The rate of missed rubbish collections suggests that Brighton and Hove City Council is not ready to go from weekly rounds to fortnightly, according to a senior councillor.
Conservative leader Alistair McNair cited the “appalling” rate of missed collections in his ward, Patcham and Hollingbury, including recycling and garden waste.
Councillor McNair told a meeting of the full council: “For a good month, we were being inundated with complaints. It felt like the Greens had taken over again. It was that bad.
“It started before the hot weather and there was no information coming out – and the council still insists fortnightly collections will begin.”
He wanted to know what needed to change in Environmental Services – the council’s rubbish and recycling service formerly known as Cityclean – for fortnightly collections to start.
Labour councillor Tim Rowkins apologised to Patcham and Hollingbury residents – and everyone in Brighton and Hove – who had received a “less than satisfactory” service.
Councillor Rowkins, the council’s cabinet member for net zero and environmental services, said that the heatwave had affected staff who wear personal protective equipment (PPE) which is not ideal in extreme heat.
Every round across Brighton and Hove had been cut short for a few days, resulting in a “significant backlog of missed collections” he said.
Councillor Rowkins said: “The day-to-day service in our refuse and recycling collections is now running better than it used to.
“The key problem we have is one of resilience, is what happens when things aren’t going to plan, and that’s why I spoke at length in the recent cabinet meeting earlier in July about the additional measures we’re bringing forward to increase that resilience.”
Councillor Rowkins said that no decisions had been made yet on when to bring in fortnightly collections – and improved reliability was essential before any change could be made.
New vehicles are on order to replace some in the ageing fleet, councillors were told, with 10 due to arrive by December. It takes 18 months from ordering for a new vehicle to arrive.
The exchange took place at the full council meeting at Hove Town Hall on Thursday (23 July).
Not sure I noticed any difference!
Exactly. Another day, another excuse from the council about the decades long missed bin collection saga.
Snow, ice, heatwaves, old collections vehicles, no in cab technology about where collections are missed, and loads more reasons given by politicians, but very little ever mentioned by Labour councillors about “political interference” referenced in the KC report during their previous administration that’s mentioned in the 2023 KC report as something picked up in the earlier 2019 Gerry Doherty report as a reason for improvements were not being made.
Why the silence on something an independent investigation found, when there is so much noise on all these other excuses being rolled out by politicians! Extreme weather events are now a fact of life and a reality. The fact the council continues to plan ahead and has no reslience in the system is still a problem, it shouldn’t be after all the years of analysis and reports.
You can have much-improved public services if you’re willing to fund them.
Typical BHCC.
Want to bring in fortnightly collections but can’t collect them in the current weekly format.
Always hearing excuses of why they can’t do regular collections rather than what they are doing to make sure they are collecting the refuse regularly.
Rolled out food waste bins even with alot of objections due to the lack of service across the city with normal refuse, let alone recycling and then adding food waste and more collections on top.
You have to get a service running smoothly, right & consistently before you can even consider making changes.
All well and good upgrading the refuse trucks to more modern, reliable and environmentally friendly vehicles. But new trucks for a service that has been inundated with issues continually, is just trying to make the service looks better than it is, almost like putting a plaster over a massive cut that needs stitches.
BHCC need to get a grip.
We have a huge amount of seagulls in the city as well as a lot of foxes and rats. Which in the area I live in, thrive on missed refuse collections and food waste bins being left out for collection. Making the area I live in an absolute mess.
These animals are wild and need to eat so if there is overflowing refuse and food waste bins. They’ve hit the jackpot.
You want to be a cleaner, greener and more welcoming city not only for the residents and businesses but also visitors and tourists to the city.
But have hiked the council tax up yet again this year by almost 5% and still can’t get basic council services right.
Unbelievable.
Maybe start by getting the refuse and collection service right, day in day out before you even consider bringing in further changes or less collections. And stop making excuses for the missed collections. Like hot weather or the wrong PPE.
Maybe provide the correct PPE and prepare for adverse weather conditions in advanced. It’s not like the weather isn’t on the tv, radio or apps on phones. To make contingency plans knowing the forecast. It’s not good enough BHCC. Do better!
Councillor McNair appears to be once again misrepresenting figures to try to land a point, poorly. He fails to account for the fact that communal bins are not part of the changes, and was quite rightly pointed to the extreme heatwave being a rather unique situation this month.
What about last month Benjamin ?
Well, that’s not what McNair was referring to, as he specifically was talking about this month. However, taking that into account, is Rowkins right then to focus on resilience?
When we lived in B& H, there was always a reason for collection interruption. Usually hinged on the lefty workforce striking for more money, or better Ts and Cs. Living in Portchester for 12 years, there has never been an interruption in service ever.
Thanks for popping in.
Oh no! People don’t want to be exploited by their wmployer and we can’t be having that, can we?!
It’s strange that neighbouring Councils managed to keep up with their scheduled rounds in the same hot weather & with crews wearing the same PPE. In fact BHCC have two shifts now to keep up with the work & still can’t. It’s almost like the managers might be part of the issue & not just the staff…
Neighbouring councils are much smaller.
How does the size of a council affect the ability to collect refuse and recycling?
Surely they just have to provide sufficient resources (staff, machinery, and management) to deliver the defined service?
In fact, due to increased efficiency due to the size of operations, a larger number of customers should improve service and reduce costs.
Because larger areas take a longer time to collect, or require a larger number of resources to collect within the same time. That also increases costs as you are maintaining 4-5 vehicles instead of 1 for example. If you wanted cover all your trucks with a backup unit, you’re now considering 10 vehicles instead of 2, etc, etc.
Basically, larger areas have more points where things can go wrong!
Not really. Adur & Worthing run a joint service which is well organised & efficient. Other Sussex authorities likewise. BHCC have not managed to reorganise their work since the disastrous round updates from around 2016. Until they admit that & get someone competent in to run the service nothing will change. After all remember Rachel ‘I’ll turn it round in two years’ Chasseaud? That memorable statement was made around 2018 yet here we are. Administrations come & go. Directors come & go, the union has been flushed out yet still it doesn’t work. What’s left I wonder?