All three tips in Bristol – including the new Hartcliffe Way recycling centre – will close two days a week and the city’s street-cleaning rounds halved amid a funding crisis. Bristol Waste needs to plug a £4million gap and is taking drastic action to cut costs, including reducing the work of fly-tip and graffiti removal teams, according to its annual business plan.
The document says the city council, which owns the company, has told the firm it must “live within its means”, which will result in some services becoming less frequent. It comes just days after councillors approved the local authority’s 2023/24 budget which includes higher charges for garden waste collections and new fees for DIY waste and replacement black bins and recycling boxes.
The business plan, which was supposed to cover the next five years and was already delayed after the interim managing director parted company with Bristol Waste in January because of ill-health, is now only for one year and will be scrutinised at a council meeting on Friday (March 3). Overview & scrutiny management board members were receiving a private briefing from bosses on Monday (February 27) ahead of Friday’s public meeting where they will be told that the local authority cannot increase the firm’s contract in line with inflation, effectively meaning a funding cut.
