Plans to close the household waste and recycling centre in Burntwood are being fought by a former county councillor.
Steve Norman – who is now a district councillor – is tackling Staffordshire County Council over the proposed closure of the site which he describes as “arrogant”.
A date of July 5 has been pencilled in for the site’s closure, but Cllr Norman (Lab, Summerfield) is calling on residents to put pressure on the county council.
He said:
” I have made numerous telephone calls and a number email exchanges with various county officials over the last 24 hours and have now got them to accept that the Cabinet member responsible for recycling centres [Robert Marshall] did not have the power to close the site in the way that he did.
“They accept that he has got to get support of the Cabinet or make a delegated decision. Either way they can be called in for examination by the main scrutiny committee if enough members ask for it. Only four members of the Regeneration and Infrastructure Scrutiny Committee or eight members of the council to call it in to get proper scrutiny at the main committee.
“It is important that residents lobby the local county councillors for Burntwood and Hammerwich along with Labour’s representatives in order to get the eight needed to call in the decision. The Councillors for Burntwood and Hammerwich are, Erica Bayliss, Janet Eagland, Frank Lewis, Steve Tranter and Paul Atkins. If they are joined by Labour’s Peter Beresford, Peter Davies and Derek Davis then it can be called in. Their email links are on the County Council’s website.”
Cllr Norman has warned of the consequences if residents don’t put pressure on their county councillors to save the tip – a task achieved my Cllr Norman and his then county council colleague Eric Drinkwater ten years ago when it was listed for closure.
He explained:
“If this doesn’t happen then this arrogant decision to close the site without any consultation or justification will go ahead on July 5. However, even if the decision is rejected by the Scrutiny Committee the original decision could still be carried out by the ruling Conservative Administration.”
An e-petition, started by Cllr Norman, is available to sign on the Staffordshire County Council web site.
