Plea for patience over bins backlog (From The Bolton News)

Plea for patience over bins backlog

7:00am Friday 1st January 2010

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BOLTON’S bins backlog could take weeks to clear, town hall bosses have admitted.

Tens of thousands of homes across the borough have been missed in the past week due to the snow and icy conditions forcing bin men off the road.

And while collections have been returning to some kind of normality this week, bin crews still have a backlog to clear.

The Bolton News has been flooded with calls from angry residents while hundreds have been queueing to get into the council’s recycling centre in Raikes Lane to get rid of Christmas rubbish that has not been collected by bin crews.

And many residents have been asked to take their own bins to be emptied in refuse vehicles parked on streets deemed too slippy and dangerous by bin men.

But Bolton Council is calling for patience and says that bin men have been out gritting roads to ensure that collections can get back to normal next week.

Residents in Barnfield Drive, Westhoughton, cleared their road of ice on Boxing Day but have still not had a collection this week.

One resident, who did not want to be named, said: “I can understand the binmen not coming the Monday before Christmas because the snow was really bad, but we cleared it on Boxing Day and if they had come to the drive then they would have seen that.

“Since the changes to the bin rounds came in, the collections have been sporadic at best, so it doesn’t surprise me that they decided not to bother as soon as it snowed.”

Neighbouring authorities Bury, Salford and Wigan have also experienced collection difficulties because of wintry conditions. Earlier this week, Bolton Council said a third of the bins due for collection on Sunday and Monday — about 30,000 — were picked up, but bin crews were now collecting nearly 70 per cent of bins.

A spokesman said: “Like many local authorities, Bolton has experienced disruption to its bin collection service over the festive period due to the adverse weather.

“However, we are hopeful this will improve further as the week progresses. It is likely it will take us a few weeks to catch up fully on collections and we are grateful for the continued patience of residents.”

Cllr John Walsh, leader of the town’s Conservative group, has written to council chief executive Sean Harriss seeking clarification on what is being done to tackle the backlog.

He said: “While I fully accept the difficult conditions faced by refuse collectors due to this prolonged adverse weather, the indications from weather forecasts are that the current conditions will be with us over the weekend and into next week.

“I do not want to appear alarmist, but if action is not taken we could be reaching the situation of 1979, when rubbish was piled on the streets. It is a situation I would have thought that the council’s leadership would want to avoid as we go into 2010.”

* Residents whose bins are due to be collected today are being advised to put them out tomorrow.

andrew.greaves@ theboltonnews.co.uk

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