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TaxPayers' Alliance Bulletin - 18th February Rubbish council services On Thursday we released the first full survey of how many bins each local council asks taxpayers to sort rubbish into. Our research reveals that those in Newcastle-under-Lyme have the biggest job, being asked to sort their waste into NINE separate containers! Twenty other councils expect their residents to divide waste between seven or more different bins. Our report showed that there was a shocking disparity between the number of bins each home has with some councils only giving out two or three bins and collecting mixed recycling. Onerous EU rules are part of the explanation for all of this; local authorities are under increasing pressure to collect materials separately because of the threat of EU fines. This burden has been passed on to taxpayers. In some areas bin police can fine residents or bin men can refuse to pick up waste if it is left out at the wrong time or the bin is too full. Large households that generate more rubbish are unfairly punished or struggle to store the multiple bins. This is another example of why we should reject EU rules when they place an unnecessary pressure on taxpayers. Bin collections often get people talking (hear an earlier interview with Emma Boon about rubbish collection frequency) and there was lots of reaction to our report. Friends of the Earth agreed that there's no need for a number of bins to recycle effectively. Bob Neill, the Local Government Minister, said "the bin bully approach of fining residents for minor breaches of increasingly complex bin rules is not only wrong, but utterly counter-productive". You can read the report in full here, and compare the number of bins you have with people in neighbouring councils. Chris Daniel, TPA Policy Analyst and author of the report, said: "Having to sort rubbish into numerous bins often frustrates taxpayers, even if they want to recycle. It's ridiculous that some councils ask for waste to be sorted into seven bins or more; this places needless pressure on households and isn't a good way of encouraging recycling. Meddling EU rules mean that councils can't send too much to landfill, but plenty of local authorities cope with three bins, so there's no reason others can't too. We need to reject EU rules like this when they go too far and aren't in the interests of ordinary families." Our bin survey was fantastically well received and was reported in a number of newspapers and on several radio and television stations. Coverage included: Sky News, BBC North West Tonight, ITV Daybreak , ITV Meridian, ITV Calendar, ITV Central - Recycling Crazy, ITV Anglia, ITV Central - A Waste of Time? Sky News Radio (syndicated to dozens of independent stations) Beacon Radio, BBC Radio Kent, BBC Radio Lancashire, BBC Radio London, BBC Radio Leeds, BBC Radio Leicester, BBC Radio Merseyside, BBC Radio Nottingham, BBC Radio Stoke, BBC Radio Devon, BBC Radio Cumbria, BBC Radio Shropshire, BBC Radio Solent, BBC Radio Surrey, BBC Radio Three Counties Radio, BBC Wales The Sun: 9 bins madness The Daily Telegraph:Town with nine bins for every home The Daily Star: eco-drives ‘see nine rubbish bins’ BBC News UK: ‘People are being given too many recycling bins’ The Daily Express: We're overrun with bins because of daft EU rules The Daily Mail: The town where they have to put out NINE recycling boxes, bags and bins The Mirror:Eco-drives 'see nine rubbish bins' Press Association:Eco-drives 'see nine rubbish bins' London Evening Standard: Eco-drives ‘see nine rubbish bins’ Sky News Online: Survey: Councils 'Rubbish' At Collecting Refuse Telegraph.co.uk, Brendan O'Neill blog: Sorting rubbish into different bins is nothing more than a useless religious ritual forced on us by the Green Lobby BBC Magazine: Who, what, why: What do you put in nine bins? New measures to restrict sky high council salaries This week Eric Pickles (Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government) suggested that councillors and taxpayers should have a veto on big Chief Executive salaries. He thinks that they should be discussed in public meetings so that taxpayers can have more say. We welcome more accountability to taxpayers, and TPA staff took to the airwaves (pictured Campaign Manager, Charlotte Linacre) to commend the proposals, and to reiterate that the number of executives taking home excessive pay packages had grown to unsustainable levels over the last decade (to listen to comments made on BBC Radio 5 LIVE click here). Our Town Hall Rich List series over the last four years was successful in forcing councils to reveal executive pay in their annual accounts, and we will keep the pressure on councils to trim back senior staff pay and perks and provide taxpayers with real value for money. Non Jobs crackdown After so much money has been wasted, there might finally be real action on non-jobs. Ministers have highlighted that local authorities now have 750,000 workers employed in non-frontline roles. With pressure on council finances, non-frontline posts have to be cut. Andrew Allison, TPA Grassroots coordinator and author of many of our non- job of the week blogs, responded that: "It's good see our campaign against non-jobs has struck a chord, and finally there is going to be a crackdown. Taxpayers expect their money to spent wisely, not frittered away. Every pound spent on these unnecessary jobs, is a pound that could be spent on frontline services." Here is this week's non-job. Or click here to see some of our other recent non-job blogs. Do email Andrew if you see an example of a pointless public sector role that you don't think taxpayers ought to be paying for. Pressure on the EU to be more transparent about their grants We have had a lot of success pushing for transparency in government spending. Local and central government now has to publish all its spending, above a certain limit. Our Freedom of Information requests have forced a change, now the pay of senior staff in town halls has to be revealed. The EU now needs to show the same transparency, but some programmes are still being kept under wraps. Given how ridiculous some of those we do know about are, that is a real concern. Credit where credit's due, the Government are pressing the EU for action on this issue. Matt Sinclair looks at the announcement in a blog here. We have produced a number of research notes looking at what we do know about EU spending. You can read our research on the EU here. To watch our video, pictured, on how much of your money George Osborne hands over to the EU everyday, click here. £33 million saved with Carbon Trust cuts Last year, the TPA wrote to Chris Huhne MP, Secretary of State at the Department of Energy and Climate Change, urging him to abolish the Carbon Trust. We asked you to write in too, and now the organisation has had its budget cut by £33 million. While there are other factors, some commentators upset at the decision have given us the credit. Campaigner Guy Shrubsole complained, on the website Left Foot Forward, that the Government "appears to be listening more to the likes of the TaxPayers' Alliance than to its most sage advisers". Left Foot Forward is going too far, we seriously disagree with many of the Government's policies, which will see rising energy prices and continue to waste taxpayers' money on new schemes like the Green Investment Bank. But it is good to see that our pressure on the Carbon Trust is paying off. We need to keep up the pressure and try to get it abolished outright, and secure changes in other policies.Matt Sinclair sets out why here, including a rebuttal of the absurd idea we need the Carbon Trust's investment in algal biofuels. Update on High Speed Rail Since our report on the flaws in the business case of the proposed High Speed Rail, we've stayed engaged in the debate on this topic. This week Greegauge21, the pro-HS2 lobby group are continuing to claim the scheme will have huge benefits. Those claims don't stand up to scrutiny though. See our blog on the topic for more information. Cut back on publicity first The Department for Communities and Local Government put the draft Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity up on Friday. It contained some sensible suggestions like limiting councils to four "newspapers" a year, asking councils to only include content that offers information on local public services and prohibiting councils from hiring lobbyists to chase even more taxpayers' cash. Predictably, councils are complaining that the rules are 'draconian'. Councils are supposed to provide services for the taxpayers who pay the bills and this does not include self promotion. OurCampaign Director Emma Boon has more here. Now that councils have to scale down their spending it's crucial to find easy saving like this. Council propaganda is a bad deal for taxpayers and should be at the top of the list for cuts. Best of the Blogs Grassroots: How Tameside Council Spent £5,000 on Teaching Staff how to Walk - Tameside council clearly have their spending priorities back-to-front, as Liam Billington discovers 2020 Tax Commission: Barclays boss confirms London's 50p tax fears - Rory Meakin on the folly of the 50p income tax rate Grassroots: How does a Government that seeks to champion small business and enterprise currently treat a small developer - TPA supporter Chris Neal with a stark example of the obstacles and disincentives facing small businesses Campaign: Big Society, discretionary income- Matt Sinclair looks at the economics of an often vague debate over the "Big Society" Grassroots: Good and bad news - Tim Newark brings news of recent developments in Bath and the South West Grassroots: Lambeth Council increases the cost of parking permits - Andrew Allison: 'The thought of reducing the size of its bloated bureaucracy is anathema to Lambeth council'