Further to the article published on this Site on 10th February, the following is a reply email from the Waste Operations Group Manager, Surrey County Council to an email sent by one of our members:

As you will probably be aware , Surrey County Council makes policy and then we ask SITA to implement it and therefore I think your mail is more for me to answer that SITA. SITA's employees are working under the instruction of Surrey County Council in this respect. 

Firstly I would like to clarify that Surrey householders may bring their own household waste to the Community Recycling Centre free of charge. There is no restriction on the amount that you can bring or how it is transported. The waste will be accepted whether it is in a car, van or trailer, although residents bringing waste to the site in vans or trailers will need to obtain a permit from the county council. Therefore in the context of your e-mail below, residents may bring as many bags of leaves from their homes as they like as leaves are considered to be household waste. There are however certain types of waste that don’t fall within the definition of household waste. Waste produced by construction and DIY projects in the home including improvements, alterations or repairs and from excavations, are classified as industrial waste and the county council is not obliged to accept these materials free of charge. Examples of these types of waste include kitchen and bathroom fittings, doors, windows, timber, fencing and sheds, rubble, soil, paving slabs and plaster.

Anyone wishing to dispose of these types of materials, whether a householder or a trader, must pay the appropriate charge and this can only be done at a transfer station where facilities exist to weigh the waste and apply the appropriate charge. 

To assist the public with small amounts of this type of waste, Surrey County Council has , for the past 20 years, adopted a policy that allows householders to bring small amounts of construction waste in their car, free of charge.  Over the past few years the quantity of construction and DIY waste that is brought to our sites has increased significantly, and we have also identified that traders are using large cars to transport this waste to avoid payment. The council can no longer bear the cost of dealing with this waste and in April 2016 we will introduce charges for certain types of construction waste even if brought in a car. 

Prior to the introduction of these changes we have tried to better define what constitutes a ‘small’ amount of construction waste in order to make things clearer for both the residents and site staff. 

We published information on our website which advised residents that we would consider ‘small’ amounts to be that, which would fit within the boot of a car with the seats up and we asked our contractors staff to communicate this to residents at the recycling centres. 

Having listened to our residents we realise that we did not give enough prior notice of this definition before implementation and therefore we have instructed our contractor to relax these restrictions until we have undertaken further communication with our residents. We will  provide further information in March 2016 on the charges that will be applied for this type of waste from April. 

I hope this clarifies the situation

Regards

Richard

Richard Parkinson
Waste Operations Group Manager, Environment Service, Surrey County Council

Advertising Positions Vacant is not usually part of this Site's function. However, we are pleased to assist Lower Sunbury's premier local attraction at the Walled Garden which is a registered charity.

Part time assistant wanted for our gallery cafe. Lunchtimes plus some additional hours and occasional weekends. Must be friendly, flexible and hard working.

Call Carole 01932 788101

The threat to our public libraries has received a great deal of press coverage over the last couple of years. This is not surprising given the constraints placed upon the County Council finances. We have recently been consulted on our bus routes which is certain to result in reduced services within Surrey. The Council is now embarking on a a survey of library users which can be completed online at www.surveymonkey.com/s/surreylibraries

If you or your dependents enjoy the facilities offered by your local library please take a few minutes to respond to the survey. It's only a guess but If it cannot be demonstrated that the service is valued it may be at risk of closure.

The Leaders of Spelthorne Borough Council and Slough Borough Council have sent the following letter to The Times newspaper to express their support for a third runway at Heathrow:

Dear Sir,

Further to the article "Tory councils prepare to sue over Heathrow runway" (3 March 2016), we are writing to you as Leaders of Councils neighbouring the airport that support a third runway.

After three years of expert analysis and at cost of £20m to the taxpayer, the independent Airports Commission made a unanimous and unequivocal recommendation to the Government that Heathrow should be expanded. The Commission looked closely at local environmental impacts and concluded that these could be adequately mitigated.

Following several years of consultation and engagement with local people and Local Authorities, the plans that Heathrow are proposing are radically different to those rejected by the Prime Minister in 2010. The Prime Minister's comments rejecting the original plans at that time are irrelevant to the current proposals.

We are the Leaders of Councils representing tens of thousands of residents who live next to Heathrow, many of whom, as in other surrounding Boroughs, are reliant on the proximity to the airport for work. We will continue to encourage the airport to do more to reduce its impacts but we support the skills, employment and community benefits that Heathrow expansion would bring to our Boroughs.

Yours

Councillor Ian Harvey, Leader, Spelthorne Borough Council
Councillor Rob Anderson, Leader, Slough Borough Council

A number of public drop-in events, including Sunbury on 15th March, are being held by the River Thames Scheme to allow residents to have their say and view options for the weirs. Experts will also be at hand to answer questions.

To view the drop-in programme, click here

Are you aged 7-16? Interested in trying a new sport?

Then why not come along to the Team Spelthorne P&G Surrey Youth Games free training sessions.

The P&G Surrey Youth Games, sponsored by Procter & Gamble, is the largest annual youth sports festival in Surrey. The aim of the games is to provide opportunities for young people to try new sports. Over 2000 young people, aged 7 to 16, will experience a competitive, countywide sporting event when they take part in the games on Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 June 2016.

In preparation for the competition weekend, Spelthorne Borough Council is holding between 4 and 8 weeks of coaching for each sport, which will begin in April/May. The training sessions are free of charge which offers young people a fantastic opportunity to try a new sport or improve on existing skills. At last year’s Games, Spelthorne coached over 400 children, entered 29 teams and won 10 medals.

There are a wide variety of sports on offer, including badminton, boccia (disability sport), boxing, girls’ cricket, girls’ football, hockey, judo, lacrosse, netball, squash, swimming, table tennis, girls’ touch-rugby, tennis and touch tennis. All sessions will be led by qualified coaches and, from the coaching sessions, teams will be chosen to compete in the games at Surrey Sports Park in Guildford.

To be eligible for Team Spelthorne you must either live or go to school in Spelthorne and if you already play a sport, you must be below county standard.

Full details for the coaching sessions, age ranges and full eligibility can be found on the website. You must register in advance of the sessions which can be done online at www.spelthorne.gov.uk/surreyyouthgames. Bookings open on Wednesday 2 March.

For more information, contact Leisure Services on 01784 446433 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.