Bristol City Council, which has 34 Green Party councillors, could become the first local authority in England to introduce the policy, which it claims will save £2.3million
A Green council has been slammed after it proposed only collecting household bins once a month.
Bristol City Council says the policy will save £2.3million and help the environment. However, critics claim it will cause the potential to increase fly-tipping.
The authority, though under no political control overall, has 34 Green Party councillors but the leader of Tory group on the council, of which are there seven members, led criticism of the plans.
The TaxPayers’ Alliance said the council, which would become the first local authority in England to introduce the policy, is “more interested in virtue-signalling than doing its job”.
Benjamin Elks, the grassroots development manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Residents shouldn’t have to put up with overflowing bins and filthy streets just because the council is more interested in virtue-signalling than doing its job. The Green-run council needs to start delivering the basic services locals expect.”
Before last year’s general election, the Tories had planned to introduce a “backstop” forcing councils in England to collect bins at least once a fortnight. However, authorities are now able to press ahead with less frequent collections after the Government axed the plans.
Mark Weston, the leader of Bristol City Council Tory group, said the plans were “utter rubbish”. He told The Telegraph: “The minimum residents expect from their council is to collect rubbish and they expect that to be regular and on time. If you start taking that away, they have to question what value they are getting from their council tax. The Greens are doing it because they want to have everyone forced to do recycling. I think they’re mad on that.”
The council yesterday opened a consultation on its plans to reduce collections to once every three weeks or once a month which will remain open until March.
Heather Mack, the deputy leader of the council, said: “We would … offer larger bins for larger households, and an extra collection for people with sanitary products or nappies.
Andrew Brown, the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrat group on the council, said: “The concern I hear back is that there could be an increase in fly-tipping. There are hotspots around the city where it’s already an issue.”
