Talking rubbish to get votes!

new broom sweeps clean!

David Cameron launched the Conservatives "Fighting Crime and Grime" local election campaign last Wednesday by shovelling dirt and picking up litter. The Conservative leader according to The Times was "sweeping away Labour" as he picked up chairs, bottles and bricks at a fly-tipping site.

Funnily enough rubbish is an issue too in Southampton but not fly-tipping; rather the decision to keep the weekly refuse collection. Suggested by officers in 2002, the idea to go to weekly refuse collection was embraced by Labour until they lost control of the council and the Lib-Dems took over. Labour then joined the Conservatives (who had always opposed the proposal) and forced the Lib-Dems to empty the bins weekly as they had been since Victorian times. Incredibly the Lib-Dems have tried to re-introduce the scheme several times since but have been blocked by the other two parties.

My manifesto; Should I be lucky enough to be elected, I would like to see the following;

• Retain the weekly bin collection service
• Promote glass re-cyling by piloting the free doorstep collection of glass/ bottles
• Continue the free green waste collection service including the free second bag
• Introduce a commercial waste re-cycling collection on Saturdays
• Increase the rates of re-cycling from flats and houses of multiple occupation

None of this is ground-breaking stuff but would go some way toward developing a cleaner, greener Southampton.