Scrap weekly bin collections at your peril, warns Pickles

He warned local authorities to “wake up” to the dangers of moving to fortnightly collections against the wishes of residents – saying it threatened to undermine the Government’s plans to devolve more power from Whitehall to local areas.

And he accused Labour of destroying trust in local authorities through a culture of “bin cuts, bin fines and bin taxes”.

Mr Pickles’ plea to councils comes as authorities continue axing weekly collections in favour of cheaper fortnightly rounds despite repeated criticism from Government.

In a speech to the New Local Government think-tank yesterday, Mr Pickles said: “There is a big threat to localism on the horizon. An issue which fills middle England with rage – cuts to bin collections.

“Rubbish is the most visible, most front-line service of all, in return for paying £120 a month in council tax.

“If we don’t sort this, we will set the cause of localism back by a generation, by creating an army of residents who view their council with resentment rather than respect.”

Mr Pickles was a fierce critic of the move to fortnightly bin collections under Labour, blaming the Government for coercing local authorities into the move against the wishes of taxpayers.

Residents in areas which have moved to less regular rounds have complained of increased sightings of rats as rubbish mounts, although Labour Ministers always denied any increased health risks.

But since the coalition came to power and Mr Pickles arrived in office as the saviour of weekly bin collections, councils have continued to axe weekly rounds, with 13 introducing fortnightly collections since May.

Kirklees Council is among those who now operate fortnightly collections, and it has said any return to weekly rounds would cost £2m a year, while Wakefield has also axed weekly rounds.

Leeds City Council has also hit trouble since scrapping eleven of the city’s 51 bin routes in October in a move to save £2m, although bins are still supposed to be collected weekly.

Although Mr Pickles said he did not want to “micromanage” council services, his latest intervention is likely to be questioned by critics who point out that under the Government’s localist agenda councils should be free to decide how frequently they empty bins without ministerial intervention.

Mr Pickles hailed as “great” councils which still offer recycling and rubbish collections in line with the wishes of residents but said in other areas there was “genuine anger that in the last decade their council tax bills have doubled but their bin collections have halved”.

He blamed the “iron fist” of the state for urging councils to introduce fortnightly collections while also seeking to allow authorities to introduce bin taxes.

And he condemned powers which authorised a “town hall bin police” able to snoop through families’ bins without their consent. Leeds City Council is among those who have been revealed to have examined people’s waste.

“I could not think of anything more corrosive to destroy trust in local councils than the last government’s stealthy imposition of bin cuts, bin fines and bin taxes,” said Mr Pickles.

“It is politically naïve to think this has been purely a consequence of local discretion. All of these bin policies came from central government interventions and interference.”

He said the Government wants to work with councils to increase the “frequency and quality” of rubbish collections.