The Labour Run City Council have rejected one of the largest petitions in it’s history. With almost 14,000 signatures calling for a council tax rebate for missed bin collections last summer.
The Labour Leader of Birmingham City Council Ian Ward conceded “it was unusual to get petitions of this size” before concluding “I don’t believe this is something any local authority in the country is currently doing.”
Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group Randal Brew, stated “If a resident does something wrong they will be fined and I see no reason why the reverse shouldn’t happen.” He concluded “the point is, the service hasn’t been delivered by a body”.
The Conservatives recommended that the administration of any refund could be an adjustment on the council tax bill from 1st April. Four conservatives voted in favour of this while four labour councillors voted against it. The casting vote was left to the chairman, also a Labour councillor, who voted against. Residents will not be receiving a rebate for the missed bin collections.
Labour have announced plans to increase Council Tax in their 2018/2019 budget. The plans include £14m of additional savings on top of £63m already planned. The budget proposals come in spite of at least a £26m net increase in corporate funding, from growing businesses and Government devolving of business rates.
Then, to add further insult, the refuse service continued to be in disarray throughout the winter, with many residents across our community complaining to me directly about missed collections and an increase in fly tipping, which is a still huge problem in Frankley. Fly tipping in Birmingham has increased by 20% throughout 2016/2017 alone, while the Labour City Council have carried out 336 fewer enforcement cases.
If elected in May, myself and the Conservatives plan to restore bulky waste collections to cut fly tipping and introduce clean-up crews to make our streets cleaner. By doing this, we will drastically cut the level of fly tipped waste and increase recycling, helping to deliver a cleaner, greener Birmingham.