Ranil Jayawardena, Member of Parliament for North East Hampshire, has hit out at suggestions that Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council could move to alternate weekly bin collections.
Recently, at the Council’s Community, Environment and Partnerships committee, the Council made clear that all options are on the table, including a proposal for black bins to be collected every other week, despite the most recent residents’ survey showing that over 95% of residents are happy with the current weekly service.
Ranil Jayawardena MP slammed the fortnightly option, saying:
“These proposals are junk. Weekly black bin collections are best for local people – and, when I was Deputy Leader of the Council, we repeatedly ruled out moving to fortnightly collections, so to say that the Council has to look at all the options is just rubbish. It will punish families; if the Council wants to increase recycling, then why not look at those areas of the Borough that don’t recycle and sort that out, rather than cutting the service for those that do?
“Until now, I’d have said it’s a shame that other local authorities have not followed Basingstoke and Deane’s example in protecting this service – I’ve always urged those with fortnightly collections to move back to weekly ones. Now, I just hope that Basingstoke and Deane won’t can a decent service just because some folk don’t know what bin they should use.”