FRESH doubts have been poured over a drive to save money on bin collections in Worcester - after the current costs were revealed as being among the lowest in the county.

A new report has been published showing how the yearly cost is now just £44 per city household, with rubbish pick-ups costing taxpayers a total of £1.9 million in 2013/14.

The bill has fallen heavily from a total of £2.4 million in 2011, when it cost each householder £55, with better vehicles and falling fuel prices among the factors cited for the large 18 per cent drop.

By comparison, people in Wychavon pay £56 and in Malvern, the figure is higher still at £57 per property.

The costs in Wychavon were £51 per household in 2011 and in Malvern it was £60.

Across Worcestershire only Redditch and the Wyre Forest have more efficient rubbish collection systems than Worcester, at £38 for each household.

The report, which runs to 38 pages, has been completed after an investigation from backbench councillors across the Worcestershire authorities.

The dossier also says a potential deal to merge waste collections across Worcestershire is very difficult to foresee, suggesting there is "no desire" for district councils to allow a "loss of sovereignty" on their most important services.

Its publication comes at a time when Duncan Sharkey, city council managing director, has written to all Worcestershire authorities and even those in Warwickshire, north Gloucestershire, Shropshire and Telford to see if there is any appetite to do a deal.

The city council is proposing to outsource most of its cleaner and greener function to a private sector operator from 2017, aiming at saving £500,000 a year, and is exploring the potential for a massive bins 'tie in' with other town halls.

The new report was debated during a city council scrutiny meeting last night, where councillors said they were "disappointed" with it.

Councillor Paul Denham, who was part of the investigation, said: "Over the last three years the costs have got considerably less expensive in Worcester, it shows how efficient it has become - it's more costly in Malvern and in Wychavon the costs have actually gone up.

"It's hard to see, therefore how sharing our waste service with our immediate neighbours would save us any money."

Councillor Liz Smith, a Liberal Democrat, said: "I'm disappointed so much emphasis has been placed on councils not losing immediate control of the service.

"Surely it's much more important to have a good, efficient service rather than retain sovereignty, I find it rather dispiriting."