Birmingham Local Conservatives are calling on the Council to go further and now declare a Public Health Emergency due to the impact of the ongoing bin strike in the city. With rubbish piling up across neighbourhoods, and reports of rats the size of cats, the Birmingham Conservative Group have submitted a motion to Full Council declaring a Public Health Emergency and proposing actions, from the recently published Local Conservatives Plan to end the strike, to stop the strike and clean up the city.
Councillor Robert Alden (Con, Erdington) Leader of the Conservative Group said:
Even before the strike, our city was being let down by this failed Labour Administration. Residents are rightly fed up with the state of their streets and concerned about the health impact the mess will create. With Birmingham’s reputation being dragged through the mud internationally, the city urgently needs the administration to finally lead and sort this out once and for all. Labour’s declaration of a Major Incident, in itself, does not end the strike. Only our plan can bring an end to Labour’s strike.
The Motion has been put forward by Cllrs Deirdre Alden (Con, Edgbaston) and Timothy Huxtable (Con, Hall Green South) and states that “Council declares a Public Health Emergency as a result of the continued industrial action in the waste collection service and years of failure to keep Birmingham’s streets clean.” It also calls on the Council to implement the Conservative Group’s Six Point plan to end the strike and clean the streets.
Cllr Deirdre Alden said:
Birmingham Labour and their Union counterparts have created a health hazard on our streets. The Council has a clear statutory duty to collect waste and keep our streets clear of rats and rubbish. It is currently failing to do that, and it is Brummies who are being put at risk as a result. This cannot continue which is why we are calling on all councillors, given the public health crisis, to put residents first and vote for our call for action.
Local Conservatives last week put forward their six-point plan to end the strike and clean the streets:
- 1) Protect staff trying to do their job.
- 2) Ensure all continuing Equal Pay risks are removed
- 3) Place deadline on any offers made to settle bin dispute.
- 4) Complete the review of the service future operating model, to deliver best value.
- 5) Investigate using non-safety critical roles on flexible contracts to clear the streets.
- 6) Fully implement the Local Conservatives Plan for a Cleaner City, including scrapping the ‘Rat Tax’.
Cllr Huxtable added:
In the absence of leadership from the Labour Cabinet, half of whom are themselves members of the striking union, the Local Conservatives are stepping up and putting forward our plan for action to end the strike and clear the streets of rats and rubbish. We need to use all measures allowed within the law to bring an end to this strike in order for the council to meet its other legal duties to comply with Equal Pay and keep the streets clean and free from hazardous waste.
