City slammed over bin collections

The new system for black and green bin collections was introduced on Monday and is expected to save the cash-strapped council 2.4m a year.

The changes to collection routes and collection days were agreed following last year's strike by binmen.

But opposition councillors have claimed the first few days of the new system has been "chaos" and left householders confused and angry.

It is claimed that in some parts of the city residents have not been informed of their new collection day until the day before the change was due to happen.

This has led to residents mistakenly putting their bins out on the wrong day as they have been left unaware of the changes to the service.

Conservative Councillor Barry Anderson, the shadow executive board member for environmental services, said: "The council has had more than enough time to ensure that this change to a fundamental council service is done properly.

"They have been dragging their feet on making this change since June and when they finally get around to doing it they manage to make a real mess of it."

Councillor Anderson, who represents the Adel and Wharfedale ward, said householders in his own ward had been left in the dark until the day before the changes.

"Residents in my ward have been left without information on this until the day before the change of collection day – this is completely unacceptable and unsurprisingly not all residents have received the letters and have put their bins out on the wrong day," he said.

"Bin collections are one of the council's core services, and given the length of time they have had to get this right it is amazing that residents have not been properly informed of the changes – the new administration must improve how they communicate with Leeds residents."

The current leadership of the council – a joint administration formed by Labour with the support of two Green councillors – say that the "odd hiccup" is to be expected when such widescale changes to services were being introduced.

The executive board member for environmental services, Labour councillor Tom Murray, said the council had tried to ensure everyone had been kept up to date with the changes.

He said: "We have made every effort to ensure that all residents of the city affected by these changes have been informed in good time.

"It must be remembered however that this change does affect over 330,000 properties in the city, so we would ask the residents of Leeds for their patience as this new system beds in as there will be the odd hiccup."

He said it was "a bit rich" for Tories to lecture anyone about bin collections.

"I do however find it a bit rich that we are being lectured on the collection of black bins by the Tories."

Coun Murray added: "Let's not forget that they were the party that made the draconian attempt to cut some of the council's lowest paid workers wages by up to 5,000 last year.

"This resulted in an 11-week strike which brought bin collection chaos to the city."

The council says the new system is based on zones, which means crews can help each other out once one has completed an area.

The new system should also ensure that reports of missed bins are dealt with quicker.

Details of the new services have been posted on the council's website at www.leeds.gov.uk

Residents can search for their new bin collection days by entering their postcode into a search box on the website.