A major incident has been declared by Birmingham City Council over the ongoing bin strike, which has left 17,000 tonnes of waste on the streets. Leader John Cotton said it was in response to concerns for public health as the authority struggles to clear the rubbish, which has led to the issue being raised in Parliament. Its declaration means the council can increase its street cleaning operation and fly-tipping removal, by bringing in an extra 35 vehicles and crews. Unite union members have been on all-out strike since 11 March in a row over pay, and over this latest move bosses accused the council of being "hellbent on imposing" its plan for salary cuts and demotions. Residents in many areas of the city say they have had enough of seeing mountains of rubbish piling up, and are asking questions as to why some areas are apparently seeing bins being emptied while others are not. As the strike was being raised in the House of Commons, the government said it was "monitoring the situation closely". Declaring the major incident also allows the Labour-run council to "work with partners to better manage the risks the city is facing", which could include increased sharing of data. I'm not sure about the rest of the country but our bin men don't remove skips... please log in to view this image It seems to have escalated in some areas and become open season for fly tipping please log in to view this image
If that started happening on my street I'd be taking it down the local dump before it got out of hand, even though I pay the local council 3 grand a year to do that job. Seems to be a break down in community spirit
This isn't an April Fools prank, either, is it When 'Shields Council binmen were on strike (started in December, '23) for nearly a year we had arrangements to use the Recycling Village to get rid of our rubbish . . . . have Birmingham not got similar facilities ?
And Birmingham is one of the councils allowed to increase their council tax by more than 5% from today. 7.5% for them. Barmy situation. They are skint, but not the only council in that boat...
In the UK, refuse collectors typically earn an average salary of around £23,156 per year, or £11.88 per hour, with entry-level positions starting around £21,484 and experienced workers potentially earning up to £27,141 annually. Start at 5am finish at 1pm - not bad for unskilled work I wouldn't do it though
It's a breakdown in society mate...caused by decades of neglect in the face of dreadfully poor,self-serving leadership. This country is ****ed and no mistake.
That’s Britain today though . No community get together to do good things for each others benefit. As said above use opportunity to make matters worse - in this case - the fly tipping - “ great , it’s an easy solution to one of my needs and so what about the effect on others”
I've heard arguments that society started to change in the 80's when the Tories pushed for more home ownership / right-to-buy and also the culture of striving to earn as much as you can - screw everybody else. Societal and family bonds were gradually weakened and we've got to where we are now. It's one thing to encourage ambition but the negative / soft culture impacts have been massive.
I wouldn't disagree with any of that mate,although I would hesitate to place all of the blame for our current ills at Thatcher's door. This country has lost its' way since the end of the second world war and leader after leader has consistently failed to stem the tide of our collective drift into this perpetual, miserable under-achieving lack of pride and purpose.
Councils are skint because of the obscene amounts they pay themselves and the ridiculous amounts of pensions. Some councilors get more than the prime minister, for doing what?? What qualifications do you need to become a councilor?
It is a sad state of affairs, I live on a fairly new estate and generally the neighbours are friendly and look after each other but when it comes to actually doing stuff like tidying up the green areas, picking up litter etc. you get the same old volunteers turning up time after time. I've taken other peoples 'dumped stuff' to the proper dump just so that it doesn't attract more rubbish.
Yeah - I grew up in the seventies on a council estate (3 day week and all that) the estate had 'playing' fields which turned into dumping grounds well before Thatcher got to power. As kids we used to make camping dens with the old mattresses and bits of scrap wood and just adapted Eventually the council got their act together and restored it to manageable grass fields - god knows what they look like now Edit- just checked on google maps and the greens are looking good Sadly farmer Bailey's fields are now one BIG building site
In my experience Councils have always been the same, no one lounging around the Civic Centre gives a jot , and who can blame them.
Birmingham. I've always thought it was a ****hole everytime I've visited the place. Admittedly it's always been for footy. Typical Britain.
I think they are also one of the many councils which have massive holes in their pension fund. Unsustainable commitments having to be paid by rate payers. Some councils now set aside over 30% of rates collected to fund pensions. Clearly, this cannot go on forever, especially when the retirement age of council employees is lower than people in the private sector and the provisions more generous.
