Councillors accused of “voting to go home for their tea” instead of discussing bin collection changes

A GROUP of Flintshire councillors have accused colleagues of “voting to go home for their tea” rather than discuss controversial changes to bin collections.
A motion calling on Flintshire Council’s ruling Labour-independent coalition to scrap the planned introduction of three weekly black bin collections was due to be discussed at a full council meeting yesterday (Tuesday, 24 September).
However, the meeting at County Hall in Mold was closed just before the motion was due to be debated, meaning it will not be heard until a later date.
It came after a rule which states that full council meetings should normally finish by 5pm, unless the chair decides otherwise, was highlighted by Labour cabinet member Paul Johnson.
The meeting began at 1pm and had continued for four hours by the time it was ended.
Flintshire People’s Voice (FPV) councillor Alasdair Ibbotson, who submitted the motion on bin collections, asked for the rule to be suspended to allow the discussion to go ahead.
His request was defeated, with only seven councillors from FPV and the Liberal Democrats voting to allow the meeting to continue, while Labour and independent members voted against.
FPV group leader Sam Swash accused them of ignoring the views of residents amid widespread opposition to the change in the frequency of collections.
The Hawarden and Mancot representative said: “Flintshire residents overwhelmingly oppose the council’s plans to abolish fortnightly bin collections.
“It’s disgusting that Labour and independent councillors chose to ignore them, voting to go home for their tea instead of finishing the meeting.
“Councillors get paid to do a job. It shouldn’t be too much to expect that they do that job rather than walking out and ignoring the issues residents care about. The coalition should be ashamed of their behaviour.”
Two other FPV motions on recognising merchant navy members and winter fuel payment cuts were debated earlier in the meeting.
The views of Cllr Swash were echoed by Liberal Democrat group leader Andrew Parkhurst.
He said: “I’m stunned that instead of discussing how the reduced black bin collections will impact residents, Labour councillors, supported by most of the independent councillors, voted to knock off at 5pm.
“It seems Labour and most of the independents think that democracy only puts in a shift until teatime.”
Flintshire County Council has been contacted for comment.

By Liam Randall – Local Democracy Reporter