WEEKLY general waste collections are unlikely to return to West Somerset in the next five years - despite a Government drive to get them reintroduced.

The Somerset Waste Partnership - a partnership of the county's five district councils and county council - was one of 130 waste authorities which made a bid to the Department for Communities and Local Government's £250 million 'Weekly Collection Support Scheme' fund earlier this year.

It hoped to secure money not to turn the clock back but to instigate additional collections, principally for absorbent hygiene products and more dry recyclables.

The bid was unsuccessful, with the scheme oversubscribed to the tune of £345m.

But West Somerset Council's cabinet will be told at its January meeting that the SWP's view was that the reintroduction of weekly general refuse collections was not necessary in Somerset.

A report from corporate manager Steve Watts to councillors outlined the reasons, which highlighted the fact that the current service already provided weekly collections for most materials, including food.

Mr Watts said the move could also be seen as a disincentive to recycle for some residents, reversing some of the benefits obtained when the Sort/Sort It Plus schemes were introduced.

He said there was a very high public satisfaction level with the current service and the additional annual cost of reintroducing weekly general waste collections would be between £3m and £4m, with the Government fund only covering up to three years of costs.

In fact, only one council in England actually submitted a bid to restore the weekly general waste service, with the remainder focusing on adding other services.

In the event, the SWP bid did not score highly enough but Mr Watts said, although the introduction of the absorbent hygiene products would not take place in the coming financial year, it would be considered as part of smaller scale 'high diversion' trials in which new materials were added and collection frequencies reviewed.

Councillors will be asked to approve the SWP's draft five year business plan and budget for 2013/14.

Mr Watts said the plan had been drawn up against the background of the continuing economic situation but subject to the Government settlement for local councils, the SWP partners had not required the SWP board to deliver savings in the coming financial year that would impact on the public.

"But the outlook for 2014/15 and beyond looks increasingly difficult," he said.

The previous plan had assumed that levels of residual waste would continue to fall, following the trend in recent years.

But this had not been born out in practice in the first two quarters of 2012/13.

"This is causing a predicted overspend for the county council in the region of £800,000," said Mr Watts.

Approximately half of the cost was down to the high levels of garden waste - both in kerbside collections and recycling centres - due to the now extended growing season.

Mr Watts said the reasons were less clear for the remaining overspend, although it appeared food waste and other materials were "migrating" into the general waste collection bins.

However, despite the difficulties, West Somerset's share of funding the SWP service is set to be reduced by £10,000 in the coming financial year to £1.071m.

And with the council's projections assuming inflationary pressures of £55,000, the overall saving to the district is likely to be £65,000.