FORTNIGHLY rubbish collections are on the way if Malvern Hills District Council's latest plans get the go-ahead.

At three crucial meetings over the next fortnight, councillors will be asked to vote a new alternate-week collection service which will see rubbish collected one week and recycling the next.

The proposal comes after plans to establish a joint service with Wychavon District Council, probably provided by a private company with the hope of saving hundreds of thousands of pounds, fell through.

The council got three tenders from private companies, but all three were significantly more expensive compared to the service, with prices ranging from £400,000 to £690,000 more expensive.

But with the council needing to plug a £1.8million gap in its budget by 2019/20 as a result of government funding cuts, it still needs to find £250,000 worth of savings from its waste and recycling collection service.

Alternate weekly collections would not only help save about £150,000 but it would also see residents issued with black wheeled bins instead of sacks, unless it would be unsuitable to do so because of the type or location of the property.

Councillors will discuss the proposal for the first time at a meeting of the overview and scrutiny committee tomorrow (Tuesday, February 7).

It will then go to the executive committee the following Tuesday (February 14) before finally being presented to council for a final decision on Tuesday, February 21.

If approved the change would be made from April 2018.

Cllr Bronwen Behan, portfolio holder for environment, said: “What the exercise on the joint waste contract has shown is that this council already operates a very efficient and cost-effective waste collection service that the private sector is unable to match and our staff should be congratulated on that.

“As councillors we are now faced with a very difficult decision. Do we make a small adjustment to the way we collect waste and recycling in order to balance the books or do we make significant cuts to all our services in order to maintain weekly collections?

"We’ve made no decision about that yet and we’ll take the time we have to study all the options and implications before agreeing a way forward."

But the council's Democratic Group is demanding a full public consultation before any decision is made.

Cllr Sarah Rouse said: "The Conservatives have already decided to abandon your weekly collections and their election commitment to you. And they don’t plan to ask you about it.

"Rather than a well-considered plan we have one that will see half a million pounds of tax payers money spent without a proper consultation abandoning a service 92 per cent of residents wanted to keep as a priority."