Weekly rubbish collections paid for by £250m fund

The government says it is to pay local authorities in England to retain or restore weekly bin collections. A £250m scheme is due to launch from April, after ministers conceded earlier this year that they could not force councils to pick up rubbish every week. Communities Secretary Eric Pickles called it a "basic right" for homes to have their rubbish taken away weekly. No other budgets would be cut to pay for the scheme, the Department of Communities and Local Government said. The Weekly Collections Support Scheme is being funded by the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG). Councils will be paid for guaranteeing to keep or reinstate weekly collections for at least five years and if they can demonstrate potential environmental benefits, such as increased recycling or reduced fly-tipping and litter. Unveiling the plan ahead of the Conservative Party conference, Mr Pickles said: "Weekly rubbish collections are the most visible of all front-line services and I believe every household in England has a basic right to have their rubbish collected every week. "Our fund will help councils deliver weekly collections and in the process make it easier for families to go green and improve the local environment." The BBC's local government correspondent, Mike Sergeant, said the question was whether £250m would be sufficient over the period of the comprehensive spending review. More than half of councils in England now operate some form of fortnightly collection. Many have invested heavily in technology to operate alternate weekly schemes - in many areas the recycling is taken one week, general waste the next. Many councils say fortnightly schemes encourage recycling and thus minimise expensive landfill taxes. Under the proposals being outlined, local authorities could bid individually or in groups. While in opposition, Mr Pickles made repeated pledges to restore weekly bin collections. Defra published its waste review in June, saying that "the government will be working with local councils to increase the frequency of rubbish collections" but not giving any detail of how this might happen. Our correspondent says that sources at the DCLG say the policy "wasn't ready at the time", and now is - hence the detail released on Thursday. The DCLG said the funding would be additional to that given to councils in the local government financial settlement - there would be no other cuts to other budgets to pay for it, and it was "within the DCLG spending review envelope". One source said ministers had "raided every biscuit tin in the building" to find the cash, but questions were now being asked about why money had been found for this, at a time when many local authorities were being asked to make difficult savings, our correspondent added.