A COUNCIL has come under fire for ‘wasting paper’ for the second time this month.
Neighbours in Kidlington, and Gosford and Water Eaton, were sent a letter about plans for Kidlington Roundabout.
However, many residents complained to the Oxford Mail, to say that they received two copies of the letter – in the same envelope.
It comes after a councillor blasted his own local authority for ‘printing thousands of unnecessary pages’.
READ AGAIN: Fury after ‘green’ council printed ‘thousands of unnecessary pages’
On the correspondence sent to people regarding Kidlington Roundabout, a spokesperson from Oxfordshire County Council said it is not policy to send things out multiple times.
The spokesperson added: “The letter was sent to all properties in the Kidlington and Gosford & Water Eaton parishes to inform residents of a public consultation seeking their views on proposed improvement works on the A4260/A4165 Kidlington Roundabout.
“These works are part of several road improvement projects along the A44 and at Kidlington Roundabout, which together are referred to as the North Oxford corridor.
“It is not a county council policy to send things out multiple times, with all efforts made to ensure this does not happen.
“However, on this occasion, there were some instances of duplicate addresses in the database, which is a UK-wide recognised postal address system.
“While the county council aims to avoid printing wherever possible, we do have to take into account that some people can’t, or find it difficult to access the internet and, in order to reach as many people as possible, we send out letters to residents to inform them of a consultation affecting them.”
Earlier this month, Conservative councillor David Bartholomew questioned why the local authority provided councillors, in addition to officers, with a 491-page document.
At a full meeting, councillors mulled over the Local Transport and Connectivity Plan (LTCP), which among other things, aims for a net zero transport system by 2040.
However, Mr Bartholomew queried why the council – which he said has ‘green loveliness at the heart of everything it does’ – printed out so much paper.
He said at the meeting: “I’d have thought at some point, given that this administration is meant to have green loveliness at the heart of everything it does and is sensitive to the climate, why have they printed out 500 pages of the transport plan for all the councillors to have?
“I accept for reasons of inclusivity, it needs to be a paper version for some people, but many of us do not need that.
“Why did we print thousands of unnecessary pages? Has anybody calculated the carbon cost of all the delivery men delivering these everywhere and the cost of the poor tress that have been taken down?”
Read more from this author
This story was written by Liam Rice, he joined the team in 2019 as a multimedia reporter.
Liam covers politics, travel and transport. He occasionally covers Oxford United.
Get in touch with him by emailing: Liam.rice@newsquest.co.uk
Follow him on Twitter @OxMailLiamRice
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