The Tories want to bring back weekly bin rounds but Labour claims the move will cost £7m and is “unaffordable”, reports James Cracknell

Bins in Enfield with (inset left) council leader Ergin Erbil and (inset right) Alessandro Georgiou

Labour and Conservative councillors are locked in a row over the cost of reintroducing weekly bin collections as the parties compete for votes ahead of May’s local election.

The Tories have long promised to bring back weekly bin rounds to the borough, some six years after they were axed by the Labour administration at Enfield Civic Centre.

While Labour is now making its own pledge to reintroduce weekly recycling collections, it claims that the Conservative promise on weekly general waste bins is “unaffordable” – citing a cost of £7million per year.

But the Tories say they “completely refute” that number, since the original cost saving made in 2020 when weekly bin rounds were axed amounted to only £2m annually. The opposition group also claims that its policy on waste collections is “fully costed”.

Asked to explain how its own £7m figure was calculated, Enfield Labour claims that £2m covers only the cost of staffing and additional bin lorries, and that the additional £5m relates to the extra cost of waste disposal – which must be done via incineration. Recycling, on the other hand, is cheaper to dispose of.

In a statement Enfield Council leader Ergin Erbil said: “The Enfield Conservatives are making promises they cannot keep. I want to be clear with residents, Enfield Labour will only make promises we know we can achieve.”

The Dispatch has asked Enfield Labour how much its own pledge on reintroducing weekly recycling collections would cost, but was told only that it would be paid for “by increasing the overall waste budget thanks to the increase in money from the [government’s] fair funding review”.

The Dispatch has also asked the Tories to explain how it will pay for weekly collections of both recycling and general waste. Group leader Alessandro Georgiou said: “As the leader of the Enfield Conservatives I am proud to state once again that if we win in May we will bring back the weekly black and blue bin collections. Labour moved it to fortnightly, and ever since we have seen rampant fly-tipping and families struggling.

“On the finance point it is a fully costed policy. I won’t do Labour’s job for them, however. They have borrowed £1.5billion with nothing to show for it. In addition, due to their financial negligence, we are paying £31m in debt interest every year. They stole our 30 minutes free parking policy, recycling collection policy, now they want me to reveal more so they can steal that too.

“We will clean up the borough and restore our finances at the same time.”

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