FIRE chiefs have admitted that ‘there is no direct evidence’ to suggest Bolton Council’s slim bin policy has led to more fly tipping, contrary to earlier comments.

Last week, The Bolton News said that in a performance report, the Greater Manchester Fire Authority had asserted that the council’s decision to swap residents’ 240 litre grey bins for slimline 140 litre versions had led to more fly tipping in the borough, which it said would lead to more deliberate fires. They have since backtracked on those claims.

Statistics show that in the last eight months of 2016 crews were called to deal with 354 fires involving loose refuse in Bolton compared with 271 incidents in the same period of 2015 — a rise of more than 30 per cent.

Council chiefs reacted furiously to the comments, arguing that the fire service could not possibly know if there had been extra fly tipping since the slim bin rollout began in June as it does not collect that sort of data.

Now, fire chiefs appear to have backtracked on the comments and have issued a fresh statement.

Group Manager Lee Coleman, borough manager for Bolton, said the situation is a ‘complex one’ that is being tackled with a multi-agency approach. He said: “There is no direct evidence at the present time linking this (fly-tipping statistics) to recent bin changes.

“However, there are a number of potential causes that can be attributed to the increase in secondary fires, which include the recent bonfire period, fires involving skips and those fires that are started with malicious intent. We continue to work with local authority partners and the police to help build cleaner, safer and stronger communities and through close liaison with Greater Manchester Police.”

He said that this partnership approach had led to the arrest of a man in connection with a number of deliberate fires in the Smithills area of Bolton this weekend.”

Cllr Nick Peel, executive cabinet member for the environment at Bolton Council had previously said he was ‘disappointed’ with the comments made in the fire authority report and reiterated his assertion that fly tipping has not increased since slim bins were introduced. He said: “The rollout of the slim bin scheme in Bolton has not resulted in an increase in flytipping and so far £1.4m of costs have been avoided.

“Residents have more bin capacity than ever before with four bins available, three for recycling and one for residual waste. With two Household Waste Recycling Centres, there is no excuse for fly-tipping. Every organisation wants to make Bolton the cleanest and safest place possible for our residents and we are working with the fire service and police to try and make this happen.”

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