A MONEY saving move that could see one massive rubbish and recycling collection service across the whole of Worcestershire would not effect residents in Wychavon, says the district council.

At the moment all six district councils have their own vehicles, staff and collection arrangements costing the county's taxpayers more than £10 million.

The idea of pooling costs was first raised by Worcestershire County Council's Liberal Democrat and Green parties back in January, when a motion was overwhelmingly backed calling for a review.

At the start of July a panel of councillors came together to kick it off, and from that a range of visits are now being planned to some of the best-performing town halls in the country, such as Somerset and South Oxfordshire, to see if any ideas are worth taking away.

Because all the districts operate separate pick-ups in Worcestershire it has led to wildly different levels of service - for example people in Malvern get weekly rubbish collections, but in Worcester it is fortnightly.

Recycling rates also vary hugely - it has hit 43 per cent of all household waste in Wychavon, but down the road in Malvern it is just 31 per cent.

Phil Merrick, head of community services at Wychavon District Council, reassured people living in Wychavon District Council there would be no changes to their collections.

He said: “The concept of working collectively on waste and recycling is not new in Worcestershire and we have a strong track record of joint working.

"This includes common collection services, joint promotion activities and route optimisation activities. We are keen to support this further in the future and we are promoting a joint waste and recycling collection contract with other districts.

"Discussions are ongoing but we do not anticipate that the public in Wychavon would see any change to their waste and recycling services.

"It is hoped that a larger contract will attract some savings through bulk purchasing, more efficient routes and more efficient management arrangements.”