THE LEADER of Worcester City Council has vowed a ‘calm and measured’ approach to the outsourcing of bin collections, street cleaning, and parks and grounds maintenance.
Coun Simon Geragthy spoke as members of the city council’s cabinet approved the move at a meeting last Tuesday (July 28).
Council chiefs agreed to begin discussions on the move which could save the authority up to £500,00 but vowed to protect the current high standards of services.
Coun Andy Roberts, Worcester City Council’s Cabinet member for a Clean, Green and Safe City, said:
“The financial pressures we, like all councils, are facing over the next five years mean that, if we do nothing, we would have to reduce the standards of service we provide for our residents in order to balance the books.
“By taking this approach we will save money by using contractors who have a strong track record in delivering these services in a cost-efficient way.
“That means bins can continue to be collected as regularly as they are now, our streets will still be kept very clean, and our parks and other grounds will be maintained to the high standard Worcester people rightly expect.”
Coun Lynn Denham, Labour’s spokesperson on outsourcing, raised concerns and said the move represented a ‘formidable change’ for the council.
“Worcester City Council has an excellent cleaner and greener service at the moment which delivers excellent value for money for residents,” she said.
“This represents an absolutely fundamental change in culture for the council, I don’t this should just slide past.”
Coun Geraghty responded and said he was proud of the standard of service provided by the cleaner and green team at the Guildhall.
“This is not a reduction of the level of service, far from it. It’s a desire to retain the level of service we currently offer but we must make savings.
“The only alternative to make cuts, I’m not prepared to cut services rather than work with other people,” he added.
Officers will now prepare work on the detailed specifications for each of the services, which will be used as the basis for bids for the contracts.
The specifications will be brought back to cabinet for approval and operators will then be asked to tender for the contracts from January 2016.
It is expected that the new contracts will be in place for September 2017.
* What do you think? Write to the editor with your views to the address on page eight or e-mail [email protected]
