Express & Star comment: Wolverhampton council bin spin is nothing but pure cheek
You have got to admire their cheek.
As Wolverhampton council reduces its bin collections from weekly to fortnightly, the Councillor Steve Evans has the gall to claim the move will result in an improved service.
When this was first announced last year, an online poll saw 80 per cent of Express & Star readers say they were against it.
Once the reduced service is introduced in September, the suspicion is that many more residents will reach the same conclusion.
It is likely that only a small minority will agree with Councillor Evans, whose comments come across as spin of the very worst kind.
To add insult to injury, the council will also charge people an annual £35 to collect their garden waste – a service which is free of charge at the moment.
What is it about so many public officials that they think they can insult the public’s intelligence in such a blatant manner and get away with it?
It isn’t just about the reduction in bin collections, it is the usual excuses about why such decisions are having to be made.
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It has now become an article of faith that all council cuts are solely the fault of the Conservative government.
While central government grants may well have decreased in real terms over the last eight years, little context is given to the spendthrift Labour administrations of the early 2000s.
Let us not forget that it was their wasteful ways that exacerbated the 2008 financial crisis and prompted austerity.
It is about time elected officials, be they councillors or police and crime commissioners, stopped pointing fingers and started to accept responsibility.
While they constantly push the idea that their various trendy initiatives are what the public want, the blunt reality is very different.
In simple terms, people want their council to empty the bins and fill in the potholes.
These issues should be considered near the top of the priorities list.
Instead, we have arrived at a desperate situation where the people in charge of our police forces and those who run our council services are in thrall to political correctness.
Wolverhampton council appears to be far more bothered about hitting its recycling target than giving residents a decent bin collection service.
There is a real risk that this move will have dire consequences for the city.
It is likely to lead to a huge increase in fly-tipping – already a big problem, as well as the sad sight of rubbish piling up on the city’s streets.
The city’s overstretched tips will undoubtedly come under increased pressure.
As an aside, it is interesting to note the reaction of the Unison branch secretary, who has welcomed the bins contract being brought back in-house.
You can always rely on a union official to come up with a skewed political statement that fails to take into account the interests of the public.
Bringing services back in-house is once again becoming a regular clarion call of those of a Labour persuasion.
But anyone attacking the private sector and championing the powers of our councils should remember one thing.
Over the years, plenty of local authority services have been left in a complete mess when they have been directly run by councils up and down the country.
As far as bin collections in Wolverhampton are concerned, the stark reality is that people will end up paying more for their services, and getting less in return.
What an extremely worrying foretaste of a union-dominated Corbynite government that is.
