Westminster City Council is building a new waste depot at Mandela Way, near Old Kent Road in Bermondsey, to support the council's transition to a fully electric waste fleet, providing charging infrastructure for around 40 new refuse collection vehicles as part of a commitment to become carbon neutral by 2030. MyLondon reports that the project's cost has risen from an original £6.6 million estimate to a predicted total of £13.5 million, an increase Council Leader Cllr Paul Swaddle has attributed to the previous Labour administration signing off the project "without ever checking the ground it was built on," saying taxpayers are now footing an extra £7.97 million bill for it. The depot needs to be completed by September 2027 to meet the start of the council's new waste and management contract, and the funding decision remains subject to a call-in period ending 3 September.
New South London waste depot to cost £7m more than planned but it'll support 40 new electric vehicles
Westminster City Council is building the new depot for its new electric waste vehicle fleet
Westminster City Council Leader Paul Swaddle said:
“Labour signed off Mandela Way without ever checking the ground it was built on.
"Nobody did the basic homework, and Westminster taxpayers are now footing an extra £7.97 million bill for it, taking the previous Labour administration's total waste to £56 million.
"That is taxpayers’ money that could have gone towards delivering A City That Works for All: safe streets, a clean city and local services that residents rely on.
"This is at the same time as the Labour government is slashing £100 million from the council’s budgets.
"Time and again, our review proves the same thing: same old Labour cannot be trusted with public money.”
You can read Katherine Gray's article for MyLondon in full here.
