Binned: Vote on privatisation of capital's rubbish collection delayed

STV

A decision on the future of rubbish collection in the capital has been delayed by a month.

The full council meeting of the City of Edinburgh Council were due to decide on whether or not to contract the service out to a private company on Thursday.

But after a last minute u-turn by SNP councillors on Wednesday, the vote was put off for a month to give councillors more time to consider "new information".

A lengthy debate was held at the City Chambers as the Liberal Democrat group argued for privatisation of the service while their coalition partners questioned whether it was the right decision.

Labour are also keen to see the service kept in house.

The council have already spent two years and £3.5m on investigating the possibility of contracting the job to a private company.

Firm Enterprise had been chosen by officials to take control of recycling, bin collection, road cleaning and ground maintenance in Edinburgh for the next seven years.

They said it would save the local authority £50m over that period.

But on Wednesday, SNP councillors said they would not be backing the plans, saying they should give council staff a chance to see if they could make the savings themselves.

Council Leader, Cllr Jenny Dawe, said: "Due to the magnitude of this decision, it is important that the business case to deliver environment services in-house, in light of the significant volume of recently circulated supporting material, is considered thoroughly and properly understood by all councillors.

"I have also asked the Chief Executive to set up a public meeting, with an independent chair, on this matter."

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