Lib Dems attack reinstatement of weekly bin rounds

Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles announced a £250m fund to help local authorities in England to maintain weekly bin rounds or make the switch back from fortnightly collections.

More than half of councils in England now have systems in place in which rubbish is picked up only once a fortnight.

The Conservatives pledged to bring back weekly bin rounds in opposition, but the waste review this summer did not include measures to force councils to increase the rate of collections.

A survey by the Press Association news agency earlier this year revealed that no councils were planning to reverse the move towards fortnightly rubbish collections, claiming people were happy with their bin rounds and going back to more frequent pick-ups would undermine recycling efforts and cost millions.

Announcing the move before the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, Mr Pickles said he believed every household in England had “a basic right” to have their rubbish collected every week. “Weekly rubbish collections are the most visible of all frontline services and I believe every household in England has a basic right to have their rubbish collected every week.”

The funding, from next April, will be given to English local authorities which guarantee to retain or reinstate weekly waste collections for at least five years, and which demonstrate the potential to increase recycling rates.

Liberal Democrat local government leaders welcomed the announcement of new money for waste collection and recycling, but criticised the requirement that councils had to commit to weekly bin collections at the behest of central government.