A LEADING councillor has quit West Somerset Council's ruling cabinet in protest at plans to cut costs by delaying the introduction of new recycling services - three months after the proposals were agreed.

Porlock member Cllr Jon Freeman resigned from the environment portfolio holder post on Tuesday and branded the authority "a broken little council".

He said he was "livid" that officers were asking councillors to delay the phased introduction of the Sort It Plus wheelie bin waste and recycling scheme without any prior explanation or discussion.

Both scrutiny and cabinet members had given their full support to the roll-out of Sort It Plus next year on condition money could be found to meet the anticipated £300,000 cost of introducing the scheme.

At the time, executive officer Adrian Dyer said the scheme could only be financed if money from the sale of Minehead's Vulcan Road car park to Morrisons was in the council's coffer before the end of next year.

But at Monday's scrutiny committee meeting members were told the scheme should be delayed until the 2011-12 financial year due to falling interest rates.

Cllr Freeman, who will remain as an "Unaligned Independent" member of the council, said the idea had come from officers and been mooted at "an informal cabinet meeting" the previous week, which neither he nor finance portfolio holder Cllr Doug Ross had been able to attend.

He said officers knew they would be absent and that the Somerset Waste Partnership, which oversees all waste and recycling services in West Somerset, was setting its business plan last Friday, including a budget for the roll-out of Sort It Plus next spring.

Cllr Freeman said: "I am livid this is being pushed back a year - what is the point of having policy advisory groups, scrutiny or elected members at all?

"I fully understand the global economic situation and had we been discussing this a month ago, before the end of February and the Somerset Waste Partnership's deadline [before setting its own business plan] then I would have a different attitude.

"It's the last minuting. It's an absolute b****y disgrace."

He was supported by scrutiny committee members who accused the cabinet of making "an informal decision" without any consultation.

Cllr Steven Pugsley said: "Presumably cabinet members must have endorsed this change in order for this paper to be circulated?"

But executive officer Adrian Dyer stressed no decision had been made and officers were simply seeking the views of the committee.

He said cabinet had decided to introduce Sort It Plus next year but at the time of the decision in December, officers believed the council's investments would accrue interest at the rate of "between five and six per cent".

"Subsequently, interest rates have fallen and officers have looked at the revised financial position and come forward with ideas and suggestions," he said.

"No decision has been made on whether Sort It Plus will be introduced in 2010-11 or 2011-12.

"It is a proposal for members to either approve or not."

The committee was warned the authority was likely to have to make savings in the region of £320,000 each year for the next three years as a result of the recession and that if Sort It Plus went ahead next year as planned, something else would have to give.

Finance chief Jacky Barnes said: "It is only a proposal but you have to think about the financial consequences.

"If members want to move this back then savings will have to be found. That is quite clear.

"As officers we can look at the alternatives."

Committee chairman Cllr Tim Taylor said he doubted the committee would even have realised the intention to delay the introduction of the scheme if Cllr Freeman had not raised the issue.

Although the cost of introducing Sort It Plus had been shifted into a different financial year column on a spreadsheet, Mrs Barnes' covering report simply said: "Members have already

indicated that they would like to introduce the waste recycling service Sort It.

"The cost of this would, however, have a significant impact on the medium term financial plan.

"Clear criteria based on affordability, therefore, need to be set for deciding when and/or if the council extends its current waste collection services to include this."

She asked the committee to come up with ideas of ways to make savings, but Sort It Plus was not specifically mentioned as a recommendation and no alternative savings were suggested.

Cllr Pugsley said it would be impossible for the committee to make any recommendations based on the report due to the lack of any supporting information.

"We don't have the information available to even have a plausible stab at answering that," he said.

Cllr Keith Turner said the council's credibility was at stake if it reneged on a decision it had already taken to press ahead with Sort It Plus next year.

Cllr Taylor agreed the committee would be unable to make any recommendations to the ruling cabinet and called for a more detailed report to be put before councillors in two months' time.

However, the scrutiny committee has no power to enforce its recommendation and the proposal to delay Sort It Plus could still be pushed forward by cabinet members, although the final decision will rest with the full council.

Council leader Cllr Keith Ross told the Free Press yesterday (Thursday) the report to the scrutiny committee made it clear the council was still committed to the Sort It Plus scheme and no final decision had been made on the timing of its introduction.

"The report has at least another two stages of public and member consultation before any decision can be made and I welcome the input of the community and members," he said.

"If the public and councillors want the early introduction of Sort It Plus at the cost of another service, then that is democracy at its best and it gets my full support."

He said he regretted Cllr Freeman's decision to resign from cabinet and believed he had been "hasty" as there were "better ways of dealing with it".

But he praised Cllr Freeman for being an inspirational cabinet member who was passionate about the environment, although he was less impressed by accusations he had made about the state of the council.

"I am disappointed at certain allegations, particularly when councillors and officers are working together to stabilise the council's finances during the current national and global economic recession," Cllr Ross said.

"I will look to fill the environment portfolio holder post at the forthcoming annual general meeting in May."