Joanne Roney, the managing director of Birmingham City Council, has come under scrutiny for reportedly taking a business trip to Cannes during the onset of a major bin strike crisis in the city.
The strike, which began last month, has resulted in bags of rubbish accumulating across Birmingham, leading to concerns for vulnerable residents and sightings of rats and cockroaches among the waste.
Despite the escalating situation, Ms Roney, who assumed her role last September, was said to have been participating in a panel discussion in Cannes just one day after the strike commenced.
Critics have labelled her absence during this critical period as “bad judgment”, while the council referred to it as a “planned work trip”.
Since the start of the industrial action, over 21,000 tons of rubbish have remained uncollected on Birmingham’s streets. Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has urged the refuse collectors to accept an “improved” deal, as she met with volunteers helping to clear the city’s rubbish, reports The Mirror.
Ms Roney’s previous absence, however, sparked a divide in opinions. Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith told the Daily Mail : “It shows peculiarly bad judgment.It epitomises the whole way this council has been run, it’s a shocking shambles. “
Yet, it was pointed out that Ms Roney, who is originally from Birmingham, was attending the world’s largest real estate conference, a move which is expected to draw developer interest in Birmingham and the wider West Midlands region.
City leaders from around the globe regularly attend Le Marché international des professionnels de l’immobilier (MIPIM), held annually in Cannes.
A spokesperson for Birmingham City Council said: “This was a planned work trip, and all of Joanne’s expenses, including flights and accommodation, have been funded by the private sector”
With the bin-strike no closer to being resolved and temperatures set to remain particularly warm next week, fears have been raised people in Birmingham could be exposed to deadly illness Leptospirosis (Weil’s disease) amid the situation.
Infectious disease expert Dr Elizabeth Sherida said: “There’s a risk related to rat exposure, like Weil’s disease, which comes from rat urine. That’s the one thing I would be worried about. Most people don’t know they have been exposed to rat urine. You are at risk if you handle things that rats have been running over and that gets into your system.”
Health Secretary Wes Streeting also expressed his concerns, saying: “I certainly am concerned about the public health situation and the poor conditions we’re seeing for people in Birmingham. As the bin bags are piling up, we see rats and other vermin crawling around.”
The UK Health Security Agency, a Department of Health Body, has issued formal guidance to Birmingham City Council warning of the “public health risk associated with household waste.”
The strike comes after members of union Unite, a major donor to the Labour Party, launched industrial action against Labour-run Birmingham City Council over pay and jobs. Unite is now threatening similar strikes across the country.
