Rural rubbish collection ‘unrest’

Rubbish collections for people who live at the end of tracks in rural areas outside of Shrewbsury have changed sparking “unrest” and concern among residents, it was claimed today.

Councillor Yvonne Holyoak said refuse collection vehicles were no longer travelling to homes at the end of farm tracks in Shrewsbury and Atcham, with residents instead having to leave bin bags at the side of the road at the end of the lanes.

But she said residents were angry, raising concerns that the bags could get torn open by animals or left in the middle of a road causing a danger for cars.

Councillor Holyoak, a local county and borough councillor, said: “For many years the garbage vans have gone up farm tracks where there are perhaps a couple of houses at the end.

“Now they’ve made a policy that they are not going to do it anymore. They’ve given people bags to put out at the end of their lane on certain days.

“There’s a lot of unrest about this. People think there could be a danger if bags are left by the side of the road. They are worried about whose insurance it comes under if a car gets damaged from a bag going in the road. There would also be a mess if the birds or animals get into it.”

But James Thompson, recycling and sustainability officer at Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council, said it was likely some of these lanes were “unadopted highways” and for various reasons it may not be safe for large collection vehicles to drive down them.

The council also had “no responsibility” to collect waste from unadopted lanes.

“When we redrew the collection rounds as part of the implementation of alternate weekly collections some of these lanes may have come ‘out of the woodwork’ as the routing software used to help map the rounds will not have considered private tracks,” he added.

By John Kirk