Environment Select
Monday evening saw a meeting of the environment select committee which
considered reports on the binnovation scheme, rural refuse rounds, taxi
issues and a progress report on the public toilet programme.
With regards to the rural refuse rounds members were advised that the
approach been followed in reviewing the collections in the central and south
of the borough includes the lesion learnt from doing a similar exercise in
Glossop at the start of the binnovation scheme – this however will not be
much comfort for some of the residents in Glossopdale who still feel badly
treated by the process.
The original spur for the report on taxi issues was around whether with
existing restrictions, the council has available enough licences for hackney
carriages (ie taxi's you get from a taxi rank).
The answer to that was yes however the consultants that produced the report
also considered issues around taxi ranks and driver qualification to which
there was strong support from Glossop councillor Jacqui Wilkinson for a full
time taxi rank on Henry Street rather than the current evening's only
arrangement.
On the issue of qualifications for taxi drivers, there was general support
for new and existing drivers to undertake some form of 'BTEC' style
qualification with officers now going back to consider the various options
of qualification available, along with tie-ins to a local knowledge style
test.