The Bin contract issue has made the national press today – see the Express for example.

What has made me so furious about this whole debacle is the lack of any transparency for councillors. When we are not given the chance to look at such issues by the Labour-run council it can hardly be our fault. When we ask for transparency and it is denied, that is Labour’s fault.

Having considered the Bin issue today, I think that to ensure that the council is seen to be democratic, and is democratic, where there are working groups involving councillors and officers in relation to contracts, non-Cabinet councillors should be given the opportunity to attend – including opposition councillors.

Until the full story about the Bins contract comes out, the only thing we can be sure of is that there has not been transparency or opportunity to comment for back-bench councillors.

It is possible that the lowest price bidder could not deliver the bins on time or to quality. Clearly if Council procurement delays caused this then there is an issue, but if not, it is quite possible that on this occasion officers followed the correct procedures.

The cost of delaying this contract and therefore delaying the move to fortnightly collections is in the region of £90,000 a month. I await with interest the truth on this one as it may not be quite as bad as is being made out.

The lack of democracy and the way Labour runs our council will of course continue to be a problem until they lose control.