Birmingham Council has confirmed that planned changes to the city’s bin collections ‘will not progress’ as it awaits new political leadership. The transformation of the waste service, which was to include the return of recycling collections, was set to be rolled out in phases from this month. It also would have seen collections of household rubbish go from weekly to fortnightly, along with the introduction of weekly food waste collections and a second recycling bin.
Delays and Disruption
Transformation plans were initially delayed last year due to the ongoing bins strike, with the council later saying the changes would be introduced this month regardless of whether the dispute had been resolved or not. But their plans have now been disrupted by further turbulence – this time caused by Birmingham’s unprecedented local election results last month. With no party having the numbers needed to take control of the council by themselves, the council remains without political leadership and talks are under way to try and form a stable coalition.
Council Statement
Against this backdrop, a council spokesperson issued an update on the transformation of the waste service. “The planned changes to the waste collection service (fortnightly household waste collection, a second recycling bin and the full food waste rollout) will not progress whilst we await the new political administration of the council,” they said. “As the changes were due to start on a phased basis in June, some residents will already have received information about changes to the service, including changes to collection dates. We are sorry for any confusion this causes, we are keeping the existing service and will provide a further update once we have a position from the new administration. Those residents currently part of the new food waste pilot will continue to receive that service.”
Political Positions
But what are the positions of the main political parties that could be involved in a coalition? The Birmingham Liberal Democrats said before the elections that they would “maintain weekly collections until services have shown themselves to be completely reliable for a significant level of time”. Asked whether the Green Party would continue with plans to introduce fortnightly collections, Coun Julien Pritchard said before May 7: “No party is going to have an overall majority, we’re going to have to see what all the parties around the table are saying. For me, the most important thing is to get the waste service to be reliable.” Coun Robert Alden, the leader of the Conservatives, also pledged prior to the elections that the Tories would keep weekly bin collections. Labour and Reform UK have ruled themselves out of being involved in a coalition to run the council.
