CALLS have been made for Barrow Borough Council to bring more public services back in-house.

Deputy mayor Cllr Kevin Hamilton said outsourced services such as refuse collection, street sweeping, buses and grass cutting could be restored to council control.

He said the recent transfer of services from private sector partners back into town hall control showed that the authority was capable of the job.

It follows the council ending its contract arrangements with private sector provider, Liberata from October 2018.

The company handled the council’s revenues and benefits, and customer services under outsourcing arrangements, but they were brought back under the wing of the council to save money.

Cllr Hamilton, the Labour councillor for Risedale, worked as a refusal disposal operative for the council for 18 years, working on bin rounds and keeping the streets clean.

He told a meeting at the town hall:  “This council has done a magnificent job bringing revenues and benefits back into our control and the residents are absolutely happy with it.

“What about bringing the refuse collection and street sweeping back into our control? Renationalisation works and it would be nice to regulate the buses again and bring buses back, grass-cutting, those services that the council used to run once upon a time.”

Council leader David Pidduck said if the council wanted to explore the idea of bringing more services back in-house, a process needed to be followed.

Cllr Pidduck, the Labour councillor for Hindpool, said it was a long process and  would have to ensure all the details, staff and funding were in place.

He said: “We have existing contracts with years to run on them so that would give us a timescale to look at that.

“That does not mean you cannot do it, and I am not saying we can’t or shouldn’t, but if we decided to look at that then you need time to do it properly.”

However, he suggested the council would need more funding in order to take on more services.

He said: “This council has faced cuts of £7.7 million – an enormous amount of money – and roughly 40 per cent of our grant. Unfortunately, austerity, even though we are being told different, is not over. It’s still there.”

“In future, we don’t know exactly where our funding is going to come from and how much we will get.”