A couple who have been asking the council to move a communal bin placed metres away from their front door were aghast when they were threatened with a fine for the fly-tipping by it.
Becky Saunders and James Hilham live in Washington Street, one of the few streets in Hanover with communal refuse bins which have become a magnet for unwanted furniture and excess rubbish bags from neighbouring streets.
They report overflowing rubbish to Cityclean several times a week – so were horrified when an environmental enforcement officer posted them a letter saying they would be fined £400 if they didn’t clear up the rubbish themselves.
The officer didn’t explain to them why he had sent the letter when he first posted it. When they called him, he suggested a neighbour had reported them saying their builders dumped a TV aerial by the bin – which the builders flatly deny.
They’re now afraid the council may continue threatening to find them for rubbish other people are dumping on their doorstep.
Becky said: “We were just in complete disbelief that we had been given this letter because we are the ones who have been trying for weeks to do something about this.
“We are the ones who are being held accountable. It just seems really unfair.
“We were pretty annoyed to put it politely. My first reaction was to email the councillors. It’s beyond a joke now we realise it’s not an easy job to get these bins moved.
“This kind of felt like the last straw. Nothing’s going to change and the bins over the last few weeks have been really bad.
“We are now going to have to worry that not only is there rubbish outside our house, but we are going to be held accountable for it. It seems absurd to assume it’s us.
“Frustrated isn’t the word.”
Becky and James moved in to their house in January, not realising how big a problem the bins would be. But since then, they’ve regularly been confronted by flytipping and split rubbish bags when they leave their house.
A council spokesman said: “We are carrying out an investigation into the alleged fly-tipping and have already been in contact with the residents involved.”
Why hasn’t the council responded? Are they arrogant, unaccountable and incompetent when it comes to comms too? The ward councillors should be holding the senior officers to account over this, and letting the press know their response. It’s not just that rats will breed outside this poor couple’s house, but injustice will increasingly fester in the ranks of council officers if councillors fall down on the job of representing residents.