Cardiff: Bins could be removed from residential streets

Getting rid of public bins and reducing street cleaning work are among plans to cut council spending in Cardiff.

Other ideas to close the city's £30m budget gap include black bin bag collections once every three weeks.

A public consultation on the 2024-25 budget opens on Monday and lasts until 4 February.

Plans could see 3,000 bins removed from residential streets, focusing instead on city and district centres, parks, bus stops and dog walking routes.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service reported that, to justify its proposal, the council said many bins on residential streets were not used enough and attracted fly-tipping.

Removing these bins could save £139,000 per year while cutting the amount of street cleaning could cut £880,000 from the annual spend of £6.25m, the council said.

However, some residents were not happy with the proposals.

Laura Hamwey, from Whitchurch, said: "Our street bins are essential, especially for dog walkers and commuters.

"I think there could be other ways to trim the budget other than essential services. I think you'll see more litter in areas where you may not have seen litter before." Alison Lewis, also a Whitchurch resident, added: "I think it's a ridiculous idea - there's so much litter around and you can see the bins are well used. So you just think 'where will people put it'?" Her husband Bryn agreed, calling the idea "sheer madness".

It is not just bins in the firing line - libraries across the city could have more restricted opening times and use more volunteers to save money.

One of several tabled options proposes closing eight hubs and libraries for one extra day each week, saving £308,000.

These include Central Library Hub, Whitchurch Hub, Penylan Library, Rhiwbina Hub, Rhydypennau Hub, Canton Library, Cathays Heritage Library and Radyr Hub.

Another option is for all hubs and libraries, apart from Penylan Library, to change their opening hours to 09:00-17:00 and stay open throughout lunchtime to save £120,000.

To allow for late accessibility, Central Library Hub would stay open until 18:00 for one evening a week.

The council is also looking at removing the funding it provides for leading UK art exhibition Artes Mundi and music competition The Big Gig.

While work continues to find an alternative location for the Museum of Cardiff, it is proposed that the site closes one day a week to reduce running costs.

The council is looking at having four fewer park rangers and making a reduction to the maintenance of parks and green spaces.

Park rangers are responsible for the enforcement of park by-laws and work with organisations such as the police to address the issues of anti-social behaviour.

The costs of maintaining Cardiff's 520 parks and green spaces is £1.3m.