BASILDON Council will go back to weekly black bin collections after a "thumbing majority" of residents "demanded" the change, which has been described as "pretty overwhelming" – a council meeting was told.

The council's cabinet meeting on December 9 also heard how the Labour-led administration is "fixing the bins" after the previous Conservative-led administration introduced the equally controversial fortnightly black bin collections and recycling system with blue and white sacks. 

The meeting was also told residents could be hit with "enforcement" for not disposing of waste correctly, as the council is "going to equip people with the actual tools necessary to do the job." The meeting heard a sobbing nurse tell the now-council leader that during the election period, she "felt as though the way in which the black bins system was operating was treating her and her neighbours like second-class citizens."

Gavin Callaghan, Labour leader of the council, also said, at the meeting, the controversial bin system led to "literally 70, 80 black bags piled high on street corners that had not been collected for weeks and months at the end."

Aidan McGurran, councillor for environment and leisure, told the meeting: "When we were elected in May, we said we would fix the bins, and tonight I can announce what residents have been waiting for, we are going back to weekly black bin collections.

"Let's not forget that only 8.1 per cent of residents that took part in the consultation did not agree with the sentiment of returning to weekly collections, so talk about a thumbing majority, that's pretty overwhelming, and just to be clear 73.2 per cent actually actively support it. 

"We have to, of course, deliver a balanced budget, and as the leader has outlined, that is more of a challenge than we would like it to be.

"Having said that, and as I mentioned earlier, this administration is all about financial prudence it's at the heart of everything that this administration does and wants to do, and I have no doubt whatsoever we will deliver a balanced budget, and on the back of that in spring 2025 we will go back to weekly black bin collections.

"I thank residents for their patience. We said we'd do it, we're doing it, we're fixing the bins, we've already announced what's happening with the blue and white recycling sacks, they're being binned, we're introducing disposal bags, and now we are moving very swiftly toward weekly black bin collections, which is what the residents have demanded."

Gavin Callaghan, Labour leader of the council, told the meeting: "The point I would just raise on this, I go back to the AGM when I raised the point at the AGM of the nurse who told us repeatedly on the doorstep, broke down crying because she felt as though the way in which the black bins system was operating was treating her and her neighbours like second class citizens.

"Lots of us, of all political parties, we pound the streets of this borough on an annual basis going from door to door, from ward to ward, I'd never seen anything like it in the borough in the lead up to May.

"It was literally 70, 80 black bags piled high on street corners that had not been collected for weeks and months at the end. I agree entirely with Cllr Smith, people are paying the highest level of council tax in history, they should get a basic service, which for me is a weekly black bin collection. 

"I also think we need to think about in 2025, now we are going to equip people with the actual tools necessary to do the job, we have to look at enforcement, and we've got think about how we take enforcement to another level, we haven't been able to do that on a sufficient scale because we simply haven't given people the tools to be able to deal with their waste properly but we are dealing with that in the new year.

"The damage the bin system did to the reputation of this council, it comes out, we see it every single day in what people send us in our mail boxes as we've got to repair that. I think that will help to restore the trust and confidence the public has in its council."