Waste collections will remain weekly says enviro chief

Cllr Chris Bond said the administration had come to an early and decisive view following the expressed views of residents.

He said: "We have listened to residents and we have acted decisively to ensure there will be no cut to this service.

"We put proposals in the consultation to go fortnightly to give residents an option, however, they have overwhelmingly told us they want to keep waste collections weekly, and we are more than happy to oblige!"

Cllr Bond said keeping waste collections weekly made financial and environmental sense.

He said: "After seeing how some council's bi-weekly service struggled to cope with Christmas collections it was evident of the environmental health dangers of cutting weekly collections.

"However the possible financial savings were not cut and dried.  It's not conclusive that going bi-weekly would push up recycling rates - so while we may have saved money in one area we may have lost money in another."

Cllr Bond said the Council will now push on with rolling out wheelie bins across the borough.

He said: "The facts speak for themselves - wheelie bins save council taxpayers money, keep our streets cleaner and solve the problem of rats and foxes attracted by black bags."