THE leader of Wokingham Borough Council has pledged to do all he can to reduce the risk of mistakes such as bingate from occurring again.
Cllr Stephen Conway was responding to a question from the leader of the opposition, Cllr Pauline Jorgensen, at a meeting of the executive committee on Thursday, July 27.
She asked: “Could the Leader explain what he is doing to prevent council changes to key services, for example caddy liners and litter bin service reduction, being implemented without following due process and proper approval?”
The covering of some bins and non-collection of others was due to an error and the council says it has now rectified this, with public consultation and appropriate scrutiny by councillors to follow.
Cllr Conway said he had already apologised on behalf of the council.
“As any leader knows, in all organisations, mistakes were made, dare I say, when your party ran the council, as I recall,” he continued. “No wants mistakes to occur, and we will do all we can to reduce the risk of them occurring again.
“We will be reviewing procedures and make sure they are better understood through the council.”
Later in the meeting, Cllr Shahid Younis wanting to know who will be responsible for the rubbish that was left around overflowing bins, and what the extra costs would be.
Cllr Ian Shenton, the executive member for environment, sports and leisure, responded to this query, saying that street cleaning activities would address the issue, and would come from the available funding.
As to the future, he said the council was working to minimise any additional costs and complete a review as soon as possible.
Cllr Younis requested a list of the bins up for removal, and whether it was a definitive one or if a new round-up would be created in response to the consultation and review.
“I’m asking for the list to be part of that consultation,” Cllr Shenton promised, adding it would include input from ward councillors and the public.
“I’m not sure the bins selected were the correct ones. We want to make sure that those that will be going forward will be the correct ones.”
