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News and Comment February 2024

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9 February (Part 2) - More ‘Places’

It appears to be mandatory that politicians must bow down to the God of Climate Change occasionally and Bexley Council is no different. It has already made a Climate Change Statement but in practice the only influence it has is to recycle as effectively as it can. In that, as we know, they have one of the better track records despite being blown off course in recent years by strikes.

Progress has been made towards giving flats better access to the food waste collection service and Councillor Lucia-Hennis (Conservative, Crayford) said that food recycling has gone from 30% to 42% in less than a year. She was corrected, it is now 45% and the improvement is due to “engagement with residents and managing agents”. The importance of recycling is a planning consideration too. Expect to read more on this subject in the forthcoming Bexley Magazine.

Cabinet Member Richard Diment alluded to his well known ‘recycling costs a lot of money’ theme without going through the actual numbers again.

Councillor Sally Hinkley (Labour, Belvedere) referred to the brown box supply problems brought to her attention by one of her residents and BiB. It was confirmed that a new box supplier had provided adequate stock.

Councillor Cameron Smith (Conservative, St. Mary’s & St. James) correctly said that there was little Bexley Council could do about transport or domestic heating so it was sensible to concentrate on areas where it could have an impact - like recycling and EV chargers which encourages the switch from fossil fuels to clean electricity. It is more difficult to get owner occupiers (the majority of housing in Bexley) to decarbonise than it is in boroughs with a much larger proportion of social housing.

Cameron said that the government had given quite a lot of incentive to householders to decarbonise via grants and the removal of VAT and thought Bexley Council should be doing its bit by providing some publicity for it.

Councillor Davey (Conservative, West Heath) said that it is often best to reduce consumption and that may impact recycling rates. He has given up The Daily Telegraph because it is too expensive. Join the club John. He asked when we are going to see the post-ULEZ air quality data. He predicted we will see minimal difference.

Cabinet Member Diment said that Bexley is currently the fourth best recycler in London but the only borough at the top of the table which is still on the increase. Watch out Bromley which has plateaued and still behind what Bexley was pre-strike.

No one answered Councillor Davey’s ULEZ question and he wasn’t going to let anyone get away with it. Unfortunately no one knew the answer but it was confirmed that Bexley has reached the air quality requirements every year since 2019 when measurements began.

 

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