Council spent more than £1m on waste 'disaster'

Basildon's previous Conservative administration brought in changes that required people to separate their recycling into six different sections

A controversial bin collection system has seen a council spend more than £1m in additional costs, with extra crews and fuel contributing to the increase.

Basildon Council has revealed the waste collection changes brought in by the previous Conservative administration, which sparked anger from residents, cost an additional £1.2m.

This includes the hiring of four additional waste collection crews at a cost of £600,000, an extra £200,000 in fuel costs, and £400,000 in agency staff.

The new Labour leader of the Essex council, Gavin Callaghan, said it had put "unnecessary financial" strain on the council’s budget.

'Tip of the iceberg'

Last November, the previous administration brought in changes including a fortnightly recycling scheme that required people to separate their recycling themselves into six different sections.

The new rules replaced a weekly black sack service across the borough.

A petition was signed by 2,606 people who were frustrated with the changes.

At the time, the council insisted the changes were introduced in a bid to improve poor recycling rates across the borough, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Since the local elections in May, Labour is the largest party at the borough council, after the Conservatives were defeated and no party achieved overall control.

Mr Callaghan said the "mishandling of the waste service reform was just the tip of the iceberg" and cited how the previous council’s inability to fill vacant food and beverage units at the cinema also cost taxpayers lost projected revenue.

He said the new council was also addressing the regeneration of Basildon town centre and tackling the "soaring costs of temporary accommodation, which are currently crippling the council’s budget".

"The waste changes have been a disaster on Basildon’s streets and on the balance sheet," he said.

"These compounded failures have left Basildon in a precarious financial situation, which we are now working diligently to fix.

"The new administration is taking immediate action to rectify these issues. This includes reforming the waste service to return to a simpler and more cost-effective weekly collection system.

"The people of Basildon deserve better. We are committed to fixing the mess we inherited and ensuring that our community receives the quality services it deserves, without the burden of unnecessary costs."