kingswood, Minchinhampton and Wotton-under-Edge within Stroud District Council.  The proposed constituency, also called ‘The Cotswolds’, would comprise the same Cotswold District Council area plus the Isbourne and Winchcombe Wards from Tewkesbury Borough Council.  The proposed new constituency would comprise almost 73,000 electors.

During the eight week consultation period, copies of the relevant documents for the Cotswolds Constituency will be available for public inspection at the Council’s offices in Trinity Road, Cirencester and the Moreton Area Centre.

The consultation closes on 11 December 2017 and comments can be made via the Boundary Commission’s website.

Introducing Publica

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Press release from Cotswold District Council

In November, Cotswold District Council is launching a ground-breaking partnership which promises to deliver better local services for residents.

Four partner councils – Cotswold District Council, Cheltenham Borough Council, Forest of Dean and West Oxfordshire District Council – have created the new company Publica Group Ltd to deliver more efficient and improved services.

Employees from Cotswold, along with those from the other councils, will transfer into Publica and continue to provide services for local residents.

However – like the other partner councils – CDC will continue to be responsible for the standard of services that are provided as well as setting strategy, policy and making decisions.

So why is CDC doing this?

The purpose is to create more value through improving efficiency and reducing costs, while at the same time improving services.

Creating one company with staff from each council will reduce the cost of management and administration and provide the opportunity to share workloads, learn from each other and benefit from shared expertise and knowledge.

Ultimately, the aim is to deliver a better more cost effective service.

The benefits of partnership working and sharing services are not new to CDC. This month is the ninth anniversary of a very successful partnership with West Oxfordshire which began with the sharing of a Chief Executive and subsequently encompassed a range of managerial and support services – with combined savings subsequently growing to around £1.9m a year.

In 2012, the councils took the partnership a stage further by creating Gloucestershire & Oxfordshire (GO) Shared Services, along with the Forest of Dean and Cheltenham Councils. GO Shared Services provide a shared human resources, finance and payroll function.

Last year, the shared services were extended to include ICT, public protection, building control, legal, property and customer services. Additionally, a Joint Committee was established to oversee the partnership and to take it on the next stage of its journey.

During the last decade, CDC has learned how to make the most of collaboration and partnership, they’ve seen the savings it can generate while benefiting the services they offer.

Those savings have been substantial; over the last 10 years CDC has saved £13m when adding in savings delivered through its shared Environmental Services company, Ubico.

Realising that this was the best way to deliver the savings required by local authorities without services suffering, CDC along with its three partners created Publica and that’s where their partnership journey continues.

What does this mean for residents?

Residents will not see a difference in the way that their services are delivered, who they contact and how they contact them.

The Council will remain as it was and will be the place local residents go for all their normal services, advice and support.

What does this mean for CDC staff?

Existing employees of CDC will be transferred to Publica in November. They will be transferred under special arrangements that safeguard them and protect their terms and conditions. Once they’re together in one company with employees from the other partner Councils they will look at how the services they provide can benefit from the new company set up.

Publica will also start recruiting new employees to join the team, and will move away from the traditional public sector pay and benefits package by offering something new with greater choice for new employees.

The Councils together are expecting to make savings of around £5.6 million per year by 2020, and £41 million in total over the next ten years.

Leader of CDC, Councillor Mark Annett said: “This is an exciting time for us as we take the next step of our journey with our partner Councils to create a jointly owned public company. Publica is a creative and enterprising solution to our modern day challenges and I am confident that our communities will benefit from the continued shared experience and expertise this brings together from staff across all four councils.”

Publica Ltd has just launched a new website www.publicagroup.uk.

More information

New Affordable Homes in Northleach Ready Soon

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The Housing Advice team at Cotswold District Council have sent us the following information on new affordable homes to rent and buy in Northleach. Please note that in order to be considered for any of these properties you will need to be registered and this process can take 4-6 weeks and the homes are due to be released soon. If you are already registered then please ensure that your registration and contact details are up to date.

Kind regards
Cat Crompton,
Clerk, Northleach with Eastington Town Council

I am writing to you from the Housing Advice team at Cotswold District Council. We have been informed that the new affordable rented homes on the Westwoods site are due to be handed over from the developer to the Housing Association between January and April 2018. The Housing Association would normally look at advertising them and allowing people to bid on the Housing Register 2-3 months before this, meaning they are likely to come through shortly.

Our concern is that applications onto the Housing Register can take between 4-6 weeks to be assessed before an applicant can start bidding, so if anyone is interested in these homes and don’t currently have an Live application they will need to submit one as soon as possible. As the developers never advertise the affordable homes on their signs many potential applicants don’t realise there are any on the site.

The following rented accommodation will be available:

  • 4 x one beds flats
  • 1 x one bed bungalow (first preference to those with a ground floor need)
  • 5 x two bed houses
  • 1 x three bed house
  • 2 x four bed house

To apply they need to visit www.homeseekerplus.co.uk – click on ‘Register’ then ‘Register Now’. Applications take between 4-6 weeks to be assessed. The new properties could be advertised shortly.

A local connection to Northleach will be considered under that in the Section 106 agreement so:

  • Person has lived in Northleach for 3 years
  • Person has previously lived in Northleach for 5 years
  • Person has worked in Northleach for 1 year
  • Person has family members (grandparents, parents, siblings and adult children only) who live in the town and have done for 5 years

People who do not meet these connections will be considered but only after those who meet it are exhausted.

In addition the following will be available to buy shortly under Shared Ownership:

  • 4 x two bed houses
  • 3 x three bed houses

Applicants [for Shared Ownership housing] need to be registered with www.helptobuysouth.co.uk and should also contact Cottsway direct.
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