Sheffield Fly Tipping Soars 180% Following 50% Black Bin Collections Cut, Whilst Veolia Profits

By: N_Walayat

Labour run Sheffield City's baldrick-esk councillor's cunning plan of last year to cut costs by cutting black bin waste collections by 50% has not only FAILED to result in a cut in the waste management budget but has resulted in an increase in fly tipping by over 180% as the number of reported cases of fly tipping soar city wide to 576 for 2012/13 as compared to 204 for 2011/12 which could yet double again for 2013/14, whilst the French multinational waste contracting firm Veolia's annual UK profits continue to soar at the rate of 20% per annum.

Sheffielders have been left to deal with the consequences of the city council being in the hands of incompetents as mountains of waste go uncollected that council tax payers are forced to self dispose of as I warned near a year ago (Labour Sheffield Council Black Bins Collections 50% Cut Encouraging Fly Tipping)

Sheffield's law abiding citizens are being left with little choice but to make regular trips of between 5 to 10 miles to the nearest waste disposal sites.

The only problem is that the demand at the waste disposal sites has soared, resulting in huge queues and much time being wasted as a consequence of Sheffield city council incompetence as it can take several hours to dispose of waste that Sheffielders are still forced to pay for through rising council tax bills.

Those that complain to Sheffield's waste management services will likely be in receipt of a bureaucratic formulaic letter recommending that the council tax payer should increase recycling. However recycling can only cut waste upto a point.

Incompetent Sheffield City Council's 25 Year Contract with Veolia

The claim by the Labour run Sheffield City Council was that the 50% cut in waste collection will reduce household waste by 10% and cut costs by saving £1.6 million in year 1 and £2.4 million over several years, though at an estimated cost of £1 million to implement, so for a net saving of just £600k in the first year. Though what these calculations failed to allow for were the impact of high public sector / monopoly services Inflation, which insures that NO monies have been nor will be saved. Additionally the argument of cutting waste by 10% is nonsensical because households will still generate the same amount of waste, it's just that less of it will find its way into black bin's and more elsewhere such as increasingly being fly tipped at huge additional clear up cost.

The decision to make these cuts was made by the Council in Feb 2012, led by Cllr Leigh Bramall (Labour). This was despite government funding available as of 30th Sept 2011 for 3 years funding for weekly black bin collections to continue which for political reasons the Labour council failed to apply for this funding.

Both the Liberal Democrats and Labour party are to blame for the fiasco that is Sheffield's waste collections and processing, such as the handing over of Sheffield's incinerator to Veolia after tax payers were forced to spend £25 million on upgrades. The degree of incompetence can be witnessed in the Veolia's company accounts, where the company consistently reports large jumps in annual profits such as by 18.4% for 2011 (£119.5 million). Therefore even before the recent cost cuts a large chunk of Sheffield council taxes were already going towards Veolia's vast profits, and even more now after black bin collections have been cut by 50%, despite apparently Sheffield City Council having another 14 years to run on a 25 year contract for weekly bin collections. This apparent 25 year long contract with Veolia needs to be independently investigated as to why were Sheffield residents signed up to such a lengthy contract and secondly why 10 years into the contract were bin collection services cut by 50%. At the very least such an investigation will illustrate how incompetent Sheffield City Council has been in managing public funds, at worst could reveal alleged irregularities in the arrangement of such contracts with a whole host of suppliers that fail to deliver and result in huge costs to council tax payers.

The 50% cut in bin collections will continue to encourage fly tipping by many residents left with over flowing black bins, who are put off by having to wait many hours in long queues at waste disposal sites (when they are open). Therefore escalating the costs for clearing fly tipping which will effectively end up costing the city council many times more than the amount it stated that would be saved and which in reality is already not being saved.

The facts increasingly suggest that Sheffield's city councilors work more in the interests of large multi-nationals such as Veolia than for the ordinary citizen's / council tax payers whom they expect to vote for red, yellow or blue zombie style at each May's local elections regardless of actual competency in delivery of local services. Instead Sheffield city Councilors play the public propaganda blame game between themselves and Veolia when conveniently forgetting that NO ONE in Sheffield voted for Veolia. The contract with Veolia should be ripped up and investigated as to why it was arranged in the first place, because was NOT IN THE INTERESTS OF THE PEOPLE OF SHEFFIELD BY A LONG MARGIN!

If the current trend continues then it won't be long before black bin collections are switched to monthly, then bi-monthly, then quarterly, all in the interests of maximising Veolia's annual profits.

Meanwhile Veolia intends on importing an additional 15,000 tons of waste from across the region (on top of 50,000 already being imported) to burn at Sheffield's incinerator. This illustrates the magnitude of Labour's incompetence, whilst Sheffield household waste increasingly goes uncollected, Veolia seeks to profit by importing other cities waste to pollute Sheffield with. And the Liberal Democrats are little better!

Source and Comments: http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article40776.html

Nadeem Walayat

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk

Copyright © 2005-2013 Marketoracle.co.uk (Market Oracle Ltd). All rights reserved.

Nadeem Walayat has over 25 years experience of trading derivatives, portfolio management and analysing the financial markets, including one of few who both anticipated and Beat the 1987 Crash. Nadeem's forward looking analysis focuses on UK inflation, economy, interest rates and housing market. He is the author of four ebook's in the The Inflation Mega-Trend and Stocks Stealth Bull Market series.that can be downloaded for Free.

Nadeem is the Editor of The Market Oracle, a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication that presents in-depth analysis from over 600 experienced analysts on a range of views of the probable direction of the financial markets, thus enabling our readers to arrive at an informed opinion on future market direction. http://www.marketoracle.co.uk

Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any trading losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors before engaging in any trading activities.

© 2005-2022 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.