Douglas Council cuts bin collections to fortnightly services

General waste will be collected every two weeks in Douglas from April to cut costs

Bin collections in the Isle of Man's capital are to be reduced from weekly to fortnightly services from April.

Douglas Council approved the move as it voted through a 3.7% increase in rates at its 2022-23 budget meeting.

Council Leader Claire Wells said the inflation-driven hike would have been higher without changes to waste services.

Alternating between recycling and black bin collection services would save about £25,000 a year, she added.

During the debate concerns were raised by some councillors that the scrapping of weekly collections would be unpopular, while others argued it was a "forward-thinking move".

Ms Wells said the change was "the best for our environment, and our pockets".

The island's largest local authority was at a "difficult point" after years of trying to make savings and she had been "surprised" some services had not had to be cut altogether when compiling the budget this year, she added.

The changes comes as waste disposal charges at the Energy from Waste Plant are set to increase with inflation.

The council currently makes about 600,000 general refuse collections and more than 100,000 recycling collections each year.

Council leader Claire Wells said the authority was at a "difficult point" after years of cutbacks

Only one councillor voted against the council's budget for the 2022-2023 financial year at the rate-setting meeting on Wednesday.

Among the capital projects included were a £250,000 skatepark at Noble's Park, development of a new £2.8m civic amenity site with other local authorities, and improvements to Summerhill Glen.

A £495,000 commitment to build new changing rooms at a football ground in Pulrose was put back into the budget after outcry from some councillors that it had been dropped.

Ms Wells said many of the projects had been held over after the council had been "stunted" in what it could deliver over the past two years due to the coronavirus pandemic.