The service provided by the Council for the collection of bulkier household items appears to be much appreciated by the people of Bradford - so much so that requests for it have gone up from 28,000 in 1996 to 48,000 last year.

Unfortunately the resources available to run the service have not grown at the same pace, leading to a wait of up to three months for rubbish to be taken away.

This is clearly not satisfactory. When people strip out a house, buy a new bed or dispose of a carpet, they don't plan months ahead and book a collection of items in advance. They usually call the service when they have dragged the items outside into their garden or yard, not expecting them to moulder there for many weeks before they are collected.

There is a danger that householders faced with that prospect might be tempted instead to drag the items a bit further and dump them on nearby spare ground, adding to Bradford's fly-tipping problems.

If the service is to be improved, it might well benefit from an injection of cash on top of the £480,000 the Council spends on it each year. The proposal to charge up to £15 for collecting larger items such as piles of rubble, bathroom suites, cast-iron boilers and stripped-out doors and windows could give it a useful boost.

The list of items recommended by officers to carry charges is limited and not unreasonable. However, it needs to be accompanied by serious efforts to cut the waiting time - and the temptation must be resisted to treat it as the thin end of the wedge.