During August, Walsall Council has been carrying out a “consultation” about how you would want your fortnightly rubbish collection to be run.

Hang on a minute, do you recall at the May elections the Tories (who run the Council thanks to the support of the Kippers and 3 Independents) saying anything about only emptying your grey bins once a fortnight? No, neither do we.

Now, call me cynical if you like, but during August most people would be pre-occupied with thoughts of holidays rather than filling in surveys wouldn’t they? Oh and another thing, according to the Council’s website letters concerning the survey only went out to around 10,000 houses which is paltry considering there are over 100,000 households in Walsall. Of course, you could have filled in the survey on line….that is, if you had known about it….and had a computer! Remind any ‘Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy’ fans of how the application to demolish Arthur Dent’s house was ‘on display’ in a council basement?

Waste collection services are perceived by residents to be the most important service they receive from a local authority. ‘Cutting the frequency of collections is an idle and unnecessary move’. Not our words these but the words contained within a recent Government Report. It is clearly possible to have a comprehensive weekly service and save money through innovative approaches to waste management. A weekly waste collection should therefore be one of the first things a local council decides to protect – but not Walsall’s Tories – and did they consult their UKIP and Independent friends who put them in office?