West Northamptonshire Council to consider bringing waste and recycling services in-house from 2028

West Northamptonshire Council’s Cabinet is set to consider a recommendation for waste collections and street cleansing services to be brought in-house from 2028.

The three former district and borough areas – Daventry, Northampton and South Northamptonshire – currently have differing arrangements.

If agreed, the change would mean that from 2028 these services would be delivered by a team directly employed by the Council rather than through a contract.

This follows a full review of how waste and recycling services are delivered across West Northamptonshire. The review process included councillors from all political parties, representing wards from across the West Northamptonshire area.

The anticipated benefits of this change include giving the Council more direct control over how the services are run and greater transparency over the cost of delivering them.

The Government’s national ‘Simpler Recycling’ programme, along with the introduction of a deposit return scheme, will bring further changes to the way waste is collected in future.

Delivering the service directly would give the Council more freedom to adapt to these changes as they are introduced.

Bringing the service together under one West Northamptonshire team is also an opportunity to create a single approach and make the service as efficient as possible.

Cllr Nigel Stansfield, Cabinet Member for Environment, Recycling and Waste, said: “Bringing these services in house would give the Council the flexibility to manage an essential public service in a period of national change.

“We would like to thank Veolia and Norse and their teams for the professionalism over the past eight years of delivering waste collection services.

“Their commitment to maintaining reliable, high‑quality services for our communities has been greatly appreciated, and the efforts of operational staff and management alike have made a real difference to residents across the area.

“We look forward to continuing to work with them constructively over the remaining two years of the contract.

“We do not underestimate the scale of the challenge in bringing these very visible services under direct Council control. Waste crews do an important and demanding job, whatever organisation they work for.

“If this proposal is agreed, we will make the transition as smooth as possible for staff transferring to the Council and for residents who rely on the service they provide.

“Our aim is to build a single waste and recycling service for West Northamptonshire that can adapt, improve and meet the needs of our communities.”

The proposal will be discussed at its meeting on 5 May and full details can be found on the website.