Consultants to ‘look at all aspects

COUNCIL bosses have drafted in consultants to review waste services in a bid to end the rubbish collection problem plaguing Birmingham.

The city authority had set aside up to £300,000 to cover the cost of the probe, but said the contract struck was “significantly less than initial estimates”.

The review is expected to take around three months and will report back to the council in the autumn.

The company, Wood Environment and Infrastructure Solutions UK, is described as one of the UK’s largest environmental and engineering consultancies, with more than 60 years’ experience in the design and delivery of waste management projects”

Over the next three months, the company will look at existing services and consider best practice elsewhere before identifying urgent improvements and recommendations for future services.

Cllr John O’Shea, cabinet member for Street Scene and Parks, said: “We’ve made it clear that we need to significantly improve waste services in this city if we are to meet the top priority for citizens – clean streets.

“In order to do this, the review will look at all aspects of our existing service and all possible options for the future.

“We received some very strong submissions from interested parties for this piece of work, looking at their experience, track record, price, social value commitments and proposed approach to delivering the specification.