At Richmond Council’s budget-setting meeting this week, the Green Party Leader of the Opposition, Councillor Andrée Frieze, pointed out that big Council-funded projects such as Twickenham Riverside are falling behind schedule. She warned the Liberal Democrat administration that they may end up “lamenting missed opportunities” unless they find out the source of the delays. The Twickenham Riverside development is one of several projects that have been in the pipeline for several years without significant progress.
Cllr Frieze also took the opportunity in her speech to express solidarity with the people of Ukraine, who she described as “being let down by the Government of the country that should be their staunchest ally against Putin’s Russia.”
Waste disposal charges will increase – Greens’ proposal rejected
Richmond Council has seen major increases in its waste disposal costs: more household waste is being collected than a year ago and less is being recycled. What’s more, waste disposal costs will increase in coming years due to the fact that our waste is sent for incineration. A levy on the harmful emissions from incineration will be introduced in 2027, which means Richmond Council will be subject to fines of around £3 million per year unless our waste can be reduced significantly.
Green Party councillors pointed out that serious action needs to be taken to deal with this upcoming problem and proposed fortnightly residual (non-recyclable) waste collection alongside continuing weekly collections of recyclables and food waste. The proposal included improvements to residual waste, recycling and food waste services that would come at no cost to residents – they would be funded by a Waste Reserve which has ample funding for this purpose. However, the proposal was rejected.
Green Party councillor Chas Warlow commented: “The Council’s net-zero emissions and net-zero waste targets are ambitious – and rightly so – but they risk being labelled as pie in the sky by critics who wonder where the money is coming from to achieve them. The Green Party Group on Richmond Council have identified a ring-fenced source of funding for reducing our waste disposal costs – why isn’t the Council using this money now rather than waiting for costs to rise sky-high?”
The Greens also pointed out the weaknesses in the Council’s current Council Tax Reduction system – the Council is currently taking legal action to claim Council Tax arrears from the borough’s most vulnerable residents even in cases where residents are in very dire situations.
Councillor Niki Crookdake argued passionately in favour of providing more staff time to avoid the distress caused to residents by these claims, as well as the cost to the Council of taking legal action only to find that the resident then has money deducted from their benefits and slips into greater need. “This is a vicious circle that leaves no one better off – it would be far better to invest in our services in order to save money, time and avoid considerable distress,” said Councillor Crookdake.
