To respond to general scrutiny committee recommendations following the call in of the decision to make changes to the free charity shop waste disposal service.

The decision to amend the policy on charity shop waste disposal was called in in accordance with the scrutiny procedure rules, and considered by the General Scrutiny Committee on 1 December 2017.

The committee came to the view that the decision had been taken on insufficient evidence, that not all relevant matters had been taken into consideration and that the decision taken was disproportionate to the desired outcome. The committee referred the matter back to the cabinet member requesting that he reconsider the decision having regard to the specific factors set out in paragraph 4 of the report below. 

That:

(a)         having regard to the views of General Scrutiny Committee the original decision be confirmed as the charity shop waste disposal policy (attached at appendix 1)incorporating changes to limit the number of free deposits each charity shop organisation can make per year to between 12 and 48 in number, be approved, to be effective from 1 April 2018; and

(b)        allocated permits be issued to registered charity shops quarterly or bi-annually on a pro rata basis or annually where doing so helps reduce the council’s or the charity’s administration costs; and

(c)   The council work in partnership with charity shops to promote use of charity shop services by Herefordshire residents and to reduce the amount of waste charity shops produce. 

To amend the proposed policy. This is not recommended because the proposed changes set a reasonable level of support to charity shops that is affordable.to the council. Responses to recommendations relating to administration, enforcement and partnership working are included in this report.