Wigan Council is asking residents to recycle more material under a new ‘contract’ that aims to help the council save money.

The move follows on from central government’s reduction in grants, which will see Wigan Council’s budget reduce by 30 per cent (to £107.8 million) by the end of 2016/17. Although the council has already made around £65 million worth of savings, it has to cut a further £15 million during 2014/15 to meet its targets.

The council has announced plans to save money by ‘centralising services and staff in Wigan Town Hall’ and moving more services online, but it says that residents of Wigan must work with the council so it can ‘move forward with confidence’.

The ‘Wigan Deal’

As such, it is calling on residents to face the ‘new reality’ and agree to a ‘new contract’– known as the ‘Wigan Deal’ – to help the authority balance its books.

Under the deal, the council is asking the public to use more online services, volunteer in the local community, and recycle more so that the authority can make more money from selling the material collected, and reduce landfilling costs.

Ideas for volunteering range from helping to run council services such as libraries and swimming pools to taking on some social care responsibilities, as one Wigan community is doing.

In return, the authority said it will ‘protect frontline services and keep Council Tax down’.

The plans are part of budget proposals to be voted on by the full council in March.

‘Role of councils is changing’

Leader of Wigan Council Lord Peter Smith said: “We have to face up to the new reality local councils live in. The situation has changed. The government is cutting grants to councils and people will have seen in the media what other authorities are having to do to make ends meet.

“We simply can’t do what we used to do – or do things in the way we used to do them. We must recognise the traditional role of councils is changing. It’s no longer just about providing services. It’s about working with communities and other organisations. It’s about achieving our goals – and the goals of our residents – in new ways.

“We have to be smarter, think differently and make savings wherever we can. It’s about doing more with less and ensuring we spend our diminished budget as effectively as possible. That way we can protect frontline services.”

According to the council, improving recycling rates (the council recycled 49 per cent of household waste in 2012/13) has already ‘contributed’ to £1 million in savings, but the public is being asked to do more.

Lord Smith explained: “We want them to see their relationship with the council as a contract. We’ll keep taxes down and provide the best services we can if they can play their part by recycling more, volunteering in local projects, helping to keep where they live neat and tidy and by using our online services more.

“This new way of working has been forced on us by the drastic cuts to our budget. We expected to see our grant from central government reduced, but the reality has been way beyond expectations…

“We have sought to mitigate the impact of the cuts by acting early and taking a prudent approach to financial planning. It’s been hard work, and involved some painful decisions, yet I think this council is now in a strong position financially.”

He concluded that he was “particularly pleased” that the council could freeze Council Tax this year, but warned that there is “still pain to come”.

Find out more about recycling in Wigan