Bin firm has one week to improve its service
A ‘FAILING’ bin collection company in Trafford has been slammed with an urgent improvement order by the council.
Opposition councillors have also called for the resignation of the cabinet member in charge.
Trafford Council issued the improvement order, with a deadline of January 31, to Amey PLC following repeated meetings between senior council officials and Amey representatives.
While those meetings were held in private due to discussions of sensitive commercial information, conditions have now been imposed on the firm by the council to ensure services for residents across the borough are drastically improved as quickly as possible.
If improvements aren’t seen by the January 31 deadline, it is unclear what sanctions, if any, the council will impose on the firm but the council’s contract with the contractor is understood to still be under review.
The order imposes immediate changes on the system of bin collections in Trafford which have been the subject of countless complaints and causing untold frustration for those living in the borough.
It is understood Amey has responded to the improvement order by pumping more resources into the services and making instant changes to the routes bin collection teams take around the borough.
But opposition councillors are unhappy with the Labour administration’s response to the issues and have called for the resignation of Councillor Stephen Adshead, who is in charge of the contract.
Amey hopes its immediate changes will get the service back on track and clear the backlog of unemptied bins around Trafford with some residents claiming they haven’t had their bins emptied in up to six weeks.
Trafford Council said: “We are having daily briefings with Amey so we can monitor performance and ensure they meet the targets we have set them.”
An Amey spokesperson said: “Years of housing growth has meant that collection rounds were no longer as efficient as they could be. The new routes are helping to reduce unnecessary travel by hundreds of miles per week, reducing CO2 emissions and ultimately saving time and costs to public services.”