Row kills wheelie bins plan for Ladywood and Perry Barr

Mar 11 2009 by Neil Elkes, Birmingham Post

Birmingham City Council’s experiment with wheelie bins for doorstep recycling has been killed off before a single bin has been bought.

A row over who would make the initial £360,000 to £460,000 investment in bins and lorries for a pilot scheme has ended the prospect of a trial run in Ladywood and Perry Barr.

The move has been criticised by opposition Labour councillors who claim the council had no intention of giving residents the choice and were always looking to kick the idea into the long grass.

Pressure has been building on Birmingham to switch from black bags and recycling boxes to wheelie bins, as used successfully in many neighbouring authorities, and so the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition agreed to a pilot scheme.

But when three Labour-run districts, Ladywood, Perry Barr and Hodge Hill, showed an interest in the pilot they were told to find the money themselves from already stretched meagre budgets.

When they could not come up with the cash the council leadership ­decided that no one wants wheelie bins.

Labour transport spokeswoman Coun Kath Hartley (Ladywood) said: “If we believe there is merit in a wheelie pilot then there should be funding. They are putting obstacles in the way of communities who want to give wheelie bins a go. People see other authorities with successful wheelie bin collections and will keep on demanding it.”

Chairman of Perry Barr constituency committee Coun Mahmood Hussain (Lab, Handsworth) said: “It is ridiculous to say no one wants wheelie bins. I handed a 2,000-name petition to the council.”

Chairman of transport scrutiny committee Martin Mullaney (Lib Dem, Moseley and Kings Heath) said that he was willing to work with constituencies to make a pilot.