CONTROVERSIAL plans to introduce three-weekly brown bin collections in St Helens will be scrutinised in public tomorrow night.

A task force will meet at St Helens Town Hall from 6pm to discuss the plans, which is part of a wider revamp of waste services.

If approved, the pilot will begin covering 2,000 homes across two routes in September with a view to being rolled out in September 2019.

The council proposes to invest £3,625,000 on new vehicles and modifications to its existing fleet, with £2,025,000 earmarked for 15 new recycling vehicles.

This will be funded largely through the council’s waste management fund.

The changes will also see a workforce modernisation designed to enable staff to work flexibly across the service as “one team”.

“All staff to work flexible hours on a daily basis to meet the demands of the service to ensure all collections and tasks are completed on the scheduled day,” a council report said.

“Staff work across all services as required.

“This will also include working as crews of 1/2/3/4, and with other teams as part of the group-based working.”

The report said staff will take responsibility for delivering the service ‘right first time’ and to resolve and minimise complaints.

Collection routes will also be revised, which will include provision of new properties and estates.

The plans were set to get the green light by council’s cabinet in February, but council leader Barrie Grunewald ordered the item be deferred for further scrutiny at the last hour.

A report submitted to cabinet said a key driver to change the service is to reach a recycling rate target of 50 per cent by 2020.

Currently the borough’s recycling rate is at 39 per cent and is expected to fall following the introduction of the garden waste charge.

Under the new plans, a separate bag will be provided to residents for cardboard, to help with the growing levels of cardboard in the recycling stream.

The three-weekly bin collections are estimated to save the authority £1.4 million over seven years.

At Wednesday’s meeting, senior council officers and councillors will give evidence about the plans and explain how the proposals have been developed, as well as discuss feedback from residents.

Members of the public are invited to attend the meeting to observe.