The deputy leader of Lichfield District Council has paid tribute to a former cabinet member who stepped down in the wake of issues with the roll-out of new recycling bags.
Cllr Ashley Yeates resigned from his role with the leadership group just weeks after a new dual stream recycling collection system was introduced.
The council’s leader had previously said that Cllr Yeates’ decision had been made in order to allow him to “focus on his entertainment business”.
But he had come in for criticism following the roll-out of the changes to waste collections after it emerged that some of the bags distributed across Lichfield and Burntwood were a third smaller than they should have been.
At the first meeting since Cllr Yeates’ departure, deputy leader Cllr Iain Eadie said the departing cabinet member had shown “integrity” in opting to stand down.
“We all know the issues that have arisen with the change to the recycling service.
“I’m grateful to Ashley for the integrity has shown in stepping aside and saying to somebody else ‘please come and see if you can make changes to the service so it works as effectively as we want’.
“We all look forward to welcoming back Cllr Little. With her expertise in this area she will be a welcome addition and provide good guidance to our officers as we try to make this scheme work effectively for the residents of our district.”
Cllr Iain Eadie, Lichfield District Council
Cllr Yeates’ departure brings to an end a four year spell on the cabinet at the council.
The deputy leader said his contribution to the success of other projects should not be forgotten,
“I’d like to recognise the things he has delivered to the people that live in the district because they are valuable contributions.
“He’s overseen us purchasing houses to put anyone who presents to us as homeless rather than ending sup in hotel or temporary accommodation, and he introduced the community lottery which is helping good causes have extra money to support people.
“Cllr Yeates also introduced the grant scheme which has seen us as ward members able to help groups in our areas.”
Cllr Iain Eadie, Lichfield District Council
What a load of rubbish.
He resigned because he oversaw a fiasco and it went public.
The ‘behind closed doors because of contracts’ meeting obviously meant his position was then untenable for the Tory-led council.
We of course can only speculate because of secret contractual obligations, however my opinion is this bin idiocy was driven by cost cutting and the council’s ability to do it was enabled by dubious negotiations with ‘mates’ and taking no account of the taxpayer needs. The metrics are obviously mad, that most recyclables are non-paper/card.
This guy is surely in the job of being a Cllr for kudos & self- business purposes and not for any of us.
It’s as though this Tory council like to rub salt in wounds and wind up the people of Lichfield and the surrounding areas. They have learned well from their hero Fabricant. By stating what they have, and being completely blind and ignorant to the voices of those who put them there, they merely fit into the typical Tory stereotype that has been thrown around for years.
With no apology to the tax-payers of Lichfield and residents of the other three councils who bought into this crazy scheme. Typical!
Me thinks he didn’t so much fall on his sword but he was pushed into it! If thats the case, then should another resignation letter be gratefully received from the Head of Operational Services who actually signed the whole fiasco off ?
Next thing he’ll be after a medal ?
Good riddance to another incompetent person, now who’s next to go ?
Eadie very quick to accept his resignation. What happened to “the buck stops with me”? Eadie and Pullen should both resign if they had any shred of integrity.
Heres a thought are self employed people/business owners able to send invoices into the council for any time they spend doing their job and separating waste materials?
Integrity my A$&e….
An insult to our intelligence.
They have no idea the quality of being honest and having moral principles.
Hypocrites all of them. .. sack the lot of them
Cllr Eadie. Did Cllr Little show integrity when she resigned?
“As a cabinet group it’s important to be together, but for one particular member this doesn’t happen.
“I have concerns with the Local Plan, for example, where we are allowing houses to be built for other areas to meet their housing allocations and we are not pushing back on it at all.
“The housing issue is one that we might not ultimately win if we do push back, but at least residents would see that we tried to fight for them – we shouldn’t just be rolling over and having our tummy tickled.
“It’s a battle I’ve tried to fight from within the cabinet group, but now I feel I might be better trying to fight it from the back benches.
“We need to go back to doing what we promised when we were elected.”
Cllr Liz Little, Lichfield District Council
https://lichfieldlive.co.uk/2021/09/27/councillor-reveals-why-she-decided-to-resign-from-cabinet-at-lichfield-district-council/
I wonder who she was talking about.
Wow! ‘Integrity’ in the Tory Party!
As I just read on Twitter: “It is not the wrong doing that gets you in the end: it is the LYING.”
And who said that? Non other than Michael Fabricant – a man who knows all about lying …
The Tories wouldn’t know integrity if they fell over it. See Mr Fabo has been at it again tweeting derogatory remarks about Angela Rayner not smiling. Who can blame her when she’s sat opposite a load of liars. Has this man got nothing better to do? It’s a pity he doesn’t engage more with his constituents.
Clare Sholl – A Tory’s relationship to integrity is like a labrador’s to string theory.
Mmmmm not a great track record if I may say so
https://lichfieldlive.co.uk/2021/05/17/controversial-plan-to-pay-micro-grant-funding-into-personal-bank-accounts-of-councillors-set-to-be-scrapped/
It’s blatantly obvious that many of the comments before this one are driven by political alliances, so let’s stick to the issue in hand.
The roll out of the scheme can be described as poor at best, then the size of the bag fiasco, now the threats of being banned from collections if you get these complex rules wrong. That is not how to introduce change. Its about communication, engagement and support as most private sector managers will know. Will they be doing a customer survey in few weeks time? I sincerely hope so!
Please don’t rant at the binmen, they are o ly doing the job they have been told to do.
Can they really ban you from collections? I thought it was a statutory obligation on the council.