Please don’t mix up recycling and burials!

Cheshire East Council is ‘redesigning’ how it handles waste, recycling and bereavement services.

We’d all better start praying that it doesn’t stay true to form – and get them mixed up!

The council is bringing bin collections, street cleaning, maintenance of green spaces, fleet, social transport, bereavement and handy person services in-house.

Councillor Nick Mannion, chair of Cheshire East Council’s finance sub-committee, said: “The decision to bring the services delivered by Ansa and Orbitas back in-house following recent reviews is considered the most efficient way to deliver these services to our residents.

“It will deliver a one-off saving of £1m in 2024/25 to support the council’s medium-term financial strategy, followed by a permanent minimum reduction in costs each year of £200k from 2025/26 onwards.

“Over the next four-years, the council is forecasting a funding gap of £100m.

“The council’s critical financial position means that we urgently need to transform the organisation to help us to move towards financial sustainability, and to be able to continue supporting those residents who need our help the most. 

“The decision to bring the services delivered by Ansa and Orbitas back in-house forms part of this whole-organisation transformation programme and will allow us to look at how we can maximise service efficiency and provide the best value for money for council taxpayers.”

Subject to consultation with trade unions and staff affected by the changes, the new working arrangements are expected to be introduced over the next twelve months.

This will start this autumn and finish before the end of March 2025, with Ansa and Orbitas staff members transferred to join the council’s existing teams.

Cllr Mannion added: “Our key priorities while these services are brought back in-house are to ensure that high-quality frontline services continue to function efficiently and effectively, to support all staff affected by these changes, and to ensure value for money for the council and our residents.

“I would like to reassure residents that services, including bin collections, will continue as normal throughout this process.

“The council also recognises that both Ansa and Orbitas colleagues bring with them a lot of knowledge, commitment and experience, which will be of great value as the authority moves towards delivering exciting transformational change.”

Watch out for being charged for all bin collections and a hike in the costs of bereavement. No doubt green spaces will be left to their own devices – after all it’s ‘greener’ isn’t it?

As far as street cleaning, we don’t recall seeing any street cleaning in years – maybe they only clean councillors roads?

Watch out for massive council tax hikes next year!