Council issue

Jenni_D

lincroft1710 said:

Jenni_D said:

lincroft1710 said:

The contractors' costs to empty the bins seem excessive.

I would perhaps dispute that ... what about their costs for the vehicle(s), fuel and labour?

If your CT bill shows a proper breakdown of how the CT is spent (mine unfortunately no longer does so), it would be interesting to see how much is allocated for domestic waste disposal and divide the amount by the number of bins you have emptied per annum. I am aware that CT is not the only source of council income.

My post was in response to the comment regarding private contractors, not council collections.

lincroft1710

Jenni_D said:

lincroft1710 said:

Jenni_D said:

lincroft1710 said:

The contractors' costs to empty the bins seem excessive.

I would perhaps dispute that ... what about their costs for the vehicle(s), fuel and labour?

If your CT bill shows a proper breakdown of how the CT is spent (mine unfortunately no longer does so), it would be interesting to see how much is allocated for domestic waste disposal and divide the amount by the number of bins you have emptied per annum. I am aware that CT is not the only source of council income.

My post was in response to the comment regarding private contractors, not council collections.

I know but it would be interesting to see how much it costs the council to empty the bins

Alderbank

lincroft1710 said:

Jenni_D said:

lincroft1710 said:

Jenni_D said:

lincroft1710 said:

The contractors' costs to empty the bins seem excessive.

I would perhaps dispute that ... what about their costs for the vehicle(s), fuel and labour?

If your CT bill shows a proper breakdown of how the CT is spent (mine unfortunately no longer does so), it would be interesting to see how much is allocated for domestic waste disposal and divide the amount by the number of bins you have emptied per annum. I am aware that CT is not the only source of council income.

My post was in response to the comment regarding private contractors, not council collections.

I know but it would be interesting to see how much it costs the council to empty the bins

Yes, good question. I also think it is interesting.

The calculations are too difficult for me but the author of this website https://www.isonomia.co.uk/myth-takes-private-bin-collections-would-be-cheaper/
 says 'The effective council monopoly on household waste collections in the UK helps to keep the service extremely efficient, and surprisingly cheap compared to the cut-throat commercial waste market. Feeding ‘middle of the road’ gate fees and material prices into WRAP’s ICP benchmarking tool, you find that weekly residual waste and fortnightly recycling costs between £100-140 per UK household per year, depending on geography, demographics and collection system.'

As an interesting comparison he says that in the Republic of Ireland local councils do not have the responsibility of emptying the bins so residents have to make their own arrangements with private companies, rather like we have to do for our mobile phone and broadband services. The average bin charge in the ROI in 2020 was €289 a year. He gives several examples of competitive charges in Dublin where, again a bit like mobile phone data, competing companies charge by weekly weight of your bin - different packages give different weekly allowances and have differing excess charges.

mikeyeagle

Deleted_User said:

In my area the council have opened a pop in for residents to take their rubbish to, which you have to book online. Thats ok if you have a car! Where I am its been 4 weeks and we have 5 communal bins for 10 households!!! rubbish is everywhere because of seagulls ripping the bags open. Im storing my rubbish in my tiny shed ( the old dustbin storage cupboard) . At the moment according to the councils website the blue bin will be collected on Tues 12th April and because of easter weekend the household rubbish wont be collected until 21st April !! 

Would be interested to know which town you are - I am in Worthing (hence comparison to the issue in Brighton, because I remember news reports on it!)

mikeyeagle

I've made a Freedom of Information request to find out the amount of money they have't needed to spend on wages and other costs since the strike started, and the cost of negotiations.

Also tempted to ask for minutes of meetings but will consider that.

The skip option seems sensible, thank you. I've a feeling this could rumble on for a while. I'll speak to locals and see what they think.

I would be surprised, when thereatened with a small claims tribunal, if they contested - if they did I guess it would cost more, should they lose - but of course I also understand it could open a floodgate for them.

Alderbank

mikeyeagle said:

I would be surprised, when thereatened with a small claims tribunal, if they contested - if they did I guess it would cost more, should they lose - but of course I also understand it could open a floodgate for them.

The small claims court is extremely busy and expects you to take all other possible steps first to resolve your dispute and to treat the possibility of court action as a last resort.
In particular they will expect you to pursue the Council's formal complaints procedure first and when that fails to try any mediation or ombudsman service. The relevant service for emptying bins is the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.
They say they deal with complaints about household refuse collections; They look at the facts of each case and consider whether the council has done something wrong, for instance if the Council has unreasonably refused to collect all household waste.
They say 'We will not usually investigate complaints of one or two missed collections. We do not expect councils to pay a financial remedy for a single missed collection or a limited number of missed collections. Councils do not give council tax refunds for missed collections and we do not expect them to. We may investigate if there have been a series of missed collections over a number of months.'

tl;dr - before your claim would be accepted in small claims court you would have to go to this Ombudsman first.

[Deleted User]

mikeyeagle said:

Deleted_User said:

In my area the council have opened a pop in for residents to take their rubbish to, which you have to book online. Thats ok if you have a car! Where I am its been 4 weeks and we have 5 communal bins for 10 households!!! rubbish is everywhere because of seagulls ripping the bags open. Im storing my rubbish in my tiny shed ( the old dustbin storage cupboard) . At the moment according to the councils website the blue bin will be collected on Tues 12th April and because of easter weekend the household rubbish wont be collected until 21st April !! 

Would be interested to know which town you are - I am in Worthing (hence comparison to the issue in Brighton, because I remember news reports on it!)

Same area, just checked councils website and no collections this week either!! 🙄

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Alderbank said:

lincroft1710 said:

Jenni_D said:

lincroft1710 said:

Jenni_D said:

lincroft1710 said:

The contractors' costs to empty the bins seem excessive.

I would perhaps dispute that ... what about their costs for the vehicle(s), fuel and labour?

If your CT bill shows a proper breakdown of how the CT is spent (mine unfortunately no longer does so), it would be interesting to see how much is allocated for domestic waste disposal and divide the amount by the number of bins you have emptied per annum. I am aware that CT is not the only source of council income.

My post was in response to the comment regarding private contractors, not council collections.

I know but it would be interesting to see how much it costs the council to empty the bins

Yes, good question. I also think it is interesting.

The calculations are too difficult for me but the author of this website https://www.isonomia.co.uk/myth-takes-private-bin-collections-would-be-cheaper/
 says 'The effective council monopoly on household waste collections in the UK helps to keep the service extremely efficient, and surprisingly cheap compared to the cut-throat commercial waste market. Feeding ‘middle of the road’ gate fees and material prices into WRAP’s ICP benchmarking tool, you find that weekly residual waste and fortnightly recycling costs between £100-140 per UK household per year, depending on geography, demographics and collection system.'

As an interesting comparison he says that in the Republic of Ireland local councils do not have the responsibility of emptying the bins so residents have to make their own arrangements with private companies, rather like we have to do for our mobile phone and broadband services. The average bin charge in the ROI in 2020 was €289 a year. He gives several examples of competitive charges in Dublin where, again a bit like mobile phone data, competing companies charge by weekly weight of your bin - different packages give different weekly allowances and have differing excess charges.

Based on what our council spends on collection minus what they earn for recycling divided by the number of households it comes to around £100 a year as well. 

It one of those services people think is very important and must be a major aspect of council service because it's something they see happening and affects them directly but really makes up a very small proportion of what the council do. 

Can fully understand the OP's frustration but sadly I can't see the council volunteering to hand back any money as a rebate or for paying a private company to take the rubbish. 

Given the low cost of running it to the tip it's probably one of those cases of not worth chasing.  

[Deleted User]

Council Tax retained by Adur District Council and Worthing Borough Council is used to provide a wide range of services, with waste services only making up a small proportion of the total sum (approximately £15 per household per year). 

born_again

Is this actually a council service, or has it be outsourced to a 3rd party Co?