SOMETIMES, you think you have finished with a story. Some times you are wrong.
The chaos that ensued from the re-organisation of the Thurrock waste collections was well documented. But by the end of August, it seemed to have settled down.
But diligent portfolio holder, cllr Simon Wootton has been monitoring the situation and over the last few weeks it has been getting worse again.
On Friday October 11th, the number of missed streets was back to a hundred again.
Some residents have had long running battles with the council just to get their bins emptied.
Some are starting to question whether there may be more to all this?
Conservative spokesman for the Environment Cllr Simon Wootton said: “The Council’s bin collection changes were a real horror show for residents during the summer. Over the past fortnight, an average of well over 100 roads has been missed daily. This is being blamed on staff sickness and other operational issues. All it shows is that the service has been cut too close to the bone and when a few members of staff are unable to turn up for work, the service descends into chaos. Hard working residents across Thurrock pay their Council Tax for a weekly bin collection and expect the Council to get the basics right. We are all fed up with putting our bins out and not knowing if they will be collected as promised.”
This summer, residents endured three months of missed collections and service changes after Labour-run Thurrock Council botched attempts to implement their savings plan. Instead of Labour’s promise of ‘Same Service, Different Day’, many residents went weeks without collections and Conservative calls for the Labour Cabinet member with responsibility for the service to be replaced were defeated by Labour.
Cllr Wootton added “This mess has cost Thurrock Council’s reputation dearly and provides further evidence that Labour’s control of council services is ineffective. I will be pushing to find out just how much money Labour’s incompetence has cost Thurrock tax payers and asking what services will be cut to make up any shortfall.”
If this was not so serious it would be comical, do TBC actually know what they are doing? it is like the Keystone Cops in charge of the borough.
Is the portfolio holder going to step up to the plate and give a reasonable explanation of why this is still going on, is the Leader going to stand up and be counted or is he going to continue to watch his administration become an even bigger laughing stock.
In my time at Thrrock Council I watched people try to make changes to the Refuse service, among other front line services. They failed then as they will fail now. They have no imagination and Councilors are convinced by officers that certain areas of the council can’t be touched because they are integral to the running of the council. In other words they don’t want people to find out what really goes on. You can cut management and you can cut the chief feather nester. The comrades have an ally and the mutual agreement means that they will be left alone and front line services, that will stick in peoples minds next year, will be cut.
Sack the Council Officer who sold this scheme to Councillors and promised her staff would deliver. She is on an eye watering salary and she should be held to account. Or if she can’t be sacked make sure she doesn’t get a bonus this year.