Bin strike residents using skips demand tax refund

Residents who have paid thousands of pounds hiring skips to dispose of rubbish during Birmingham's bin strike say they should get a council tax rebate.

Chris Whittock, who lives in the city's Jewellery Quarter, said residents in his block of flats had clubbed together and spent £2,900 on seven skips since 12 February.

He said prices had started at £450 but they had ordered so many it was down to £380 per skip.

The all-out strike action is now in its third week with no sign of a resolution in the pay dispute between members of the Unite union and Birmingham City Council.

The strike, involving about 350 bin workers, was happening on and off since January until all-out action began on 11 March.

It has left rubbish piled high on streets across the city, with rubbish attracting rats, cockroaches and other pests.

Mr Whittock said: "I think that money should be coming back to us. I think it's appalling that we are paying our taxes and a basic necessity such as waste disposal is not being fulfilled."

He said that material normally meant for recycling was also having to go into the skips and would probably end up in landfill, adding: "Birmingham city's sustainability targets are certainly getting hit."

In a statement, the council said any residents considering withholding council tax payments while their rubbish went uncollected should think twice.

"It is a legal responsibility to pay council tax and we urge people to continue doing this," the authority stated.

"The current situation is the result of industrial action taken by Unite the union, not due to the council's actions.

"Council tax is collected to fund council services generally."

Tony Travers, a local government expert from the London School Of Economics, echoed the point, saying that while refuse collection was important, it was one of a large number of services provided by the authority and the others were still being provided.

He said: "It's not lawful for people to withhold payments to the council for council tax. They are required by law to pay."

Lorraine Boyce, from West Heath, said bags were stacked up in her road, recycling had not been taken all year and people were flytipping after dark.

Residents had claimed some postcodes were getting a service but others were not, she said.

"Others say that they think the busier roads are getting collected and the small side roads and cul de sacs are being ignored," she told the BBC.

Opposition councillors, meanwhile, have said the ongoing bin strike means the Labour-led authority's plan to introduce fortnightly collections should be called off, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

In a letter to Majid Mahmood, cabinet member for the environment, Conservative councillors requested the move from weekly to fortnightly bin collections be suspended until 2026.

The council said it was "considering its options" on delaying the rollout.

Conservative councillors wrote: "Adding a major overhaul to collection schedules will exacerbate an already untenable situation."

They said the move would be a "double whammy" amid the strike action, adding: "We urge you to pause this plan until the industrial action is settled, the streets are cleaned and normal service resumes."

Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.