Three weekly general waste bin collections – what we know
25/02/2026
It’s a political hot potato, but what’s really being planned
Will residents in the Cherwell District be facing the prospect of three-weekly general waste green bin collections? Claims and counter claims by various local political groups came to a head during Cherwell District Council’s budget setting meeting earlier this week.
During a consultation on this year’s budget the public were asked to comment on moving to a three-weekly green bin collection. Sixty percent of those responding rejected the idea, but as part of their alternative budget proposals, the conservative group still felt it necessary to include an item on retaining fortnightly collections.
Chris Brant from the controlling Liberal Democrat Administration told his Conservative colleagues they were not being truthful: “This administration’s proposed budget already retains fortnightly bin collections. There is no proposal to remove them away from that model.”
However Councillor Brant’s fellow administration member, Green Councillor Ian Middleton, noted three-weekly collections were not off-the-table. He told the meeting: “Three weekly bin collections: there are good operational and environmental reasons for this proposal, but there are a lot of dependencies and details that need to be ironed out before it’s seriously considered.”
Labour’s Isabel Creed noted her concerns. She said: “I appreciate it’s not this year, but it’s an issue that I think a lot of our residents would be concerned with if there were three-week bin collections.”
Barry Wood from the Conservatives went further, noting that the Liberal Democrats own budget stated a saving of £265,000 from April 2027 by moving to three-weekly collections and he challenged them to state publicly to the contrary. Councillor Wood said: “If the administration is not going to do this (as they’ve whimpered on a lot tonight), then just issue a press release saying, ‘we want to clear this up: we are never going to introduce three weekly bin collections – it’s all a fantasy – we’re not doing it’.”
Just ahead of the Liberal Democrat budget being approved, Council Leader David Hingley appeared to put a timescale on how long fortnightly general waste bin collections were guaranteed. He told those present: “Let me be clear that fortnightly bin collections are being maintained next year and [three-weekly collections] will never be introduced for residual waste bins at any point without full consultation.”
Banbury FM has contacted the council asking them to clarify the official position.
Published: by the Banbury FM News Team
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