[18
APR 00] COVENTRY CITY COUNCIL NEWS
New Bin Collections A Success
BY ANTONY HOPKER
Bin
collections in Coventry have passed off smoothly in the two months
since the days were altered for most of the city.
New
working arrangements were introduced in February following uproar over
uncollected bins in Bank Holiday weeks.
Residents
living in parts of the city with a Monday or Tuesday collection were
left out because council
workers were given two days off for each public holiday.
As
refuse bags piled up in streets, the city council’s Contract
Services division were ordered to find new ways of managing the
collections.
 Cllr
Jack Harrison, chairman of the CCS Board, said the switch to a
four-day week running from Tuesday to Friday had proved a success.
He
admitted the refuse collection services had experienced some
“logistical problems” during the transition as householders and
workers adjusted to a new collection day.
But
he said the service was now running at 99.9 per cent.
He
told the full council meeting that there would be collections this
Good Friday and on Easter Tuesday.
And
he added that sickness levels in the trouble-ridden division were
dropping below the five per cent target set when the high absenteeism
figures were discovered.
He
said:
“Last
week they reached two per cent.”
Cllr
Harrison also revealed that CCS, which was exposed as having debts of
£6 million, would make a £1 million profit for the last financial
year, with the much-criticised building services section also coming
out in the black.
 But
Cllr Ken Taylor (Conservative, Earlsdon) said the success of the
refuse collection had depended on temporary workers and agencies being
brought in.
He
urged the council to consider giving full contracts to these people so
the real cost of changing the bin delivery system could be properly
assessed.
Cllr
Harrison said:
“We
try to minimise the amount of contract labour and when we can we offer
people full-time employment.”
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