Waste collection is Basingstoke Council’s biggest contract. The Tory council have really messed it up and millions of taxpayer pounds are at risk because of it.

They gave the contract to SERCO, supposedly to save costs. Then they lent SERCO £5million to buy lorries so they could carry out the job! The Council then realised the new contract didn’t include the new homes being built in the Borough. This means having to fork out an extra £500,000 this year.

We’re nearly six months into the new contract and there are still problems across our Borough:

• regular missed bin collections – residents simply don’t know when their bins will be emptied;
• bins go missing and residents have to pay for new ones. Sometimes these take weeks to arrive;
• waste is overflowing. If it isn’t placed in the bin, it’s being left on the street uncollected;
• older people and those with restricted mobility can have an assisted bin collection. Bin crews are meant to collect and return bins directly to residents. The scheme is failing, and many residents are being missed out;
• we can no longer recycle mixed plastic. Instead, residents are told to put the plastic in general waste bins;
• the Council messed up the recycling contract. They were exposed in the national press for shipping our recycling up to Scotland to be incinerated!
• people living in flats have not been given enough communal bins. Too often, they overflow with waste;
• waste crews on the ground have suggested improvements. These are largely ignored by the Council and SERCO management.

On top of this, your Council Tax is going up this year. You’ll pay more, and get a lot less for your money. The Council are failing.

It doesn’t have to be like this. A Labour-run Council could:

• Undertake a full review of waste collection to boost recycling and make collections more responsive to residents. We’d like to see an in-house waste collection service that’s cost effective but properly resourced;
• Increase the amount you can recycle by partnering with genuinely ‘green’ companies to ensure recycling is disposed of responsibly;
• Introduce a separate food waste collection service;
• Improve resources to investigate fly-tipping;
• Bring back recycling banks for plastics including tetrapacks and cartons.

While the Conservatives and Liberals have lost council seats across Basingstoke, Labour has been growing. With your support we can beat the Tories.

We can start putting the basics right in Basingstoke, starting with our bin collections. Use your vote for Labour on May 2nd.