Council uncertainty puts bin changes in limbo

Changes to bin collections in Birmingham, including the reintroduction of recycling collections, will be put on hold until it is clear who is running the council.

Labour lost control of the authority following elections last month, but no party has the numbers needed to take control of the council by themselves.

The proposed changes, would also 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.

The introduction of these changes was due to start this month.

Just before May's local elections, the council's then Labour leadership announced it had reached a deal with trade union Unite that it said could have seen the end of more than a year of strikes by waste workers, if union members backed it in a vote.

However, that was branded by critics at the time as a political "stunt".

The Labour administration had also said the changes to waste and recycling collections would be introduced regardless of whether the long-running dispute was resolved.

But with no party having enough councillors to run the authority and no sign of a stable coalition being formed the council has had to issue an apology.

It said residents who are currently part of the new food waste pilot would continue to receive that service and it would issue "a further update once we have a position from the new administration".

The changes were designed to improve recycling rates in the city, which were among the worst in the country even before Unite members went on strike.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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