South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) has been dealt a further body blow to its finances with the news that construction of the North Fringe to Hengrove Package (NFHP) MetroBus scheme is now projected to come in nearly £16m over budget, an increase of £4.6m since the last figures were released in November 2016.

The latest numbers, originating from the MetroBus Project Review Board, are revealed in a report that was due to be considered by SGC’s Cabinet on 10th July.

The estimated total cost of the project, which is jointly funded by central government, SGC and Bristol City Council, is now put at £117.9m, up 15.8% on the original budget of £101.8m.

Because of the way the funding is arranged, with the government contribution being fixed at £51.1m and SGC committed to covering 61 percent of the remainder, SGC’s projected total contribution has now risen to £40.3m, up 32.1% on its original budget of £30.5m.

Reasons given for the latest increase in forecast cost include:

• Additional delays to the completion of Bradley Stoke Way, due to further unforeseen utility diversion work
• Additional earthwork requirements on the Stoke Gifford Transport Link (SGTL) and the Ham Brook Bridge
• Additional delay costs to the SGTL due to interfaces with Network Rail
• Delays in obtaining Highways England approvals for work on the M32
• Delay costs and additional construction costs relating to piling in the city centre
• Increases in project and site management costs due to the longer than expected duration of the project

More: £0.5m will be diverted from council’s revenue underspend »

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Residents in the Stokes should by now have received a bin hanger (an information card hooked over the lip of the black bin) informing them of the details of South Gloucestershire Council’s new weekly recycling service which is due to be introduced from Monday 19th June.

Under the new regime, households will be able to put all of their recycling containers out for collection every week, along with their food recycling bin, instead of having different recycling containers collected on a staggered two week schedule.

Black bins for non-recyclable waste and green bins for garden waste will continue to be emptied every fortnight.

Residents will still need to sort their recycling for collection but can choose to use their existing containers or green boxes instead of bags for plastics and cardboard.

The weekly collections will mean there are fewer containers to store at home, whilst encouraging more people to use the service.

The council’s bin hanger describes two options for sorting recyclable items across two or three containers and/or bags, leading to criticism that the new system is over complex (see reactions on social media, below).

The scheme being implemented differs from that described in the council’s draft waste strategy put out for public consultation in 2015/16, which proposed that residents would be able “to use the containers how they wish” with collection crews separating material at the kerbside.

The council is making additional recycling boxes available to those who require them and these can be collected at a number of recycling roadshows being held across the district (see below for local events).

Boxes will also be available for collection at the council’s Sort It recycling centres between 5pm and 6pm every day from Monday 5th June to Friday 9th June. The closest to Bradley Stoke is the one in Station Road, Little Stoke.

Later this year, the council will be introducing smaller black bins (140l instead of 240l) for non-recyclable waste. The overall aim of the changes is to meet long term financial and environmental targets.

More information is available at www.southglos.gov.uk/sortit or by phoning the council on 01454 868000.

Photo: One of the council’s new ‘Romaquip’ recycling collection vehicles.

More: Dates of local Recycling Roadshows. Reactions on Facebook. »

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The budget for maintaining roads, cycleways and footways across South Gloucestershire looks set to be slashed by up to £1m per annum for the next eight years in order to pay for the projected overspend on MetroBus, the Journal can reveal.

As previously reported, construction costs for the £102m North Fringe to Hengrove Package MetroBus route (the one which passes through Bradley Stoke) are forecast to be more than £11m over budget when it is completed later this year.

The original £102m budget for the scheme was made up of contributions from the government (£51.1m), Bristol City Council (£20.5m) and South Gloucestershire Council (£30.5m). However, because of the way the funding is arranged, with the government contribution being fixed and South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) committed to covering 61 percent of the remainder, SGC’s increased liability as a result of the projected overspend comes in at more than £7m, representing a massive 23 percent increase on the authority’s original budget.

The discovery of uncharted gas and water mains in Bradley Stoke is one of a number of factors being blamed for the increased costs. Protester action at the Stapleton allotments site, where a new bus-only junction on the M32 has been constructed, is another, along with “additional design, planning and contract management costs”.

As a short-term measure, SGC’s Policy & Resources Committee approved, in July 2016, the use of temporary funding to cover the overspend share of £5.259m projected at that time. However, by the time the council came to set its capital budget for 2017/18, the overspend share had risen to £7m and the council’s Environment and Community Services (ECS) Committee was tasked with coming up with a plan to fund it, either by diverting resources from other projects or taking on ‘prudential borrowing’ (i.e. a loan) that would need to be serviced over a number years.

More: Interest charges would add an extra £2.9m to overspend »

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Slimline black bins (140-litre in place of 240-litre) to be introduced later this year.

South Gloucestershire Council has announced that weekly kerbside recycling collections will start on 19th June, marking the first stage in the introduction of a new waste strategy designed to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill, meet recycling targets and save money.

Later in the year, once the new weekly recycling regime has become established, the current 240-litre black bins for non-recyclable household waste will be swapped for smaller 140-litre bins. The council says the old bins will be collected and sold for onward processing where the plastic will be recycled into new recycling boxes. The net cost of purchasing the new bins is £1m.

The simplified recycling service, which runs under the motto “recycle everything, every week” will cover paper, cardboard, plastics, cans, cartons and glass. The weekly food service will continue and residents can continue to use plastic bags to line the food bin.

The council has purchased new ‘single pass’ vehicles to enable it to replace the current two-vehicle system used for recycling collections. The new ‘Romaquips’ can collect all recycling in one go and are claimed to have a longer life span than the current vehicles. By using these vehicles, the council says it can deliver weekly recycling for the same cost as the old two-vehicle fortnightly service. The old vehicles will be sold and the revenue used to help fund the new vehicles at a net cost of £5m.

Residents will still need to sort their recycling for collection but can choose to use their existing containers or green boxes instead of bags for plastics and cardboard. The weekly collections will mean that there is less recycling for residents to store at home over two weeks, whilst encouraging more people to use the service. Additional green boxes will be made available.

More: Bin hangers and roadshows will be used to inform residents »

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