Council chiefs accused over bins

Nearly 500 residents of Malton have petitioned Ryedale Council over the policy of only collecting domestic refuse once a fortnight – claiming it hits families particularly hard in the school holidays.

For a number of years Ryedale has collected household rubbish one week, then the following week provided a brown bin collection service for garden waste and recyclables.

The campaigners have suggested the cost of emptying smelly bins more frequently in the summer could be subsidised by cutting collections of garden waste, particularly in the winter.

As reported by the Yorkshire Post, officials rejected the idea of restoring weekly bin collections – claiming it would cost 450,000 all year around and 80,000 to 100,000 for the school holidays.

But Coun Paul Andrews said: "It is beyond belief that the committee accepted, without asking for a full report, the officers' statement. Some further explanation was required than just a single flimsy sheet of A4.

"I do not understand how the council can save only 24K from a reduction of four or five winter brown bin collections, but would have to pay 80K to 100K for just three additional summer collections. This too requires a full report with a full detailed explanation."

He suggested the extra costs were being exaggerated or that resources for the service were being diverted into other areas which had nothing to do with bin collections.

"There may well be official advice to the effect that a fortnightly green bin collection does not create a public health hazard, but this is not the view of most people I talk to, or I believe, of the public in general," he continued.

"There were 494 signatures, taken from all areas of Malton, mainly on the basis of one signature for each house, and this represented well over a quarter of all Malton households. Very few people had refused to sign.

"Last week I asked the Council for an officers' report to be handed out at least two days before the meeting. However, no report was sent out, and the first I knew of the single sheet note was when it was handed out.

"This suggests the intention was to take me by surprise. I believe Ryedale residents are fed up with a situation where senior officers are paid huge salaries, while essential services are cut and reduced."

He said the frequency of bin collections had been the biggest complaint during the last district elections and it was the council's most visible service.

But Councillor Howard Keal, a member of the committee which booted out the weekly bin proposal, said: "People in Ryedale have done a fantastic job adjusting to changed bin collections.

"As a result we have among the highest recycling rates in the country – a switch back to weekly collections of general waste would have a catastrophic effect on that achievement.

"We are in the process of going for a zero per cent rise for the forthcoming year and the proposals from Councillor Andrews would just put a ball and chain through that had they not been thrown out.

"I am pretty sure that most people signing the petition would have taken a different view had they known the bill that would land on the doorstep if weekly green bin collections were introduced.

"We had all the necessary information that was needed on the cost implications as well as every relevant detail that was required to make an informed decision.

"It would have been a complete and utter waste of time to go for a further report just for the sake of it. It would be madness to abandon the proven and successful system we have now."