A councillor who got so fed up with waiting for a response to his questions on garden waste bins, he went to the depot himself says he found over 800 of them there.
Coun Paul Barnes has often raised questions at South Holland District Council about the wait for brown bins which can be paid for to put garden waste in.
He told last week’s meeting that there were around 1,000 people on the waiting list.
The previous portfolio holder for environmental services, Coun Jack Tyrrell had said in October that the system would be changed so people could just ring up, pay the £17.50 and £57 for 24 collections over 12 months and receive the bin.
Coun Barnes said he got fed up of waiting for responses from council officers, so went to the depot himself.
“I was quite amazed the perceptive staff there who told me there’s 800-850 bins at the depot,” he said. “They have no problem with delivering these bins or taking extra capacity but have over 1,000 people back on the register of interest.
“They would be happy for someone to ring up, pay and get a bin delivered in a matter of days. It’s over £5,500 of revenue that could be in South Holland’s coffers but that’s sitting in the depot as we insist to have this register of interest.”
It was revealed at the meeting that Coun Jim Astill was taking on the responsibility.
“The team is working through that list and, where possible, we are putting bins out to those people,” said Coun Astill who described himself as ‘only a few hours into the gig’. “There are some areas of the district that don’t have the garden waste service. The team is working on that for the future.”
* Coun Astill said that the number of missed waste collections was ‘quite high’ between October and December.
“There were recent disruptions affecting around 2,300 properties caused by staff absence and sickness,” he said.
* It was also revealed that the district council’s street cleaning team would take on the duty of emptying public litter and dog bins after complaints some weren’t being emptied.
Coun Astill said previously that team and refuse crews looked after different bins.
“We hope having one team doing this rather than two will result in a better service,” he said.
* Coun Jack Tyrrell told The Voice after the meeting that he’d stood down from the cabinet and the waste position to spend more time representing his Long Sutton area and for health reasons.
“For me, I didn’t become a councillor to be outside my own area,” he said. “There’s a lot of work goes into the portfolio holder positions and I’ve done a lot of work, but it took me away from becoming a councillor for my area.
“I’ve had to cut back on work due to my health too, but the main thing is to be back in Long Sutton.”
Coun Tyrrell also said that he’d advised Coun Barnes to attend South Holland District Council’s new depot.
