The latest fallout from government cuts is that Oadby schools will lose free waste collections. This means more pressure on school budgets as they have to find the money for this basic service.

Up to now, Liberal Democrats on Oadby and Wigston Borough Council had been able to provide free rubbish collections for schools, helping them to spend more money on educating our children rather than on paying for recycling to be taken away.

A long history of recycling in Oadby

Oadby and Wigston had been able to continue to provide free recycling collections from schools, where other local councils had not, because the Liberal Democrats had ensured that the council was one of the first to offer kerbside recycling collections.

By being one of the first, the Liberal Democrats were able to set up the council’s own sorting centre. This allowed the service to make money, which was used to help provide the funds for extra services like free school rubbish collections and free garden waste collections for residents.

Theresa May’s Conservative government continue to make huge cuts to local council funding and Council Tax is not allowed to be increased enough to cover this loss.

As a result, Conservative-run Leicestershire County Council decided to change how they funded recycling, which has meant Oadby and Wigston won’t be able to keep the recycling sorting centre.

This, together with cuts to Oadby and Wigston’s money from the government has meant that the council can no longer afford to keep school waste collections free.

We should be encouraging recycling, not charging for it

The Conservatives on County Council are in a complete mess on this. Tory cabinet member Blake Pain is promoting recycling in schools but at the same time, he voted for the changes that led to Oadby schools having to pay to get it collected.

With the damage caused by plastics in our oceans and the need to recycle as much of our rubbish as we can, these actions show how unimportant our environment is to the Conservatives.

Schools Face Money Pressures

The news comes as independent research shows over 1 in 14 primary schools are running deficit budgets in the East Midlands. Our Oadby schools will have even less money to spend on teaching as a result of cuts by Theresa May’s government and decisions by the Conservatives at County Hall.