RESIDENTS in Kearsley are fighting alongside a local councillor to save their bin collections.

Homes on three streets all received letters from Bolton Council telling them that their bins would no longer be collected from the back of their properties due to excessive damage on the roads.

Albion Street, Alexandra Road, and Victoria Road, off Bolton Road in Kearsley ­— all unadopted roads out of council control ­— were told that waste recycling operatives had brought it to the attention of their bosses that they felt it was no longer safe to collect the bins on these streets.

The reasons given on the letters included: “The uneven and unmaintained ground surface is a hazard and there is an increased risk of an accident to our staff.”

This would mean that residents would have to take their own bins to a different street, much further away, on collection day.

Cllr Mark Cunningham has notified residents that he is challenging this change in collection, and has offered to help repair the streets.

He said: “We must never forget that the residents who live in properties with unadopted streets pay the same council tax as residents living on adopted streets and should wherever possible receive the same level of service.

“If professional crews cannot wheel the bins at these locations due to safety concerns then how can we expect residents some of who will be elderly to do this safely?”

He has held meetings with officers and council leader David Greenhalgh and has reached an agreement that the council will provide and deliver road planings ­— chippings of road material to fix the surface.

Once the holes are filled the councillor says he will go back to the waste and recycling directors and ask them to collect the bins from the original points.