Council says collections could take weeks to resume

National World - LocalTV

With over 17,000 tonnes of waste on Birmingham’s streets, the city council has declared a major incident. Strike action has delayed collections for weeks. Emergency plans are now in motion—but the clean-up could still take time.

Transcript

00:00Mountains of rubbish are still clogging Birmingham streets and now the council

00:05has formally declared a major incident. The move comes after weeks of

00:09miscollections linked to strike action. The disputes began in January. It's

00:15centred around the council's plans to scrap a role known as the Waste

00:19Recycling and Collection Officer. Unite the Workers' Union says this would force

00:24staff into lower paid roles. The council insists that no one will lose money and

00:28that the new structure offers the same grade and pay. Overflowing bins have led

00:33to concerns about rats, fire hazards in tower blocks and growing frustration

00:37across the city. The council's emergency plan allows for 90 refuse vehicles to be

00:43deployed daily but due to picket lines at depots it says only one vehicle per

00:48hour is currently managing to get out. Council officials say that once the

00:52fleet is fully operational it could take up to three weeks to restore regular

00:57collections and another three to clean up the wider mess left behind.

01:01Declaring a major incident allows the council to bring in help from external

01:05partners including nearby authorities and government agencies. It also clears

01:10the way for 35 extra vehicles and crews to begin flight removals and street

01:15cleansing. Other measures already in place include extended opening hours at

01:20local tips, seven day mobile collections and more caretakers in tower blocks to

01:25help tackle fire risk from built-up refuse. But full recovery will rely not

01:30just on vehicles and staff but on a resolution to the underlying dispute. The

01:34council says it's doing everything possible to minimise risk and restore

01:38services. For now though much of the city remains stuck under a growing pile of

01:43rubbish.

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