The news comes as a food waste collection trial begins in Collingham and Wetherby

Author: Matt Soanes

Leeds City Council has pledged households across the district won't be saddled with additional bins, as part of a nationwide shakeup of recycling.

It comes as the local authority confirms a trial of food waste collections is launched in Wetherby and Collingham, with plans to roll out a similar scheme to the rest of the city and surrounding areas.

The trial will utilise existing brown bins for food waste alongside garden waste, with plans for year-round collections of these bins.

Households taking part in the trial will be provided with a kitchen food waste caddy to support the new fortnightly collection service. As food waste collected during the trial will be processed nearby, Wetherby and Collingham were chosen for the initial phase.

Leeds currently operates the largest free garden waste collection service in the UK, with more than 31,000 tonnes collected annually from 220,000 households across the city - there are plans to use this infrastructure as part of the trial.

This comes amid a nationwide shakeup of recycling services, with local authorities being told to collect additional types of waste for recycling.

Councillor Mohammed Rafique, executive member for climate, energy, environment, and green space, said:

“We are aware of information and rumours circulating regarding an additional fourth bin and new fines possibly being introduced. We would like to stress neither of these elements are true for Leeds."

“We remain fully committed to keeping to the current three-bin approach to keep things as simple as possible for our residents while continuing to encourage recycling through green bins and the household waste recycling centres.

“Developing our existing brown bin service for food waste collections along with garden waste is an interesting and exciting development, so we look forward to the new trial service starting shortly to see how effective it is.”

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An independent review into West Yorkshire’s mass transit system, which caused the scheme to be delayed to the late 2030s, will remain shrouded in secrecy, with the publication now restricted for legal reasons.

Last month, Mayor Tracy Brabin announced that the timeline on the prospective tram network, which will connect Leeds and Bradford, was being pushed back following this report, however she maintained that she would get spades in the ground by 2028.

The review, by the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (Nista) with West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) and Department for Transport, led to a change in process on the project.

Previously WYCA was attempting to work on the business case and the planning process at the same time to speed up the timeframe, however the review advised it to focus on the former first.

It put together a “robust, sequential timeline” and advised on “derisking our delivery of the overall programme”, according to mass transit director Mike Birch.

This led to the estimated completion dates of the two routes - one from Leeds to Bradford and the second to the White Rose Centre via Elland Road - being delayed until the late 2030s.

At a press conference in December, Ms Brabin told reporters, including The Yorkshire Post, that a summary of the review would be published in January as part of WYCA board papers.

However it has now emerged that this will remain secret, with the DfT saying that all major project reviews undertaken by Nista are treated as confidential.

It is understood the Government believes this will help provide honest feedback.

A WYCA spokesperson said: “Following legal advice, we are unable to release the report or details of its contents.

“The report contains information relating to financial or business affairs and disclosure at this stage could inhibit full and frank discussions about the project.

“It will still be shared with Combined Authority members to enable them to scrutinise and provide constructive challenge as we move forward with delivery of the Mass Transit programme.”

This is only likely to fuel further scepticism with the project, with previous tram and trolleybus schemes in Leeds scrapped before any construction work started.

Tom Forth, co-founder of Leeds-based tech company The Data City, said: “It’s as fundamental as democracy doesn’t work if we, the people, cannot read what the experts and the Government are thinking and doing.

“How do I know whose fault it is that this scheme could take 17 years to complete?”

Mr Forth, who was previously an expert on DfT’s capital investment panel, added: “At some point I and the million voters in West Yorkshire need to know so we can decide who to vote for.”

Questions had been raised about Government involvement in the project, and it emerged that civil servants could overrule Ms Brabin and turn the mass transit system into a bus network.

However, this week Chancellor Rachel Reeves told this paper: “There will be trams. Mass transit does not mean a few better buses, mass transit means a tram network.”

A DfT spokesperson said: “We are working closely with the West Yorkshire Mayor to deliver a mass transit system, boosting connectivity and unlocking growth and opportunity for the region.

"We are already funding the first phase through their Transport for City Regions allocation, and we recently committed to funding its delivery beyond this tranche.”

The Chancellor has confirmed that the West Yorkshire mass transit system will be a tram network, saying it “does not mean a few better buses”.

Rachel Reeves backed Mayor Tracy Brabin’s commitment to get spades in the ground by 2028, and pledged that commuters would be able to get trams between Leeds and Bradford in the 2030s.

The Chancellor made the comments after The Yorkshire Post revealed that civil servants could overrule Ms Brabin and turn the mass transit system into a bus network.

As part of the process, West Yorkshire Combined Authority has to produce a business case for buses as well as trams, which the Department for Transport will run the rule over.

However, at the announcement of Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) in Leeds this week, Ms Reeves sent a clear message: “There will be trams.

“Mass transit does not mean a few better buses, mass transit means a tram network.

“Leeds, as we all know, is the biggest city in western Europe without mass transit, we are going to be the Government that turns that around.

“I remain committed, we remain committed as a government to work with Tracy to get spades in the ground by 2028 and get those trams running by the 2030s.”

Ms Brabin, who said she was “confident” her team would be able to make the case to Whitehall for trams, explained she was “delighted” with the Chancellor’s support.

“Wherever the government go out and say they are backing mass transit helps me,” she said.

“Unfortunately, in West Yorkshire, because we have had two failures the public are so cynical.

“They just need reassurance constantly that because of a Labour mayor working with a Labour government, which backs mass transit, you will get mass transit.”

Ms Brabin has staked her reputation on the success of the scheme, and has said she will go for reelection in 2028 to see the job through.

The public, however, are naturally cynical about the project after a raft of previous failures.

Calls to bring trams back to the streets of Leeds, which were removed in 1959, have been going on for decades.

A scheme failed under New Labour when Tony Blair was Prime Minister, while in 2016 a trolleybus project hit the buffers.

Ms Brabin was granted more than £2bn for transport projects in West Yorkshire in the latest Spending Review, and so far WYCA has withdrawn £120m of the initial £200m allocated for the project.

The two proposed lines will see Leeds Station connected to Bradford, and a separate route past Elland Road to the White Rose Centre.

In its Northern Growth Strategy, published alongside the NPR announcement, the Government committed to continuing to fund the mass transit system in future rounds of funding.

It said: “Subject to business case approval, the government will continue to support delivery through future rounds of TCRs (Transport for City Regions), marking a new commitment to provide the investment needed to transform regional connectivity.”

Leeds Central and Headingley MP Alex Sobel said: “After the disaster of the Trolleybus scheme we always knew we needed a proper tram scheme for West Yorkshire so delighted to see this has Treasury backing.”