Wolverhampton waste services £800,000 in the red despite fortnightly bin collections

Council bosses said the switch to fortnightly collections 12 months ago would save £2.4 million a year but a large overspend is being forecast for 2019/20.

Waste services were brought in-house last year, while a garden waste charge was also introduced.

The Labour-run authority said there had been "a number of additional costs incurred this year" that would be "addressed as part of the waste restructure". Bosses also said a "one-off spend in regards to the garden waste service also impacted on the current budget".

A council report said waste budgets were being reviewed "to ensure they are appropriate going forward".

The switch to fortnightly bin collections prompted anger across the city.

It was recently revealed that green wheelie bins are still waiting to be removed at people’s homes in Wolverhampton months after the introduction of the new purple bin scheme.

Merry Hill Conservative councillor Simon Bennett said: “Cuts to bin collections and a new garden tax, which were meant to save the council millions, have instead resulted in a massive overspend this year whilst residents have suffered from a very poor service.

“Wolverhampton deserves better considering council tax bills have continued to rise over recent years.”

Transformation

Councillor Steve Evans, environment boss at the council, said: “The huge transformation of waste services is an ongoing process and will result in annual savings of £2.4m.

“To be clear, in the first year of the garden waste service there have been one-off associated costs for the council - not for residents - and this was for the initial purchase of bins. Income from the service after year one will be used to contribute to the reduction in budget.

“We’ve also inherited staff terms and conditions and other contracts from the previous service provider."

The £800,000 forms part of an overall projected overspend in the environment budget of £1.5 million for the 2019/20 financial year. A large total of the overspend is due to a lack of income from parking charges.

Opposition councillors said this was evidence the city centre was struggling to attract shoppers but the city council said the projected figure of £717,000 was the "result of reduced capacity for on street parking and closure of some car parks".

It said this budget would also be reviewed to "determine if these cost pressures are re-current or one-off".

Bosses said the overspends would partially be offset by savings of £300,000 from public protection and customer services.

Councillor Evans added: “The reported deficit in parking relates to performance against pre-determined income targets. These targets are being reviewed to better reflect the changes to parking facilities within the city.”