By John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporter: Liberal Democrats in Bath and North East Somerset Council do not plan to reduce black bin collections to every three or four weeks, a top councillor has said.
Neighbouring Somerset Council switched to only collecting black bins every three weeks in 2021 and 2022 and North Somerset Council is set to do the same this year. Meanwhile Bristol City Council is considering halving the frequency of black bin collections and only collecting them once every four weeks.
But Tim Ball (Twerton & Whiteway, Liberal Democrat) — cabinet member for neighbourhood services — told a full Bath and North East Somerset Council meeting on February 25 : “We will not be going down the route of other councils, introducing three weekly or four weekly rubbish collections. We are sticking to two weekly collection periods during this administration.”
The council is also replacing its bin and recycling lorries with electric vehicles that will be charged from the solar panels on the roof of the new Keynsham Recycling Centre. Mr Ball said the fleet should be fully decarbonised by the end of 2027.
Speaking as the council voted to pass its budget for 2025/26, he said: “We are also trialling new recycling bags throughout the district at the moment which will allow the recycling waste to be contained a lot more tightly, not blow around in the streets, hence getting more recycled waste going through the system itself.”
He added: “We have also put additional money in for street cleaning and weed removal. […] Remember we do not use any chemical weedkillers.”
The budget, passed by 36 votes to eight with seven abstentions, also increases council tax by the maximum 4.99% possible as the council deals with a “significant and unpredictable” bill for social care. But council cabinet member for resources Mark Elliott (Lansdown, Liberal Democrat) said: “Many councils and residents of other authorities would be extremely envious of our position.
“We have healthy reserves, we are not at any significant risk of finding ourselves in financial difficulty. We are not, as other councils are, unable to balance the books or making swingeing cuts to services. We are not having to apply to central government for permission to make exceptional council tax rises.”
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