What is the point of declaiming your support for localism if you then cut the feet from under councils by announcing an “expectation” that they will restore weekly bin collections?
Fortnightly bin collections may or may not be the right solution for particular areas – because I live on a (very) main road in London, I think our wheelie bins are emptied a few times a week, as far as I can make out; I accept that I’m probably more provided for than most.
Once again though, we’re up against the problem of wanting to cede powers to councils and local people – but then second-guessing by decreeing from the centre that strict requirements will be imposed.
There is no point in saying that a Conservative government would revolutionise the relationship between the state and its citizens, and then announcing a whole list of decisions which should be entirely within local control which instead will be subject to central diktats.
As I wrote almost exactly a year ago, one of the two stumbling blocks to devolving power is the charge of postcode lottery (the other is the people who are elected on the ground to change things – more on that another day).
If we are serious about devolving power, we must also address this problem – and say ‘You elect your representatives. You are in control. You tell them what to do – not us.’ Because otherwise, devolving power and choice and local control and all those buzzwords mean nothing.
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Quite right Fiona, ‘Alternate’ weekly collections came about in my local authority nearly ten years ago, through thorough surveying of how people carried out recycling, and trial pilots. It works well for us in the leafy south-east – mainly detached homes. We have one of the better recycling rates in the country. Lots of other authorities copied us, and made a hash of it, because it was an off-the-peg solution, rather that tailoring it to individual needs – hence its unpopularity. Localism is about getting what works best for you. Straightjacketing councils with particular models of refuse collection, one way or the other is not localism. Neither is dictating council tax levels.
Fiona is spot on. If people want to restore weekly bin collections where they have been lost, they can vote for councillors who will do so. To tell citizens that it makes no difference which way they vote is a disincentive to democratic participation or otherwise taking an interest or responsibility for the way their communities are run. This proposal is cheap populism – “Hey, here’s a good idea for one of our Sunday papers announcements” – devoid of either honesty or philosophical consistency.
The move to bi-weekly wasn’t local initiative you know, it was pressure derived from landfill taxation. Top-down, not bottom up. What this proposal does is allow Councils’ to reflect the will of their residents. Or do you really think that people a clamouring to have their bins emptied every other week?
If it saves money (i.e. my council tax!) then why not empty my bin every other week? Lots of other countries do this without any obvious problems (e.g. Germany, Austria…) They have warmer summers than we do. “Rodents and flies?” What a load of rubbish…
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