AN increase in the use of agency staff has been partly blamed for a projected overspend of almost £1 million on collecting rubbish in Wrexham.

A high turnover of staff and the growing amount of recycling being carried out were also cited as reasons for the estimated £966,000 figure.

Wrexham Council’s environment service manager Darren Williams told a meeting that there were more attractive opportunities for large goods vehicle drivers in the commercial sector.

However, some politicians questioned whether the authority was managing its employees effectively enough.

Speaking at a scrutiny committee meeting, Mr Williams said: “The staffing issues that we have go back a couple of years to when we introduced and changed our recycling service from our kerbside sort to having separate waste streams.

“Recycling vehicles went up from 13 and 19 and that’s why we’ve seen a reflective increase in staffing demands.

“At the same time budgets were cut and we are where we are today.

“In environment we do have a relatively large staff force and relatively high turnover.

“Traditionally we’ve tried to recruit and over the next four days there’s interviews on.

“We’re trying to reduce our agency pressure.”

In response, Acton councillor Geoff Lowe said he had sympathy for the department’s predicament, but felt staffing issues could be managed better.

He also questioned whether staff sickness was being dealt with properly.

He said: “The officer spoke about the pressures because of the increase in collection vehicles.

“The question that appears to me is this is not a new procedure we’re doing.

“Are we failing to manage our people better than we could do?

“My concern is this alleged large turnover in staff and if there’s anything we can do to reduce that by assisting people in difficult times then we should do that.”

Mr Williams insisted that the issues were more to do with there being better paid jobs elsewhere than anything else.

He added that staff retiring at similar times had also contributed to the reliance on agency workers.

He said: “We have around 230 staff and of those 230 often we do have a spate where a batch of people retire.

“Also we are in a position where there are more attractive options out there than there were before.

“We do have sickness and it is an area of work that is a manual activity and they’re out in all conditions.

“The turnover of staff is not particularly to do with us not managing that, it’s just through people taking the option to leave or retire.”

Questions were also raised at the meeting about an estimated £165,000 shortfall in car parking income.

One of the reasons highlighted was the failure to introduce parking fees for councillors and members of staff, which was expected to bring in around £50,000.

Councillors were told there had been delays due to complications in the process.

But Labour group leader Dana Davies said she was unhappy that the scheme had yet to be introduced.

She said: “Can you recolour our council parking permits and just charge us for them?

“I think for councillors and members it’s simple.

“I’ve been asking for councillors to pay for parking for the last four years.”

Chief finance officer Mark Owen said that while the process appeared simple, the consultation with staff had raised issues which needed to be addressed.

He added that meetings were ongoing to move the proposals forward.

Councillors voted to note the reasons for the overspend.