Brighton councillor joins refuse teams on collection route

A council cabinet member is keeping a close eye on rubbish and recycling collections by joining various Cityclean teams on their 4.30am collection routes.

Tim Rowkins is Brighton and Hove City Council’s cabinet member for net zero and environmental services.

He has been speaking about his early morning stints at council meetings this week.

Councillor Rowkins told the Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee about how he has been helping to clean up the city.

He goes out with one of the refuse, recycling, communal rubbish and street cleaning teams at 4.30am on a Monday morning.

Councillor Rowkins says he returns with “a long list of learning” and issues to take forward.

At the meeting at Hove Town Hall on Tuesday 23rd of July, he said that, during the election campaign, people told him that they wanted a cleaner city and to have their bins collected.

Cityclean, the council department which runs the rubbish and recycling service, was currently undergoing a “culture” and management change, he said.

This follows an independent report by barrister Aileen McColgan spelling out whistleblower claims about violence and intimidation at the Hollingdean depot.

The council bin lorries and other refuse collection vehicles are also being replaced as part of a rolling programme to renew the fleet.

Councillor Rowkins said that the systems used at Cityclean were “antiquated” but it was switching from paper to digital systems to modernise the operation.

“The direction of travel with collections is it’s broadly going in the right direction but it’s a bumpy road.”

“There have been periods of greatly improved service and periods of difficulty. I’m not going to create any false expectations that the journey is over.”

“It’s a lot like being parachuted on to the deck of an oil tanker and trying to turn it in a new direction. It’s a slow-moving vessel to say the least.”