Delays to bin reforms cost council £600,000 (Leeds Liberal Democrats)

Leeds Liberal Democrats <info@leedslibdems.org.uk>

Delays to bin reforms cost council £600,000

September 1, 2010 12:00 AM

Delays to implement productivity improvements in Leeds City Council's refuse service have so far cost council taxpayers £600,000.

The productivity measures were agreed at the end of 2009's industrial action in refuse services. They include a reorganisation of the city's inefficient bin routes, and a crackdown on sickness absence in the service which at the time ran at 30 days per employee per year.

The reforms should have been implemented from 1st June this year. But Lib Dem councillors have been told that this will not now happen until October - four months overdue. Figures in a recent report to the council's executive board indicate that this has so far cost the council £600,000.

The news comes shortly after the council announced a half million pound cut to street cleaning services in inner city areas.

Lib Dem group leader Cllr Stewart Golton (Rothwell) criticised the delay as unnecessary and wasteful, particularly when the council has been told to make cuts to its budget this year.

Cllr Golton said:

"A vital part of the deal between the council and unions to end the strike was that the bin service should be more efficient. We agreed to these reforms back in November with a deadline of 1st June to implement them by.

"I now understand that these will not be implemented until October - four months late.

"These delays have so far cost the council £600,000. This is waste we can ill afford when the government has told us to make savings of £15 million this year alone.

Cllr Ralph Pryke, (Lib Dem, Burmantofts and Richmond Hill) said

"I was deeply disappointed at the council's decision in August to save £500,000 by axing street cleaning services in the inner city. We're already starting to see the effects of this in Burmantofts and Richmond Hill with filthy bin yards and discarded needles taking longer to be collected.

"So it's especially galling to learn that the council has wasted £600,000 so far this year because of its failure to make the refuse service more efficient. If they had done this on time, there would not be the need to make cuts in other areas."