Lib Dem Councillor Richard Samuel has highlighted the ‘shocking’ situation of uncollected bin bags in Walcot, which he warns represents a ‘health hazard’ to Bath residents.
Speaking at the Communities, Transport and Environment panel meeting on Monday evening, Councillor Samuel, who is also the Lib Dem spokesperson for waste and recycling, put Cabinet member Bob Goodman on the spot over the implementation of Conservative waste policies.
Councillor Samuel (Walcot) said: “The situation on London Road is pretty shocking. Yesterday morning I walked from the top of Walcot Street to the end of Grosvenor Place.
“This stretch includes about 40 buildings, many converted into flats, and I counted 123 bags of uncollected rubbish, as well as many Christmas trees. Some buildings had as many as 15 bags outside. This is certainly a health hazard for local residents.
“Uncollected rubbish is building up all over Bath. I see reports of fly tipping and uncollected waste every day on social media. This cannot still be the post-Christmas backlog; it speaks of a deeper problem.
“Clearly, the new waste policies aren’t working in all areas.
“As far as I can tell, areas with lots of flats and HMOs are facing particular problems adapting to the new policies. It seems that the 70 litre gull proof sacks provided to some flats, and the regular sized bins provided to some houses, are completely inadequate. Residents have extra black sacks which won’t fit.
“We were previously assured that there would be a period of leniency with regard to issues such as ‘side waste’ (extra bags) and bins which are slightly over-filled, but this seems to have been forgotten.
“Instead residents are being threatened with £60 fines and a visit from the enforcement squad. This approach won’t work.
“Why isn’t the Cabinet member considering reviewing waste containers or schedules for the parts of the city that are having problems? More time should certainly be given for the new system to bed in, before fines are considered.
“The Cabinet member has said he is willing to take ‘harsh action’ if required, but it would be better if we had waste policies that actually worked for the city. We can’t just leave rubbish lying out on the streets.”
B&NES Council announced earlier this month that they would be giving £60 fines to residents for ‘unnecessary’ black bags put out for collection.
Speaking at the time, Councillor Bob Goodman (Conservative, Combe Down), Cabinet Member for Development & Neighbourhoods said: “We are already increasing recycling and with this effort our recycling rate may be amongst the highest in the country. We are encouraging residents and helping to achieve a goal.
“The more we recycle, the more space we have left in our wheeled bins. We don’t want to fine people but a warning is there so please do the right thing and don’t put extra black waste sacks out because we can’t collect it.
“The new service has been designed to increase the amount collected for recycling and evidence is showing that this is already happening.
“As well as being much better for the environment, it also helps to make the collection service better value for money.”
1 Comment
AJH
Wednesday 24th January, 2018 at 18:56In areas not benefitting from weekly collections, and attempting to cope with fortnightly collections, residents are often finding bins and reuseable sacks left untouched and being told ” sorry, it will have to wait for your next collection day”.. so in effect a monthly collection syatem is being used… I think residents should start fining the council £60 for every ‘legitimate’ bin or bag they fail to collect… lets see how that works