Labour Councillors may refuse to debate on Thursday a motion put forward by Liberal Democrat councillors to reconsider the Council’s plan to close Beckfield Lane Recycling Centre.

The motion was proposed to be discussed at the Full Council Meeting this Thursday 29th March, but the ruling group have informed Liberal Democrats that this will not be discussed and it could stand referred initially for consideration by the “Cabinet”.

Labour argue that extra financial information is needed to make a decision, something that Cllr Reid disputes.

Ann Reid, Liberal Democrat Councillor for Dringhouses and Woodthorpe, said that Labour didn’t want a debate to happen. She argues that Labour know they are on the wrong side of public opinion and would prefer that their feet weren’t held to the fire.

Cllr Reid said “When Labour were elected they pledged to make the council more accountable to local people. However, during the saga over Union Terrace and now the proposed closure of Beckfield Lane, Labour have completely ignored public opinion.

“A petition against the sale of the recycling centre has reached over 2000 signatures and is still growing. The people of York do not want to see the centre closed.”

“Local people want to see the Labour cabinet held to account over this decision, and Labour are refusing to let us make that case. This is shameful politicking.”

Labour argue that the decision needs to be referred to Cabinet in order to get a better understanding of the costs involved in potentially keeping the site open. Councillor Reid says this is simply not the case.
She said “The Labour cabinet say they need to get information of how much the site would cost to keep open before this is discussed. Are they suggesting they made the initial decision to close the site without having this information to hand? Labour don’t want this discussion because the public don’t agree with them. It is that simple.”

A Council debate is inevitable sooner or later now that over 2000 residents have signed the “Save Beckfield Lane recycling centre” petition.

The Councils constitution requires a public debate on any petition passing the 1000 signature threshold

Supporters are also adding their names to the electronic petition which can be accessed here on the Councils web site:

http://tinyurl.com/Save-the-recycling-centre

With 2 weeks to run, it already has the third largest number of supporters for a petition of this sort ever recorded.