Council chairman raises concerns over possible misuse of free waste pickup

A parish council chairman has expressed fears that Blackburn with Darwen’s new free bulky waste collection service will be abused and even used to dodge the cost of house clearances.

Les Cade tackled authority leader Cllr Phil Riley on the issue at the borough’s full Council Forum on Thursday night.

The Livesey Parish Council chairman referred to the promised that ‘we will introduce one free bulk waste collection per household to reduce fly tipping and to keep our streets tidy’.

Mr Cade asked Cllr Riley: “How will the one free bulk waste collection will be financed?

“Has it been fully costed including how will the oversight be managed for each address?

“What will define a bulk item and at what point does it become a house clearance for instance? No details or limitations have been outlined.

“A landlord with a newly-vacated property being the person responsible for the council tax from date of vacancy could request the back yard be emptied of all the items he may place there from the property which will be cheaper than paying for a house clearance.

“The general statement appears to be open for abuse.”

Cllr Riley replied: “The introduction of a free bulky waste scheme is being financed by a strategic spend to save initiative costing £150,000 providing additional budget to proactively collect items with a view to assist households and reduce the costs associated with reactive fly-tipping clean-ups.

“The new funding will allow the provision of an additional collection team and vehicle to deliver the service.

“It will be administered using our existing digital infrastructure and bulky waste process logging requests against each property’s unique property reference number to automatically enforce the strict limit of one free collection per household in a rolling 12 month period up to the value of 100 units which is the equivalent of 34 pounds worth of bulky waste collection.

“Residents can of course continue to utilise the free drop off option at the borough household waste recycling centres as an alternative, pay for bulky waste collection or engage reputable waste contractors.

“To ensure the scheme remains fair and is not abused clear operational rules strictly refine a bulky waste collection as a small number of large household items entirely separate from a house clearance.

“Robust safeguards are actively enforced to prevent misuse by landlords or businesses.

“If our crews arrive and identify a load that exceeds the household limit or contains prohibited materials or resembles a commercial clearance the collection will be immediately aborted and referred to our environmental crime team as occurs at present.”