I SHOULD like to take the opportunity to make a couple of brief points in response to two items of correspondence in last week’s Letters page (‘Soiled waste’ and ‘We’ll pay’).

The letters refer to various issues relating to the waste service review which has been carried out by Pembrokeshire County Council, and its associated proposals.

Firstly, I would like to address the issue raised by the lady who had concerns regarding the storage of her medical waste.

The black bag collections undertaken by the council are not suitable for medical clinical wastes, which are a matter for local health organisations.

However, with regard to the concerns about incontinence products and nappies, the council’s proposals do contain provision for separate fortnightly collections of these materials.

Secondly, in response to the couple who are concerned that a decision has already been made with regard to the proposals, I would like to emphasise that no decisions have been taken.

The proposals were examined by the policy and predecision overview and scrutiny committee on October 5, which forwarded them to cabinet for consideration on November 6.

Cabinet will be recommended to approve that the proposals go out to full formal public consultation.

If cabinet approves this, the consultation will take place before the end of the year.

Consultation responses would be discussed at a further policy and pre-decision overview and scrutiny committee meeting in February 2018, and cabinet would make a final decision on the proposals in March 2018.

If the public consultation is approved by cabinet on November 6, I would urge as many people as possible to take the trouble to familiarise themselves with the details of the proposals and the reasons behind them, and contribute to the consultation process.

CLLR CRIS TOMOS

Cabinet Member for Environment and Welsh Language