Plans to introduce fortnightly waste collections have been binned thanks to a £10 million government grant which Luton won yesterday (November 22).
Luton is one of 85 local authorities chosen to receive a grant from the government’s £250 million Weekly Collections Support Scheme.
The announcement of the £10,885,115 ring-fenced grant resulted in the waste collection service discussion being dropped from last night’s meeting of the council executive.
Communities secretary Eric Pickles said: “Every Englishman has a basic right to have their household rubbish taken away each and every week – it is the most visible council service people get. Yet under the previous administration weekly bin collections halved while their council tax bills doubled.
“Over six million families will breathe a sigh of relief because we have put a stop to the fetid fortnightly rot and saved many weekly collections from extinction, all while increasing recycling rates by hundreds of thousands of tonnes to boot.”
Luton council’s project aims to improve recycling performance while supporting weekly residual waste collections for its 75,000 households.
Without the grant, Luton residents were facing the possibility not only of fortnightly collections, but cessation of kerbside green waste collections, introduction of a charging scheme for bulky waste collection and the loss of 30 jobs.