Bid made to save Barrow bin collections
Last updated at 16:44, Tuesday, 16 October 2012
WEEKLY bin collections in Barrow could be axed if a bid for government funding fails.
Kerbside recycling might also be affected.
Barrow Borough Council is waiting to hear whether or not it will receive money from the Weekly Collection Support Scheme to protect regular bin runs after a drop income from recycled waste.
The council hopes to hear the result of its application within the next few weeks, but is preparing corrective action, which will be put into place should the bid fail.
Three options are being examined by the council: reducing collections to a fortnightly basis, reducing the level of street cleansing, refuse collection and recycling in the borough; or reducing services elsewhere in the council.
A report prepared for tomorrow’s executive committee reveals that the council will lose around £60,000 for the rest of this year and £230,000 in 2013/14 as a result of changes to the amount it receives for recycled waste.
Cumbria County Council informed the borough earlier this year of its plans to reduce the amount of money it pays out for every tonne of waste that is recycled.
A rate of £83.20 per tonne of recyclable waste was being paid to the borough council in order to encourage higher levels of recycling.
However, this amount was reduced from October 1 to £58.64 and will be set at £60.40 per tonne from April of next year.
In the report, Phil Huck, the executive director of Barrow Borough Council, said the county council viewed the current scheme as unaffordable and there was no legal basis to challenge the decision.
He said: “The implications on the council’s budget are significant. Firstly, the council will have a shortfall in income of £60,000 in the current year, which will have to be met from other sources.
“Secondly, the reduction in income for 2013/14 is estimated at £230,000. You (committee members) agreed in March 2012 to submit an application to the Weekly Collection Support Scheme and, if successful, this would offset the losses for a three-year period allowing the current contract to be renegotiated. A decision on this is imminent.”
A spokesman for the Communities and Local Government department said a date for the decision on the application had not yet been set.
First published at 16:12, Tuesday, 16 October 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk
The price of waste has dropped. ?So they make bin collections fortnightly.?Employ more people to go around and clean up the streets.? IT Will not work .False economy IN anyones eyes
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Are the big bins going to come back should the bin service be reduced to fortnightly? I asked a Tory councillor (they were in charge then) why small bins were being introduced and he told me it was to stop the other lot (Labour) doing away with the weekly collections. Well, now it looks likely, and under a Tory government! Tell me the real reason the bins were changed?
Posted by Geoff.holme@btinternet.com on 17 October 2012 at 21:02