COUNCIL leader Cllr Cliff Morris resisted calls to step down at the bins public meeting on Monday night.

Horwich Town Council Cllr Peter McGeehan accused Cllr Morris, Cllr Sufrana Bashir-Ismail, the council’s Executive member for cleaner, greener, safer, and Malcolm Cox, the council’s director of environmental services, of wasting hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers money over the last 12 months on training and preparing the new rounds.

But Cllr Morris refuted the allegations and said Cllr McGeehan’s statement had a number of incorrect assumptions.

He added: “We will look at the bill and then consider our future. I am in charge of value for money and I will not devalue staff because they work very hard.”

It was revealed at the meeting that the software used to plan the new rounds has cost £31,000, including the price of the training programmes.

Cllr Bashir-Ismail, who was due to go out with bin men yesterday morning but had to cancel because of a family emergency, said: “The amount we are looking to save is far greater and that will be better for the taxpayer.”