Councils’ dilemma over rubbish firm

Continued from front page

Borough Council’s Cabinet member for for Environment, Sustainability and Carbon Reduction said:

“The £150,000 is part of a one-off joint payment with our waste contract partners at TMBC.

“Both TMBC and TWBC are facilitating this investment in a new fleet of bin lorries to introduce new practices and efficiencies for our waste collection service.

“The new vehicles allow the opportunity to use HVO fuels that lower emissions and offer new opportunities to reduce the carbon footprint of waste collection rounds.”

Changes

In 2018, Urbaser was awarded an eight-year contract worth £3million with TMBC and TWBC and started service in March 2019 but has since struggled to fulfill requirements.

In response to ‘exceptional circumstances’ in the HGV driver market last year, as driver shortages hit multiple industry sectors, the two councils agreed to paying Urbaser £29,350 monthly – totalling £146,750 – until March 31, 2023.

The payments will raise the salaries of Urbaser’s HGV drivers from £13 per hour to £18 per hour, with the aim of retaining staff.

These additional payments are on top of a £100,000 bail out from TWBC in March 2022 to hire more drivers.

This happened after thousands of collections were not completed and the garden waste collection was suspended.

Urbaser initially asked for payments towards driver salaries to continue until the end of the contract in 2027, but with a 16.3 per cent increase to Urbaser’s overall contract to be introduced in April 2023, TWBC concluded that it is ‘the councils’ view that this level of indexation [price adjustment] takes into account the increased wage costs.’

Both areas of spending will be financed from Tunbridge Well’s 2023/4 budget and must be approved by the full Cabinet at a meeting on February 9.

The new fleet of vehicles is expected to improve the service by introducing separate vehicles for food waste and both recycling and refuse collection, as currently all household waste is collected in the same vehicle.

Costs

Yet Urbaser’s request to enter the eight-year lease will extend beyond the end of their contract in April 2027 after which the council or new provider will become responsible for the vehicles until at least 2031.

If approved, the new fleet will be introduced in June and July 2023.

Piers Montague, Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Technical and Waste Services, said: “We’re determined to make our waste collection service both more reliable and more efficient.

“The changes being proposed will mean crews can focus on particular types of collection using modern, cleaner trucks and I’m confident residents we’ll see improvements as a result.

“If there are changes required to anyone’s collection day, we will ensure information is communicated to the those affected in good time.”

Urbaser has been approached for comment.

NEWS IN BRIEF Weston wins skeleton world champion title

ATHLETE Matt Weston has made it to the top, with a World Championship place in the skeleton, Britain’s first for eight years, and the first for a British man since 2008.

The Crowborough man won gold last week in St Moritz, Switzerland, after gaining the European championship title in Altenberg, Germany, the previous week.

The 25-year-old former rugby player and taekwon-do practitioner said: “This means so much to me after what has been a tough year.

“This season has been amazing and I am so pleased that I could produce my best performance when It really counted.” British Olympics organisation Team GB congratulated him on his performance, saying: “Matt Weston is the first British man to become World skeleton champion in 15 years!

Commuters prepare for rail strikes this week

INDUSTRIAL action by the ASLEF (train drivers’) and RMT (transport) unions will stop all Southeastern train services today (February 1) and this Friday (February 3).

Southeastern Trains has confirmed that even if strike action is called off at short notice, ‘we may not be able to switch back to our normal timetable immediately’.

The train operator explained: “Rail services are built in complex, interrelated IT systems covering fleet, crew schedules and rosters and so it takes some time to get everything back into place.”

Southeastern said it would be running a normal service on non-strike days.

Musicians band together for this summer’s popular Pub in the Park event

THE first wave of bands and chefs from this summer’s Pub in the Park have been confirmed, with world-famous headliners committing to support the musical foodie festival in Dunorlan Park this July.

Bands from Badly Drawn Boy, McFly and Sister Sledge will hold sway on the musical stages, while top chefs entertain the hungrier festivalgoers.

Pub in the Park confirmed chef and television presenter Andi Oliver, Saturday Kitchen’s superstar Matt Tebbutt, and the Hairy Bikers’ Si King as hosts for the weekend.

Local restaurants The Hand & Flowers, Sankey’s, The Kentish Hare and Tapas Brindisa have also confirmed.

The event is the brainchild of TV chef Tom Kerridge who started Pub in the Park in his hometown of Marlow, Buckinghamshire in 2017.

New editor at Times

LAST week saw the departure of Richard Williams who for the last year has been editor of the Times of Tunbridge Wells.

He is taking up a new role on a leading newspaper in his home town of Birmingham where he will relocate with his family.

The new editor of the Times is Richard Moore, who helped launch the paper nearly eight years ago and served as editorial director until he stepped down in December 2021.