Bin strike threat to public health - Streeting

As Birmingham's bin strikes enter their fifth week, the health secretary has said he is concerned about the impact of the walkout on public health.

Speaking to Times Radio, Wes Streeting said: "I certainly am concerned about the public health situation and the poor conditions we're seeing for people in Birmingham.

"As the bin bags are piling up, we see rats and other vermin crawling around."

Birmingham City Council said on Tuesday morning: "All of our waste wagons have been deployed from our three depots citywide this morning."

Asking residents to leave their bins out as they normally would, the authority said it would collect them "asap" and apologised for what it called "the current situation".

Natasha, whose 11-week-old son's immune system is impaired due to being born prematurely, told BBC Radio WM part of her street in Winson Green was "quite literally a waste site", blocking her route to the bus stop.

"That pathway is basically covered in black bin bags and physical household waste bins that are overflowing," she said. "You can clearly see where rodents have actually bitten into the bin bags and they've been opened up.

"Do I walk past that tip point, where all that rubbish is, where all the rodents are accumulating, and all the pests are?

"Or do I... walk on the road with my son's pushchair?

"Essentially, I'm having to choose between my son becoming possibly critically ill or being hit by a car."

Talks between bin workers and the city council ended on Tuesday without an agreement being reached.

"No resolution has yet been reached but Unite has put forward a range of fair and reasonable solutions to bring this dispute to an end," the union said.

During public questions at a council meeting on Tuesday, a resident in a rodent costume asked Majid Mahmood, cabinet member for environment, when the rat population would decline and when streets would return to an "acceptable state".

Mahmood said he understood and sympathised with residents' frustrations and that was why a major incident was declared.

The strike has made headlines around the world, and last week the city council declared a major incident.

With the backlog of waste growing by 1,000 tonnes a week, neighbouring Lichfield District Council is due to start sending crews to help clear it.

The impact of fly-tipping on communities in the West Midlands, due to the strike, was debated in the Commons on Tuesday.

Wendy Morton, Conservative MP for Aldridge-Brownhills said neighbouring councils must not be left out of pocket as result of the strikes which were having a "knock-on effect" in Walsall with extra demand on recycling centres and traffic building up.

Council tax payers in Walsall would end up footing the bill, she added, while she said she understood neighbouring councils were offering to help clear up the rubbish.

"If this were to be the case and other local authorities were helping, can we be reassured that any costs incurred would be funded by the government or Birmingham City Council because I don't feel it's the job of my local tax payers to be funding the clean-up of Birmingham's streets?," she added.

Morton urged ministers to condemn the strike and step in to bring it to an end.

Environment Minister Daniel Zeichner said while he recognises the gravity of the situation, it was best to work with people locally to find a solution.

Bin workers began indefinite strike action on 11 March, although walkouts have been taking place since January.

They are fighting plans to remove some roles and downgrade others.

Birmingham City Council said only a small number of workers would be facing pay cuts, and it desperately needs to save money after effectively declaring itself bankrupt in 2023.

England's health secretary's comments reflect the crisis point many in Birmingham feel the situation has reached.

Speaking to the BBC, one resident said he felt like he was "living in a Third World country", while others have complained of having to take their rubbish to temporary collection sites after coming home from long overnight shifts.

The council is advising people to continue putting out their household waste on collection days, saying workers who are not on strike will do their best to remove it.

A previous bin strike in 2017 went on for seven weeks before an agreement was reached.

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