THE leader of Allerdale Council scotched claims that the authority is considering scrapping its kerbside recycling service.

Marion Fitzgerald was responding to comments by leading Labour party member Billy Miskelly, who claimed that the executive’s temporary suspension of some services announced in July was a test of public opinion before the possible roll out of the changes on a more permanent basis.

Mr Miskelly claims to have a “well-placed” source who attended an executive meeting held behind closed doors and revealed to him that there was a “50/50 chance” of the council putting a stop to the recycling service altogether.

His claims came less than 24 hours after the council leader said she hoped the suspended recycling services could be restored in a “few weeks”.

Addressing Mr Miskelly’s concerns, she stressed that there was “no truth” in them, denying any suggestion that council’s actions were “all part of a plan to end kerbside recycling services”.

She said: “There were clearly issues with the new waste collection service, and we took the difficult decision to suspend services to ensure residents had their domestic waste collected on the correct day.

“I apologise to residents for any inconvenience. During this time we have also been working with FCC Environment to devise a solution which will see us able to resume recycling and garden waste collections as soon as possible.

“We agreed to go forward with this interim agreement and once a few details are finalised with FCC Environment we hope to resume recycling and garden waste collections as soon as possible. We are also working on a longer-term solution.”

The council said the suspension of services was to ensure all household waste services are collected on the scheduled day and to allow time for a solution to be thrashed out.

The details of exactly when services will be resumed have yet to be finalised with FCC Environment, but the plan will involve “extra resources” being made available to the contractor to allow them to collect the waste on the scheduled days.

The initial term of the “interim measures” will be four months as work continues on a longer-term solution, allowing the council to “provide the type of service residents expect”.

The council has already confirmed, in response to a Freedom of Information Request, that there are “no plans” to re-tender the contract – and FCC was, anyway, the only contractor who put themselves forward.

Ultimately, the authority could resolve to bring the waste services in-house, phasing out the use of a contractor.

Mr Miskelly, northern branch secretary of the Workington Constituency Labour Party and Workington town council Labour Group, said he believed the Independent-led executive had “capitulated” to FCC’s demands.

He also claimed that certain members of the executive had been “working on the theory that people have short memories”. He argued the suspension of services would give people the chance to “get used” to the idea of recycling their own waste and that this would help the council to claw back cost savings.

His claims were denied by Mrs Fitzgerald.