Since the start of the closures, KCC has been supporting a range of collection activities by District and Borough Councils, and we have given priority to sustaining and extending the capacity of our Waste Transfer Stations, which accept trade waste and that from District and Borough kerbside collections, playing a vital role in supporting them.
Nonetheless, we have set out for some time that we intend to reopen HWRCs as soon as it is safe and feasible to do so. Susan Carey (Cabinet Member for Environment) and I have been clear as to our direction of policy, and officers have been working to deliver the practical steps necessary to enable reopening to take place, and to do so safely with effective social distancing and traffic management in place, using a booking system that we are developing jointly with Medway Council.
Other necessary conditions for reopening HWRCs include ensuring Personal Protection Equipment for our staff; effective operation of the companies who dispose of some of the waste presented at our sites (quite a few of whom have ceased operation during the shutdown); and a coordinated approach with neighbouring local authorities. All of these matters are being actively pursued. Any authority that reopens unilaterally will face an influx of demand, especially at sites near the county border; and while a booking system should in theory militate against that, it is unlikely to prevent residents from neighbouring authorities where the HWRCs remain closed from moving across the border in the belief that they can access our centres.
And, as the County Councils Network has pointed out in response to the Secretary of State's announcement, we still await and require clear guidance as to what constitutes an "essential journey' during the lockdown.
Nonetheless, our direction as a Council is clear and we hope to provide more specific timelines on reopening soon.
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