Rubbish row at refusal to cover roads
Saturday 13th March 2010, 11:30AM GMT.
Wheelie bins on an unadopted lane at Sweeney mountain, near Oswestry.
People living on unadopted roads in the Oswestry area may have to push their bins hundreds of yards in future to get them emptied.
Some residents living on Sweeney Mountain have been told that from March 22, Veolia Environmental Services will no longer collect rubbish and recyclables from some unadopted lanes.
Instead householders will have to take their wheelie bins and boxes to the nearest adopted road.
One resident, Dr Ian Rummens, said he cannot understand the change and now faces a 200-yard trip to drop off his rubbish.
“I will be expected to get the wheelie bin and boxes down a steep, muddy lane to the adopted road. This is going to be difficult and possibly dangerous for me – older neighbours are already very worried about how they will manage,” he said.
Another resident, Gordon Hunt from the Summer House on one of the highest parts of Sweeney Mountain, said bin lorry crews had happily driven up the 200-300 metre, steep unadopted lane to his house for the 13 years he had lived there, using a small wagon.
He said: “Now Veolia says it is worried about the vehicles being damaged on the lane and the safety of the operatives. We have resurfaced the lane and cut down a tree to make it easier for them.”
Joyce Elliot, 76, from the nearby Windings Cottage, said she was upset at the possibility of losing another service.
She said: “We’ve got no street lights, no buses, we have got nothing here. We do not see police very often, so what do you get for your rates?”
Veolia Environmental Services, the waste contractor for Shropshire Council, said it was experiencing some difficulties collecting refuse and recyclable materials from a small number of properties across the county due to the condition of the unadopted roads leading to the properties.
The firm said it will offer assistance to people who are disabled, or who have physical difficulty in placing waste at a suitable location.
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I live in Buxton derbyshire on an unadopted road and have the same problem , not only my rubbish bin every 2 weeks but one trip for my green bin then one trip for my newspapers and a further trip for my glass and can box making 4 trips every 2 weeks not much you may think but when you are elderly and disabled quite an effort, to enable the councils to reach their recycle targets. no reduction in council tax for a lack of service.
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This is nothing new to those of us living in South Shropshire, at Bache Mill. We have to struggle with our wheelie bins, and recycle boxes transported on wheelbarrows, to the end of our unmade lane, in order to have our refuse collected, and have done so for years, some of us are pensioners.
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Great. Thanks Shropshire County Council.
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ever since that french firm took over the service has been rubbish, in the town centre in shrewsbury there are black bags left out all over the place uncollected, sabc used to clear it all, they are cutting waste collection services all over the county to fund the high disposal costs of their ludicrous and unneccessary incinerator.
waste collection is a front line service and should not be cut, waste disposal and the highly paid executives with gold plated pensions and no knowledge of the real world who plan it are not a front line service and not a priority
ask your self one question, how many councillors or VEOLIA or council waste staff bring their rubbish 200 yards to get it collected! Answer is none,
remember who pays your wages
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errr MOUNTAIN!?
you live on a mountain and wonder why they wont collect your rubbish
hmmmm….clues in the title
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we pay them and then they dictate the level of service hahahahahaha i dont think so, we can with hold our taxes, we are the boss, the people, the paymasters
VOTE THEM ALL OUT
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The council pay the lowest bidder. The lowest bidder then decides that some of the awkward collections aren’t worth the hassle and cuts the service the council used to provide. The bean counters are happy but the taxpayers are ripped off in favour of the shareholders profit.
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yet again a rubbish service from the people who bought you complecated recycling collections and winter rubbish collection cancelled on grounds of health and safety
since shropshire council was created the service has been frankly rubbish
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surely if the road is unsafe for vehicles then the council should fix the road on health and safety grounds! this cannot be allowed to cut costs its a front line service
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its a false economy here as people will just get hacked off with the system, give up on recycling and put more rubbish out for disposal instead also there will be a serge in fly tips thus costing us all more in the longer run
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These people live on an unadopted road. While they get certain benefits for living on these there are negatives, like the bin lorry not coming up!! And would Mr Thatcher like his rates to go towards paying for repairs to private property? doubt it…
So if the vehicle gets damaged then who is liable? Likely to be the residents, and i’m sure those on adopted roads would moan just as much if it couldn’t continue the round.
Also if the vehicle damaged the lane then the residents can sue Veolia, and more than likely that money comes out of the rates.
As per usual people need to do research when buying a property instead of moaning after something like this happens.
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Quite right – there is absolutely no way that Veolia should be accessing private roads in order to collect refuse and recycling. There are many reasons why, the most notable concerns the health and safety risk of operating their vehicle on a private road. Has appropriate insurance been taken out by the owner of the road and has a risk assessment been completed?
I applaud Veolia’s stance.
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shopshire council – putting the customer first!
what a joke
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Interesting to see further evidence that Shropshire Council does not invest enough in highways after a poor show in the snow now they have the cheek to say this
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Why it is yet again the few rich country dwellers are dissatisfied over their service. I live in Shrewsbury and live 100yards from the road. I have to bring my bin to the road WHAT is the matter with these lazy idle rich do they not live in the same world as the rest of us. I suppose the doctor in this article likes fixing broken ankles of the collection crews!!!! I suppose this is another example of its ok but not in my back yard!!1
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these residents have some cheeek, if its a private road they are responsbile for it, clearly they have not bother keeping it up to scratch for years and now they expect the general public to pick up the tab, no sorry its a PRIVATE road, so why should I pay for their maintenence
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