A councillor has called for the resignation of a Lichfield District Council cabinet member after a “monumental mistake” saw the wrong size of recycling bags delivered to local households.
Cllr Joanne Grange made her comments after it was revealed that the ones being issued by Lichfield District Council were a third smaller than they should have been.
The independent member for Chadsmead ward, said that Cllr Ashley Yeates, cabinet member responsible for recycling at the local authority, should step down in the wake of the revelations – which councillors only found out about after reading Lichfield Live:
“I assume Cllr Pullen [leader of the council] will be accepting Cllr Yeates’ resignation from the cabinet in short order?
“I am somewhat surprised that no-one felt it was a good idea to tell councillors about this monumental mistake and I found out at the same time as everyone else in Lichfield.
“Having found out about the mistake I am even more surprised that there is no explanation being circulated to councillors about how this happened. Was the order wrong? Did the supplier send the wrong size? Who accepted the delivery?
“There appears to be no suggested solution to the error. Are the bags that have already been distributed going to be collected and sent back? Will residents have to suffer not having sufficient recycling space until this first batch need replacing?”
“As residents were already going to struggle with one bag, and more will inevitably need a second, how much extra is this error going to cost council taxpayers in additional bags?
“This whole change has been poorly managed and communicated and this latest embarrassment must surely mean someone else needs to take control?”
Cllr Joanne Grange, Lichfield District Council
The incorrectly-sized bags have already begun being distributed to households, with a council spokesperson confirming that people should begin to use them for card and paper and to order more if needed at the end of May.
But Cllr Grange said residents needed resolving sooner.
“This needs a solution and needs one quickly or residents who really want to do the right thing and recycle as much as possible may begin to wonder why they should bother when the council makes it too difficult, given second bags – which are now more important – are apparently not going to be available until the end of May at the earliest.”
Cllr Joanne Grange, Lichfield District Council
