THE row about rubbish collection in Basingstoke is rumbling on with an accusation that borough Cabinet chiefs have been playing politics with people's bins.

Outspoken borough councillor Phil Heath has hit out at the council's Cabinet recycling chief for saying a move to fortnightly collections of non-recyclable rubbish cannot be ruled out.

Cllr Sean Keating, the Cabinet member responsible for waste collection, told a meeting that although he had scrapped the idea of alternate weekly collections in the short term, he had no jurisdiction to rule it out beyond that.

As reported in The Gazette, Cllr Keating, of the Labour group, made the admission at a Cabinet meeting when questioned about recycling by Martin Biermann, an Independent councillor.

Conservative councillor Phil Heath, who has run a door-stepping campaign against the alternate weekly system, said: "We were out there collecting signatures and the Cabinet made the announcement that they were not going to pursue alternate weekly collection.

"We said that was an election ploy and it was."

If approved, the change would see black bins collected one week and green bins with recycling waste collected the following week.

Cllr Heath added that he planned to begin collecting signatures again, and that there were other solutions to improving the recycling rate.

Cllr Heath said: "We have said we will fight to save the weekly bin collections. As part of a Conservative administration, we would never need to look at alternate weekly collection."

Responding to Cllr Heath's criticisms, Cllr Keating said: "I have taken it off the agenda, but I have no authority to rule it out for ever.

"There is no imperative necessity that it has to be done. You would not play golf with only one club and you do not improve recycling by simply doing alternate weekly collection."

He added that he was hoping to bring forward new policies such as kerbside glass collection, and that the council had already spent £64,000 on buying the large 240-litre green bins so households with the smaller bins could swap them.

To change your green bin for a larger size, contact the borough council on 01256 844844.

First published: Monday, April 10, 2006