City leaders face questions over bins

Members of the coalition now running Birmingham continued to face frustration over bins as the wait for a deal to resolve the strike rumbles on.

The industrial action was triggered by a dispute between the council and Unite the union, and has now been going on for almost two years.

The minority coalition now running the council – which includes Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and various independents – vowed to resolve the strike and ‘clean up’ the city when they took control in June.

Back in September, there appeared to be an update when Lib Dem council leader Roger Harmer revealed that a proposed bins strike deal could be officially agreed later that month or early October.

With the strike now dragging into November, Cllr Harmer was asked this week by Labour group leader Cllr Nicky Brennan what is preventing the deal from being finalised.

“It is incredibly frustrating because a framework agreement was reached with Unite three months ago that potentially could bring an end to the bins strike,” Cllr Harmer told the council chamber on Tuesday.

“It was a framework agreement and quite rightly commissioners, and indeed the external auditor, insist on carrying out due diligence on that potential agreement before it goes to cabinet for a decision among the various options possible.

“It’s really important that is done because under the former administration, this process was not carried out as diligently as perhaps it should have been in 2017.

“As a result, a resolution to the strike then has led to really severe further problems.

“I will admit myself I thought that due diligence could have been done sooner.”

He went on to say that the council’s administration will “not try and force an end to that process”.

“We will respect that process,” Cllr Harmer said. “When that process is finished, as hopefully it will be done soon but we will see, we will read very carefully what the auditor and commissioners say about the matter.

“Then we will consider it in cabinet. I hope that will lead to a resolution to the strike soon but we have to respect that process.”

‘There will not be a two-tier bin service’

Cllr Harris Khaliq, the cabinet member overseeing the waste service, also faced questions over a report which was recently uploaded in error and suggested supported exempt accommodation properties would keep weekly collections.

The draft report – published on the council website by mistake – proposed that a raft of changes to Brum’s waste service should be implemented city-wide.

These changes included collections of household rubbish going from weekly to fortnightly.

But a number of councillors were particularly concerned by a proposal in this particular report that supported exempt accommodation (SEA) could keep weekly collections.

SEA is designed for people in the UK with additional needs, including former prisoners, people recovering from addiction and women fleeing domestic abuse. It provides housing along with care, support and supervision.

But there have been long-running fears over such properties being poorly managed and the knock on impact in local communities across the city.

Speaking at a recent meeting, Cllr Khaliq gave firm assurance that this proposal would not be happening and said SEA properties keeping weekly collections was “never agreed”.

“That was never discussed, never agreed and should never have been published,” he said last month. “I’m not aware of where that has come from and as the investigations follow, the right action will be taking place.”

At Tuesday’s full council meeting, Reform councillor Cherie Waddingham asked for an update on the investigation into how that particular proposal ended up in the report.

“As I highlighted at [a scrutiny meeting], I was never aware of it, I was never informed of it and I never approved it,” Cllr Khaliq responded.

“The investigation is going on to understand how that report was published.

“What I will confirm to this chamber today is that there will not be a two-tier bin service.

“The waste transformation focuses on giving residents the right amount of waste capacity and increasing recycling as well as rebuilding a service broken by this failed [Labour] administration.

“A report will come to cabinet in December going through all the data from the pilot and we will build on that.”

Cllr Harris has previously insisted that no final decision has been made on whether to introduce fortnightly collections city-wide following the report being uploaded in error.

A separate report, published ahead of a scrutiny meeting last month, made no specific recommendations regarding which pilot should be adopted.

“If approved, any changes would be introduced gradually, with residents receiving clear information and advance notice,” he said last month.

“Our aim is to deliver a reliable, sustainable waste service that supports higher recycling rates and meets the needs of Birmingham residents, including those who may require different arrangements.”

By Alexander Brock | Local Democracy Reporting Service