Kirklees Council’s ruling Labour group has scrapped plans to downsize grey wheelie bins.

The proposal, contained in the 2025-26 draft budget, was roundly condemned by political opponents, and even the four Kirklees MPs from their own party.

The Labour group had tried to distance itself from the proposal, claiming it was merely a cost-saving idea from council officers that was never likely to happen.

The suggestion was spending £4.4 million on new 25% smaller grey general waste bins for all 160,000 households in Kirklees.

With less waste going to landfill or incineration, the council would save money and more than offset the cost of the new bins. Critics said the sums didn’t add up and more fly-tipping would be the outcome.

With the political row refusing to go away – and the draft budget out for public consultation – the Labour group has now canned the idea.

In a statement they said: “Kirklees Labour Group are concerned that the proposal currently being consulted on regarding the size of grey bins supplied to residents across Kirklees would not achieve the savings suggested, or the recycling rate improvements we would all like to see, without other significant service changes.

“In our response to the budget consultation, the Kirklees Labour Group will therefore be asking that this proposal be removed from the final version of the Kirklees Council budget in January, ahead of the full budget being voted on for cross party approval by council.”

 

 

Holme Valley North Independent councillor Charles Greaves said the plan wasn’t properly thought through and turned into a “fiasco” with “flip-flopping” by Labour councillors trying to protect themselves from the political fall-out.

Clr Greaves said the elephant in the room that no-one was talking about was that recycling rates in some parts of North Kirklees were half that of some parts in the rural area of South Kirklees.

“In some areas it seems that they use a green bin like an overflow grey bin,” he said.

“This has been a widely known problem for many years but little progress has been made in tackling it because the council doesn’t want to be seen to be heavy-handed.

“The result is that the wagon loads of recycling ends up contaminated. Council policy is to remove the green bins from repeat offenders but they haven’t.

“Rather than to move everyone to smaller grey bins, the council should focus on significantly improving recycling rates in those areas where it currently runs at half the average rate.

“They should also continue to expand the range of items that can be recycled through the green bin.”

Clr Greaves said the bin fiasco was just the latest in a series of ill-thought out proposals by Labour and he called for the leader and Cabinet system to be scrapped and a return to a committee system with councillors from all parties getting a say on decisions.

“Kirklees needs to dump the winner takes all Cabinet system that concentrates all power into the hands of a few Labour bosses, and it needs to move to a committee system of council management that actually exists to serve residents and that puts residents first,” he said.

 

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