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You’ve bin told!
Lee Sykes19/10/2005
RUBBISH has been a hot topic across the borough for weeks, and a decision by the Labour-run council about the future of refuse collection may leave many feeling like they've 'bin' had.
Nevertheless, the party stood firm at the latest full meeting of Oldham Council and defeated a bid by the Liberal Democrats to scrap an impending overhaul of the service.
Under the proposals, wheelie bins will have to be pushed to the end of alleyways to a collection point by homeowners. Rubbish not in the bin will not be taken away, nor will bins that are so full they don't close.
The aim is to improve recycling in Oldham with seperate bins or boxes provided for paper, glass and cans. However, the extra demands on the service mean that the public will have to play their part.
The Liberal Democrats think that the inconvenience is too high a price to pay.
They claim the scheme will ultimately make Oldham dirtier and cause problems for many older and infirm residents.
Cllr Rod Blyth told Labour's cabinet member for the environment, Jeremy Sutcliffe, "You should be given a prize for taking a good service and making it into a poor service. At this rate we will have a self-service bin collection - all you would need would be the driver."
Environmental teams have been giving presentations on the new plans at area committee meetings, but Cllr Blyth claimed these were not consultative.
He said: "People were told what was going to happen - the decision had been taken."
Cllr Blyth was also scathing about claims that bins will still be taken if they are open less than 45 degrees. "Does that mean bin operatives are going to be issued protractors?" he said.
Cllr Mohib Uddin (Lib Dem) added: "The review of the service has led to ill-thought out proposals which will lead to substantial discomfort for many residents, particularly the elderly, infirm and disabled."
Cllr Richard Knowles (Lib Dem) said the fact many parts of the borough were hilly had not been taken into account.
However, Cllr Sutcliffe (Lab) said assistance would be provided for anyone who could not push a wheelie bin, if they completed relevant forms. He added that similar schemes are being carried out by Liberal Democrat councils such as York.
Cllr David Jones, the council leader (Lab), said the system was effectively already in place in parts of the borough where "alleygates" have been fitted at the back of rows of terraces. He said these residents were used to the concept of taking wheelie bins to the end of the alley.
He added: "If there is an elderly person on that street who cannot push their bin the neighbours show community spirit and help them.
"In 2000 the Liberal Democrats promised us a cleaner, greener Oldham but what we saw was the opposite with no roll out of recycling. Our changes will mean a better service."
The Liberal Democrat motion calling for a rethink of the plans was defeated. The scheme will be rolled out from later this month.
Most recent 2 of 2 user comments
2/11/2005 at 13:42
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Well I would love to know the whereabouts of this happening because, if you forget to put your bin out on my street TOUGH LUCK !!! it will not be emptied until the following week. For the last 2 weeks on the trot our bins have been collected on a Friday instead of a Thursday, which I have complained to the council about on numerous occasions and all they can say is that "We are having problems with agency staff and that is why we are behind with collections", NOT MY PROBLEM! the bins are put out on either a Wednesday evening or early Thursday morning right in front of our homes and when they are eventually emptied you have to go on a trek to collect them from down the street as the bin men are so lazy and can't be bothered to put them back where they got them from in the first place. The council are quick to pursue you for your COUNCIL TAX if you don't pay which leads into getting into trouble, but are not so quick to sort problems out with regards to serving the public who are paying for these services. They let the council tax payers down big style when it comes to providing a supposed regular service that WE ARE PAYING FOR !!
AN ANNOYED HATHERSHAW RESIDENT.
3/11/2005 at 12:56