Opposition Lib Dem councillors have drawn up a £45 million grime-busting plan to tackle fly-tipping and bring back free garden and bulky waste collections to Birmingham.

The party’s alternative budget is focused on cleaning up the city after last year’s bin strike and an ongoing epidemic of fly-tipping in many neighbourhoods.

The plan has been issued ahead of Tuesday’s budget setting meeting at which the dominant Labour group is expected to vote through £52.9 million worth of cuts while raising council tax by 3.99 per cent.

All three parties have targeted cleaner streets as a key priority ahead of the May local elections - with all backing the retention of weekly residual bin collections for the next four years.

Cllr Jon Hunt in Turnberry Road, Great Barr

The Lib Dems are going a step further calling for free garden waste collections to be restored in 2020. The optional service currently costs £35 per year per household and the Lib Dems would reduce the charge to £10 until the full free service is ready for roll out.

They also propose cancelling cuts to street cleaning, special street collections and will put more anti-flytipping CCTV cameras on the streets. They argue the city needs to get a grip on clearing the streets before the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Group leader Councillor Jon Hunt said the city council has seen a one-off windfall of almost £100 million in its reserves account and should use that.

He said: “Rather than leaving money sitting into the bank, the city needs a make-over. If the world is coming to us in 2022, we do not want a situation where visitors are being driven round in vehicles with tinted windows because the city is so ashamed of its condition.

“Our programme will galvanise the city council and galvanise communities to clean up the city and make it a place where people want to live. It will also lead to the creation of hundreds of jobs.

Are you planning a trip to the tip in Birmingham?
Lib Dems want to offer free garden waste collections

“It is astonishing that the city’s Labour leadership has been gifted with this sum of £98 million and seems to have no plans to spend it to the benefit of the city.”

The Lib Dems say their alternative budget, which also includes more investment in parks and youth services, have been vetted by council officials.

Labour is trumpeting its decision to only put up council tax by almost four per cent, despite the Government lifting is effective cap on rises to almost five per cent.

The Conservatives have attacked the Labour policy - saying that some of the harder impacts, including future council tax rises, have been put off until after the May election.