Thumbs up for new recycling money, thumbs down for more central government control

Published on Thursday 6th October 2011 by Phil MacDonald

Wiltshire Liberal Democrats have welcomed Secretary of State Eric Pickles' announcement of £250 million new money for waste collection and recycling, but criticised the strings attached that make weekly bin collection a requirement.

NOVEMBER UPDATE: 

From Cllr Jon Hubbard (pictured with Duncan Hames MP): "Pickles has been insisting this money will have to be used for weekly general waste, but the Prime Minister has given his assurances food waste collections will be eligible as well. (See interview 52 minutes into The BBC Politics Show) We’ll just have to wait and see how this fiasco turns out.”

Jon Hubbard (pictured with Duncan Hames MP) previously commented "What a shame that we won't be allowed to use the money to introduce weekly food waste collections, a policy that Lib Dems have been pushing for since the formation of Wiltshire Council.

"This again demonstrates just how much the Conservatives never practice what they preach. Forcing single weekly collections on councils will dramatically reduce the amount of recycling achieved in communities and the council will end up paying more in landfill fines than they receive in additional grant funding from central government.

"Lib Dems in government are pushing for greater localism, letting local communities make the decisions that affect them. Unfortunately Conservatives have an urge to take power away from people, and this central diktat from Eric Pickles will mean that money can't be used in the way people in Wiltshire would want.

"Arrangements for bin collection and recycling should be determined by local people according to local preferences, not by a distant Conservative Administration in Westminster and an increasingly bossy Secretary of State".