Lib Dem councillor Maggie Tyrrell has been elected as the new leader of South Gloucestershire Council. The decision at a meeting of Full Council on Wednesday 17th July followed the resignation of predecessor Claire Young, who stepped down after winning the Thornbury & Yate MP constituency at this month’s general election and is now in Parliament.
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South Gloucestershire Council has told the government it needs to reduce black bin collections to once every three weeks. The local authority, which last month launched a search for a new waste partner to collect rubbish from the kerbside, says doing this less frequently will help it plug a funding gap and hit recycling targets.
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Council tax in South Gloucestershire will increase by 4.99 percent from April 2024 after councillors approved next year’s budget. The financial plan includes “investing in cost-of-living support”, as well as taking action on climate change and helping residents cut down on their energy bills. The latest increase follows on the heels of an identical hike of 4.99 percent that took effect from April 2023.
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Council leaders are set to rubber-stamp plans to double the cost of garden waste collections and introduce car parking charges in South Glos despite huge opposition from residents. Cuts to the council tax reduction scheme (CTRS) – benefits that help the poorest households pay the bill – and shorter library opening hours are also included in the local authority’s annual budget.
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South Glos Council’s joint Lib Dem & Labour Cabinet will meet next week to consider proposals for next year’s budget that include details of “incredibly difficult” decisions to reduce spending and increase charges. The new draft budget does not propose to make new savings, but does provide details of cost-cutting that was approved in the Conservatives’ last budget agreed in February.
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A long-running strike by waste and recycling operatives across South Gloucestershire is officially over after union members voted to accept a new, improved 10 percent pay increase. Kerbside collections had been disrupted since Monday 12th June as around 150 employees of SUEZ, the council’s waste contractor, took industrial action in support of a 15 percent pay claim.
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Kerbside waste and recycling collections in South Glos are set to resume in full from Monday (31st July) after strike action was suspended. The Little Stoke Sort It recycling centre, which has been closed due to a lack of staff during the strike, will reopen from the same date. Unite the Union says it is suspending industrial action for three days while it ballots its members on an improved pay offer.
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Council leaders have created an “environmental and public health crisis” through lack of action over bin strikes in South Gloucestershire, it is claimed. Waste has quickly piled up and recycling ‘bring banks’ are overwhelmed as residents have no kerbside collections other than black bins, while one of the district’s four Sort It recycling and waste centres, Little Stoke, has had to shut…
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Residents affected by the ongoing bin workers’ strike in South Gloucestershire can now take their recycling and food waste (but not garden waste) to a number of additional drop-off points that have opened today (Monday 3rd July). In addition, there will be further recycling-only bins available from 12noon on Tuesday 4th July.
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Black bin collections could be reduced to just once a month and garden waste fees hiked from £30 to as much as £75 under controversial plans being considered by South Gloucestershire Council. Changes to how the service is run are needed because the council’s 25-year Private Finance Initiative (PFI) with Suez ends in July 2025.
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