SIR: Cllr Tod may be satisfied by the response, but clearly the public are not, (Chronicle, January 21).

Information about the scheme that residents are being railroaded into paying for is still largely missing. It isn’t what’s happening now, it’s the shady background reasons and transparently clear figures that are missing, clearly being deliberately withheld.

Exactly what was the problem with the highly successful green bag scheme? Why did it need replacing? Why are the financial implications of new for old are being completely obscured? Strong commercial pressure has clearly been exerted by Biffa as part of the of a new contract to adopt and charge for the bin scheme they want, supposedly a best value eight-year deal with Winchester including fortnightly green waste collection. However, their commercial record is poor. They were rejected by North Somerset Council for poor performance, they regularly have customer service complaints from small businesses including an excessively long cancellation period, their poor service are well documented.

Without any evidence of public necessity whatsoever, the underhand introduction of this service will seriously disadvantage people who have no car, older people and those who used the free green bag scheme. Everyone will now have to pay extra to have green waste collected. Why?

We know nothing about how many green bags there are in stock or what will happen to them. We have not been told why thousands of WCC dustbins, paid for and stored in the Chesil Tunnel are not being used by us, council taxpayers. Why are they unused as unwanted bins are purchased? As usual, the LibConDems have not conducted a consultation with the public about this despite a commitment to increase recycling. Behind the shady deal gimmickry and the secrecy this scheme represents there must be some real facts.

Peter Rees

Member – Winchester Constituency Labour Party,

Monarch Way,

Winchester