Free garden waste service axed as city digs in for ‘painful’ £102m cuts plan
With claim and counter-claim about a £29 million shift to wheelie bins running rife, Labour’s decision to begin charging for green refuse collections is bound to spark fresh controversy. Households wishing to have a green wheelie bin will have to pay £35 a year, and the fee will raise £2.5 million for the council.
The move has already been described as a council tax on gardens, although Sir Albert said anyone not wishing to pay £35 could buy a composter instead.
The existing plastic sack refuse system is to be phased out later this year, but the council will stop providing free sacks from this April in order to save £1 million. It remains unclear for how many months Birmingham residents will have to buy sacks until taking delivery of wheelie bins.
Birmingham’s free bulky waste collection service is to be curtailed. Households will qualify for one collection of up to six items a year and must pay £25 for subsequent collections.
Sir Albert insisted that changes to refuse collection were simply bringing Birmingham into line with most other councils where charges have been in place for years.
Other hits to the Local Services Directorate budget include reduced street cleansing and sweeping as well as a £1.2 million reduction in roads maintenance.
Even the new Library of Birmingham in Centenary Square has not been spared. An opening festival this year has been scaled down to save £50,000.
A £22 million cuts target for CYPF depends largely on the council making more use of NHS funding and the budgets of other public agencies, an approach that has been tried in the past with mixed results. Failure to deliver on this occasion would present an even greater financial challenge for the council in 2014-15.
