Sir,

I was somewhat surprised that Cllr Geraghty appeared to be so happy about Worcester City Council's recent investment in new environmentally friendly bin lorries (WN 30.7.14 p15). What he didn't say, of course, is that these refuse collection lorries were ordered by the previous Labour administration.

When we took over control of the City Council in May 2013, we found a demoralised workforce, struggling to provide essential services with out of date vehicles which kept breaking down. Under Cllr Geraghty's leadership, the previous Tory administration had cut all funding for vehicle replacement or maintenance. We made the decision to invest in the in-house team and fleet replacement as part of our medium term financial strategy. We also instructed officers to make sure that the opportunity for having a 'greener' fleet was not missed.

Meanwhile, Cllr Geraghty was urging the Labour administration to privatise the City's refuse collection services. At full Council on 25.2.14, Conservative Councillors proposed a motion to 'commission waste collection, street cleansing and green spaces'. This motion was lost when put to the vote. Had Labour not been in power, with Liberal Democrat and Green Party support in 13/14 there would have been no new bin lorries.

Now that the 'murky Mayor' has handed the reins of power back to the Tories, I wonder whether they will continue with the next phase of the vehicle replacement programme that we had set in place. Or will they soon be putting the nice shiny vehicles out to tender to the highest (or lowest?) bidder?

Lynn Denham

Ex- Cabinet Member, Community Engagement

Worcester City Council