A REPORT which looked into cutting the number of bin collections in Newport to once every three weeks will be discussed by council members tomorrow.

But Newport City Council has reiterated its previous position that it has no plans to introduce three-weekly collections.

The council's Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee will discuss a report into how the city will meet Welsh Government targets around increasing recycling and cutting waste sent to landfill.

The Welsh Government has set a target of no waste being sent to landfill by 2050.

Although the council met the recycling targets in the 2016-2017 financial year, it is still below the Welsh average, and has missed statutory targets three times since 2012.

And the report by the council's Waste Strategy Review Group said, without revamping its approach to waste, the council was unlikely to meet waste or recycling targets in the future.

"There is a solid evidence base to support the rationale that three weekly collections would positively impact upon the recycling rates, the performance of the service and put the council in a position to meet the recycling targets, avoid the associated fines and bridge the funding gap within the budget for the service in the long term," it said.

Although it said the potential benefits and problems with reducing collections to once every three weeks, the report said the group had ultimately concluded it "could not support the introduction of three weekly collection" due to "existing problems" with the service, which were likely to be exacerbated by the change.

Last month the council's cabinet member for streetscene Cllr Roger Jeavons said: “We have thousands more houses being built across the city which have to be added to our routes, so we are looking at ways to make our collections more efficient.

"It does not mean the introduction of three-weekly collections.

"We are well aware our residents do not want this and it is currently not on our agenda.”

Today's meeting at Newport Civic Centre will begin at 10am and is open to the public.

As the Argus reported yesterday, Wednesday, the committee will also discuss a report into handing over responsibility for tackling illegal parking from police to the council.

To view the full agenda visit tinyurl.com/ycdgk4t9