By Andrew Clarke

Last updated at 11:34, Thursday, 21 June 2012

A CONTROVERSIAL shake-up of bin collections will soon take place in Copeland, aimed at saving £120,000 a year.

Householders who benefit from assisted or off-route collections, have large bins or more than one brown (garden waste) bin are set to face changes.

All 33,000 households in the borough will undergo change in some form, says Copeland Council, but the vast majority will only be an alteration to collection days as refuse lorries are re-routed to increase efficiency.

However, around five per cent of households will face major changes under the Waste Collection Redesign Project that is set to be introduced on November 1.

The precise changes are still being drawn up before being rolled out for consultation. The council plans to consult those in the four affected groups – the 1,500 with assisted collections, the 750 with off-route collections, the 1,500 with large bins and those with multiple brown bins – plus their representatives, including Age UK, disability forums and parish councils.

The process will end in mid-September, with the feedback presented to the council’s Executive on October 2 with changes coming into effect on November 1.

Keith Parker, Copeland’s head of neighbourhoods, said the move is due to the financial pressures the council is being placed under.

He said: “It’s about driving further efficiency into an already efficient process; making financial savings while responding to customer needs.”

Councillors last week were given an outline of why the redesign project is necessary.

They were told that the service Copeland offers has been rated at number one in the country by the Association of Public Sector Excellence in terms of cost-effectiveness and performance.

The meeting heard that, in Copeland, householders pay £40 per year (80p per week) in council tax for waste collections, with the department carrying out 1.7 million collections a year. In 2011-12, there were 32 bins missed per 10,000 collected, with 86 per cent of those being collected within 24 hours, and all fly-tipping removed within three days of being reported.

However, the consultation will review whether the council is making the best use of its resources.

It was revealed that those with assisted collections take 40 seconds on average (compared to the usual 20 seconds), and those with off-route collections take 90 seconds per home. Councillors were given an example of nine off-route homes that take a total of 19 minutes to collect at a cost of £20.90.

Councillor David Moore, who represents Seascale on the council, said: “Copeland has an obligation to collect refuse in off-route and rural areas, and while it is expensive to collect in these rural locations, that’s just part of what Copeland is.

“Although savings needs to be made, we need to have a balanced policy with the expense of rural collections being offset by cheaper town centre collections, and consulting with the public is the best way forward; ideas that come from the public can improve our service.”

First published at 11:11, Thursday, 21 June 2012
Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk