Halifax<\/a>, Elland, Sowerby Bridge and Todmorden \u2013 had each been closed for one or two days a week to save costs, a move agreed by the previous Labour administration to help balance the budget.\n<\/p>\n\n The partial closures were agreed as an alternative to closing one of the centres \u2013 Elland \u2013 completely.\n<\/p>\n
\n But the decision was controversial and will be reversed, says the new Cabinet.\n<\/p>\n
\n Senior councillors said this had been agreed as part of Calderdale Council\u2019s long-planned transition of waste services \u2013 on August 1 a new company in which the council is a partner, Calderdale Norse Ltd takes over the waste contract from current operator Suez.\n<\/p>\n
\n Cabinet member for Public Services, Coun Peter Hunt, said: \u201cOne of the most frequent complaints we\u2019ve heard from residents is that the tips aren\u2019t open at convenient times, and I understand their frustration.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThat\u2019s why I am delighted by the announcement at Cabinet that all the waste and recycling centres will be returning to seven-day openings at no cost additional to Council Tax payers.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe changes will be introduced by the end of the year and ahead of the Christmas and New Year period, which we know are one of the busiest times \u2013 keep an eye on our website for the latest information.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Describing the decision as \u201cChristmas will be coming earlier this year\u201d, Leader of the Council Coun Dan Sutherland said the change had been enabled by his administration\u2019s close look at the agreement.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThat deep dive that we\u2019ve done into this partnership has allowed us to accrue some additional benefits that were previously missed that will be a massive and welcome benefit to people across Calderdale,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n Coun Sutherland (Reform UK, Illingworth and Mixenden) added: \u201cVery exciting news that by Christmas the household waste recycling centres \u2013 or tips as they\u2019re more commonly known \u2013 will be back open full-time again, something people have been calling for for a very long time \u2013 what a big win.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Coun Hunt (Reform UK, Elland) said the report on transition of the services \u2013 Cabinet members heard the contract is the biggest the council gives out \u2013 confirmed mobilisation was progressing well across fleet, staffing, IT, legal and operational aspects ahead of August 1.\n<\/p>\n
\n He said 168 staff are expected to transfer to the new company and residents should see little immediate change to service delivery.\n<\/p>\n
\n The aim has long been for a smooth and steady initial change from one operator to another.\n<\/p>\n
\n But people will see new fleet vehicles \u2013 \u00a310 million of investment \u2013 and uniforms, said Coun Hunt.\n<\/p>\n
\n The council has a 20 per cent shareholding in the new company and scrutiny councillors recently heard the council has representation on the board and a key oversight role, points reiterated by Coun Hunt.\n<\/p>\n
\n Norse, which is owned by Norfolk County Council, describes itself as the UK\u2019s largest local authority trading company, providing waste collection, recycling and wider environmental services to councils through long\u2011term joint ventures and partnerships.\n<\/p>\n
\n With almost 40 years of experience under its belt, Norse representatives told the scrutiny councillors it offers a mix of commercial expertise but with public service ethos.\n<\/p>\n
\n After a gradual start, the aim is Calderdale Norse Ltd will also have an eye on future commercial opportunities which could realise profits for the partnership, councillors\u00a0heard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"And it will be at no extra cost to the taxpayer, says the council\u2019s ruling Reform UK group…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":694273,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-694272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=694272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/694273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}