A Histon couple are fighting a fly tipping allegation after an envelope with their address on was found in a pile of dumped bin bags. Jo Franklin, end of life support worker for the charity HI Friends, and her husband Andrew, are cooperating fully with the Cambridge City Council investigation.
“Anyone could find themselves in this situation,” Jo warns, “the experience so far has been very stressful.”
‘Not our rubbish…’
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The Council claims an envelope with the Franklins’ name and address on it was found in a pile of household waste in bin bags dumped in Barnwell Road, Cambridge – six miles from their home. The rubbish had been placed next to large industrial bins.
Inspecting the photographic evidence sent to them, Jo says the envelope appears to be from a Christmas card and their house number was crossed out and corrected on it. She says they do not use any of the household products photographed from the bin bags. They had never previously been to the location but visited after receiving the letter from the enforcement officer.
Jo, who has previously helped on litter picks in the village, said: “I know this is not our rubbish and we did not do this. We are now going through the motions to prove our innocence; but I’m still worried despite the fact I know we have done nothing wrong.
“This could happen to anybody and I feel it’s important to warn the community. All it takes is one item with someone’s name and address being found in the wrong place.”
She added: “We shred and rip up anything with our personal details on and then put it in the recycling. But this shows none of us have control over what happens outside our own homes.”
Households ‘duty of care’
Cambridge City Council’s letter to the couple dated 11 February explained householders “have a duty of care under the Environmental Protection Act 1990” to ensure their waste is disposed of “in an appropriate manner and with a registered waste carrier”.
“Any breach of the duty or fly tipping is a serious criminal offence,” the letter states.
It later explains: “In this case, the evidence […] obtained so far suggests that you may have had some involvement in the matter, therefore please find enclosed with this letter a notice containing questions relating to the waste that was found.”
Next steps
Jo and Andrew were offered a number of options and have chosen to be interviewed under caution to help the Council with its enquiries. At time of writing, they were waiting to hear back on a date. They have also been liaising with councillors in Barnwell and in the village – and say H&I Parish Council has been “very supportive”.
A spokesperson for Cambridge City Council said: “As part of our standard investigative process, individuals linked to evidence found in fly tipped waste may be invited to provide an explanation, either in writing or through an interview under caution.
“The council is committed to tackling fly tipping, which is a serious environmental crime.”
A new contract to process recycling collected from Histon & Impington’s blue bins will mean their contents being initially sent to Northern Ireland for sorting, instead of Waterbeach.
The contract, which begins this month, has been awarded to the company Re-Gen. Their Materials Recycling Facility features specialist machinery and is considered to be one of Europe’s most advanced, running on 100% renewable energy.
South Cambridgeshire District Council (SCDC) and Cambridge City Council – which share the Greater Cambridge Shared Waste Partnership – claim the new Recycling Facility will be able to correctly sort and recycle 19% more material than previously possible.
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There will be no changes to what goes into blue bins, but 99% of of all recyclable material will now be processed, including very small fragments which are currently difficult to sort and can end up as waste.
Cllr Rosy Moore, Executive Councillor for Climate Action and Environment at Cambridge City Council, said: “The good news is that by working with a modern Material Recycling Facility, we are going to be able to guarantee an even higher proportion of what’s collected can be re-processed into even higher quality materials.”
Long-distance logistics
In recent years, Greater Cambridge residents’ blue bin recycling has been sorted at a Recycling Facility off the A10 at Waterbeach. But Thalia, that contractor, warned its customers that the facility requires a major upgrade to meet current processing requirements. Therefore, it was deemed unsuitable for any further work.
However, questions have been raised about the fact the Re-Gen Recycling Facility is based in Newry, Northern Ireland. This is initially where the blue bin recycling will be taken for sorting, though the company claims it will take over a facility in the UK mainland in the first half of this year.
Re-Gen Chief Executive, Joseph Doherty said: “Re-Gen operate our own haulage fleet and logistics service. Our fleet are already travelling from Newry, Northern Ireland to England with materials and products.
“Therefore, the collection of recyclables from Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council will take advantage of back haul arrangements, ensuring that HGVs already on the road do not return to Newry empty.”
Council discussions
Recycling was raised for five minutes at an SCDC Cabinet Meeting held in June of last year, where it was noted that costs were increasing. The decision to approve a new solution was delegated to the Head of Finance providing the spend was not above £120 per tonne.
The final contract is estimated to cost just under £2.34m and will be split across the two councils.
When Cambridge City Council councillors discussed the new contract proposal at an environment and community scrutiny committee meeting in January, questions were raised about transporting the waste to Northern Ireland and the challenges around the procurement process were explained to them.
Liberal Democrat City Councillor, Olaf Hauk, asked for the new contract to be deferred until “critical data” on the environmental impact was available for public scrutiny, but the amendment did not gain enough support to pass.
He said: “We are told the new contract will increase efficiency from 80 to 99% and most recycled materials will be sold on the UK market and this is encouraging.
“However, residents are rightly questioning the environmental and logistical impact of transporting waste over 400 miles from Waterbeach to Northern Ireland, a journey crossing the Irish Sea.
“You could hardly find a spot further away from Waterbeach within the UK.”
Cllr Moore explained at the meeting a lot of work had gone into finding the best option and she said the new contract was the “best option in these circumstances”.
She said she was “more than happy” to report back in six months or a year with data showing the impact and “totally disagreed” that there had been a lack of consideration about the carbon footprint.
Additional reporting from Hannah Brown, of the Local Democracy Reporting service.
The biggest shakeup of local government in a generation could mean the District/City boundary between Histon & Impington and Cambridge being removed, and South Cambridgeshire District Council, Cambridge City Council and Cambridgeshire County Council all being dissolved.
Devolution
A Government white paper published before Christmas revealed ambitious plans that would see a “transfer of power out of Westminster” to elected Mayors and other strategic authorities.
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As Cambridgeshire and Peterborough already have a democratically elected Mayor leading the Combined Authority, they will potentially be handed more responsibilities.
The Government says the transition in Cambridgeshire should be complete by April 2028, and Jim McMahon, the Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution who is leading the re-structure, has now written to seven Cambridgeshire councils formally inviting them to work together and explore devolution options.
They have until the middle of next month to come up with a framework for delivering all public services from fewer unitary authorities, rather than the current two-tier system of district and county councils.
Ministers say this will deliver “simpler, more sustainable, local government structures” that will “increase value for money for council taxpayers”.
For residents, once the devolution transition is complete it could end confusion about which Council is responsible for which services.
Currently problems with bin collections, for example, must be reported to South Cambs District Council, while other services, such as roads, are among the County Council’s responsibilities.
500,000 is the magic number
The Government is recommending that each unitary authority should cover a population of around 500,000 “to achieve efficiencies, improve capacity and withstand financial shocks”. But it has accepted there may be exceptions.
A natural partnership would be between South Cambridgeshire District Council and Cambridge City Council, who already share services such as waste and planning. As one councillor explained, the shape of the geographic area covered would go “from being a ring donut to a jam-filled one”.
South Cambridgeshire District Council headquarters. Photo: SCDC
However, the population of the City and District Councils combined would only cover a population of 300,000 – nowhere close to the 500,000 recommendation.
Other options, such as bringing neighbouring East Cambridgeshire District Council or Huntingdonshire District Council into the fold, are likely to be considered. But there is a chance these councils would feel better aligned with their other neighbours.
Is now the right time?
Speaking before councils received their invitation to start their devolution discussions, County Councillor Ros Hathorn questioned whether now the right time is to announce and “force through” the biggest changes in local government in 50 years. When she spoke to HI HUB, the County Council was in the throes of budget setting and had confirmed local elections will still be held in May.
She said: “If I had a five year term like the Labour government do, the last thing I would do is essentially land a bomb in the whole of local government right now. This is what is happening here with devolution…
“I appreciate there is a strong argument for forming unitary councils. But the way it is being done, the way it is being forced through, and the notion it is going to save lots of money I think will be demonstrated as being utterly naive.
“There is no time to go out to public consultation and absolutely no time to do this democratically. If you want to do something like this properly, you do it by consultation and you do it with evidence. You don’t just allow council leaders and chief executives to handle something as important as this.”
Councillor workload
Another of Ros’s concern is that councillors could have a larger area to cover and would be representing more residents. She said: “There’s going to be fewer councillors and these individuals will be less connected to their areas as they’re going to have bigger patches to cover and greater responsibilities.
“What people should be worried about is that in the unitary authority there’s going to be so much work that councillors are not going to be able to do other jobs. They’ll basically have to become full time councillors and there is a risk you will lose diversity among the people elected.”
Martin Cahn, a South Cambridgeshire District Councillor representing H&I, commented he feels there are “so many unknowns” when it comes to the Government’s vision for devolution. Speaking at the same time as Ros, he said: “The Government is telling us this process is going to be voluntary, but there’s a feeling this is actually more ‘compulsory voluntary’.”
He also pointed out that Cambridge City Council does not have any Parish Councils, and questioned whether some form of local authority will need to be created at this level of local government too: “If we have one unitary authority, should there be a Parish Council covering the city?
“Will they want to reorganise the parishes around the edge where there are new developments? For example, Darwin Green, Trumpington, Eddington etc. – should there be some kind of co-ordination across these areas?”
He added: “I see the logic in devolution, but how it will work is another matter…”
Potential obstacles
Cllr Bridget Smith, the leader of South Cambridgeshire District Council, outlined a potential predicament related to years of work on the Local Plan – the long-term strategy for future developments that all councils have to deliver and spend years working towards.
She told a select committee last month: “I have been working on a Local Plan jointly with Cambridge City Council for six years now and it has cost millions to get this far. If I unitarise [with the Cambridge City Council], our local [population] numbers would be somewhere over 300,000.
“If I am forced to include another council to get me up to 500,000, I will have to throw that local plan in the bin and start all over again. That will have serious impacts on this Government’s aspirations for growth in one of the key areas for bio-med and knowledge intensive industries because there won’t be a Local Plan, and I will have to start all over again on a call for sites…
“… So there are unforeseen or unintended consequences to some of this, which I really hope the Government is going to listen to.” While she accepted the Government wants to move forward with plans to reorganise local government, Cllr Smith said she wanted to fight for the cause of “smaller unitaries”. These, she feels, would “maintain connection to local places” which is important when considering new planning developments.
Tight timeline
The Government is already moving ahead with its devolution timeline. Neighbouring Norfolk County Council and Suffolk County Council are among the local authorities to have already agreed to join the Devolution Priority Programme.
The Cambridgeshire councils have been given until March 21 to submit their interim plan or plans to the Government for review. Following feedback, full proposals are to be submitted by November 28 of this year.
While other local authorities have decided to postpone elections this May, Cambridgeshire County Council has confirmed theirs will still go ahead on May 1, 2025. Voters will also take to the polls on the same day for the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayoral election.
Elections for the shadow authorities that are created are proposed to take place in Spring 2027, with the vesting day for new unitary councils a year later.
Additional reporting by Hannah Brown at the Local Democracy Reporting Service
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