An offer of £250M to local Councils by Tory Communities Secretary Eric Pickles on the eve of the Conservative Party Conference to bring back weekly bin collections has been condemned by Reading’s Labour leaders, who say that after all the talk of localism by the Coalition they are now being dictated to by Eric Pickles.
Paul Gittings, Lead Councillor for the Environment, says: “Eric Pickles has a obsession about weekly collections, but following responses from residents in some of Reading’s narrowest terraced streets it is clear that people are keen on recycling. Last year’s Tory/LibDem Coalition in Reading proposed bringing back weekly collections in some parts of the town centre wards as a gimmick before this year’s local elections, so after Labour took control we felt it right to consult local people.
“The overwhelming majority of people in the streets the Coalition had identified in Abbey, Battle, Katesgrove, Park, and Redlands rejected the idea out of hand. There were issues with fortnightly collections when they came in, but people are used to them now – and there is more recycling and less landfill tax for the Borough to pay.”
Labour Leader Jo Lovelock adds: “In allocating money to Councils last year, Eric Pickles did away with a whole series of grants aimed at helping the disadvantaged, saying it was down to local Councils to set their own priorities with much less money. But now he’s splashing money around to push his own very individual political agenda and up his profile in the run-up to the Tory Conference. If after all the cuts there is suddenly more money Eric Pickles should make that available for the local priorities he keeps pushing. Labour in Reading is currently consulting local people and we would welcome the freedom to spend any additional money on what matters most to them.”
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