Friday 23 August 2013

GARDEN WASTE SOME ANSWERS



 The ending of the free Garden Waste Service is still one of real concern to a number of residents particularly older ones. I have seen this for my self when meeting elderly residents in the ward.
 There are difficult issues which have to be addressed and I try to ensure I find residents the answers to their questions without ducking the issue.
With this in mind I have written below the views of the Council Administration regarding the ending of the Free Green Wast collection to help explain why this is happening.


Firstly, in the face of horrendous cuts, services are going to be either transformed, or stopped altogether.  We are facing cuts of more than £800m from our budget ( re the Government), around two-thirds of our entire controllable budget. We cannot afford to collect garden waste for free anymore.

Secondly, we need to move to a service we can actually deliver.  You will all be familiar with complaints over garden waste collection.  Fundamentally, this is because with a free, unlimited service, demand fluctuates massively according to the weather, and such a service will always be incredibly hard to manage.

Thirdly, council tax only brings in c.£250m a year, when the Council spends more than £3bn overall.  So although it is understandable that people equate their payment of Council Tax with the services they receive, that isn’t the reality here in Birmingham.

I hope this helps you understand why this very difficult decision was made, however if you would like me to pass on a further question regarding this issue to the Cabinet Member responsible please email me 
Keith.Linnecor@Birmingham.gov.uk
 and I will try and to get your question answered.

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