Fortnightly collections could set back localism

Communities secretary Eric Pickles has issued his strongest statement to date on waste collection frequencies, claiming fortnightly collections will lead to “rage and resentment” among residents and potentially derail the government's localism agenda.

 

If we don't sort this issue, we will set the cause of localism back by a generation

 
Eric Pickles, communities secretary 

Speaking at the New Local Government Network annual event this week (January 26), keynote speaker Mr Pickles used his address to offer his latest views on the issue of collection frequency – a subject that has become increasingly politicised.

Mr Pickles, a strong advocate of weekly waste collections, told delegates at the think tank's event in central London said that the use of fortnightly collections would “fill Middle England with rage” and stopped just short of calling for an outright change to weekly collections.

In his address, Mr Pickles explained that residual waste collections are “most visible, most front line service of all”. And, he said that local authorities needed to meet the demands of residents – in-keeping with the theme of localism.

He said: “If we don't sort this issue, 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. There are great councils who are still offering the regular recycling and rubbish collections that residents want.”

And, Mr Pickles said that the government would work with councils to increase the frequency of collections, explaining: “We intend to work with councils to increase the frequency and quality of rubbish collections – starting with removing the perverse incentives that have pushed councils to cut services.

Outlining the work that the communities department has done to date, Mr Pickles said: “Central policies resulted in perverse local outcomes which need to change. So we've already taken steps to abolish bin taxes. We are scrapping the Audit Commission's interfering inspections. We've issued new guidance to stop bin snooping.

The comments echo remarks made by Mr Pickles during the second reading of the Localism Bill last week when the cabinet member said councils running fortnightly collections could struggle when at election (see letsrecycle.com story).

Localism

Mr Pickles also accused the previous government of encouraging uptake in fortnightly bin collections. He said: “The local government sector must wake up to the fact that – even with the best of intentions – public policy on bin collections went horribly wrong in recent years.

“But if we need to address the issues which threaten localism – we also need to look at those forces which will really give it bite.”

The government's localism agenda is centred on handing greater power to local communities over their unique issues. However, leading waste management trade bodies have already warned about the potential knock-on effect for the waste sector (see letsrecycle.com story).

Also at the event, Mr Pickles again expressed his support for RecycleBank, the rewards-based recycling scheme. The communities secretary has previously branded incentive schemes ‘the face of modern refuse collection' (see letsrecycle.com story).