Adding a "premium" on bulky waste collections could bring in hundreds of thousands of pounds for cash-strapped Liverpool Council, the new leader of the ruling Labour group has said.
Earlier this month the local authority published a raft of measures it was considering to plug a £73m gap in its finances ahead of the new financial year. Among them are reductions in its welfare services, culture budget and potential job losses.
One of the proposals laid out is to add a £20 charge for bulky waste collections from the council at weekends. It is hoped by authority officials that the additional fee could generate £200,000 a year for the next three years.
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The proposal for a charge comes amid Liverpool Council’s decision last month to end its partnership with Bulky Bob’s after more than 20 years working together. Since 2000, the council had used the company, part of the FRC Group, to collect and dispose of large furniture items for residents across the city.
The service is now provided by the council’s streetscene department and remains a free provision. Addressing councillors last night, Cllr Liam Robinson, cabinet member for neighbourhoods and the new leader of the Labour group, said under the scheme collections would remain free from Monday to Friday but the “premium charge” would be available at weekends for those who wish to have bulky items collected quickly.
He said Liverpool was the only core city in the UK that didn’t charge for waste collections like the one it provides and felt the implementation of a fee was “not a bad idea.” Cllr Robinson added: “It could bring in a couple of hundred grand a year.”
The projections were questioned by opposition councillors including Cllr Tom Crone, leader of the Green Party group. He said the expectations of 10,000 residents paying for the service was “a little far-fetched”, adding “it makes me worry about the figures in the budget.” The charge was described as "this year's budget brainwave" by Cllr Richard Clein who called on the council to "recruit, recruit, recruit" officers to reprimand litterbugs, dog foulers, and problem parkers to get money in.
On the wider budget proposals, Cllr Robinson said combined with the services in the culture and visitor economy portfolio, savings of £10m could be made across the department in the next financial year. The Kensington and Fairfield councillor said work had been done to protect "frontline services as much as possible."
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