Bids to be invited in New Year for 250m weekly fund

However, letsrecycle.com understands that the exact criteria councils will have to meet to qualify for support and principally whether the fund will support weekly food waste as well as residual waste collections have still not been decided. This is despite suggestions by a DCLG official that only black bag collections will qualify.

An announcement on the criteria was due to be made before Christmas however it is understood that this may now be postponed because of discussions between the Department for Communities and Local Government and Defra over the type of collections which will be covered with Defra keen on food waste collections being included.

In a statement released this week, Mr Neill said: We believe that more joint working, better procurement, positive incentives and new technology are better ways of improving value for money, while maintaining regular and comprehensive services for local residents.

Our Weekly Collections Support Scheme initiative will help councils deliver better weekly collections, and in the process make it easier for families to go green and improve amenity and the local environment. We will shortly be announcing more detail and inviting councils to submit innovative bids for funding in the New Year.

Committee

Mr Neills comments follow those of David Prout, director general of localism at DCLG, who gave evidence to the CLG committee on November 28 to suggest that just collections of black bag waste would receive support.

Explaining what the fund was about, Mr Prout said: It is about three things. It is about reinstating or retaining a weekly black bag collection. In other words, so that you as a householder get your rubbish collected every week. It is about improving environmental performance, and it is about improving value for money. Often that is not possible without some upfront investment in new kit to do the right kind of recycling or whatever. This scheme makes money available to local authorities on a bid-based basis in order for them to be able to invest to drive up their service standards.

Mr Prout was then asked by the chair if the schemes had to meet all three criteria to which he replied yes.

However, a spokesman for DCLG told letsrecycle.com today (December 9)that the department could not confirm what the criteria were.