Neighbours of fly-tipped communal bins finally win consultation on their future
Christmas flytipping by the Washington Street bin
People living near communal bins which are regularly overflowing and fly-tipped have finally won the chance to get rid of them.
The massive general refuse bins were trialled in Washington Street in 2012 – along with some in Coleman Street and Park Crescent Road.
But the narrow pavements and tightly-packed terraces meant they were placed just a few feet from some houses’ front doors and windows.
The problem got even worse when Washington and Coleman Street voted to keep them, but the rest of Hanover voted against – meaning they gradually attracted more and more rubbish from the whole neighbourhood.
The bins at one end of the street were finally moved around the corner to Jackson Street earlier this year – but this did not stop some people continuing to dump their rubbish there.
Meanwhile, Hanover is set to be asked again if it wants communal bins – although because of issues at Cityclean, this consultation has been postponed indefinitely.
Now, a report going before the Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee on Tuesday, 16 March recommends Washington Street gets its own consultation on the bins.
It also states neighbours are organising a petition.
The report said: “Since [2013], Cityclean has added additional 1,100 litre refuse bins and increased collections to six times a week, as residents across Hanover use these bins, even though they are only for the residents of Washington Street.
“They are regularly fly-tipped and overflowing. This causes distress and frustration for residents whose homes are near the bins, as well as the wider community.”
Councillors are asked to back a public consultation with Washington Street residents only to see if they want wheelie bins.
The Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee meets at Hove Town Hall from 4pm on Tuesday 16 November.
The meeting is scheduled for webcast on the council website.
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Welcome to the rest of Brighton. We all have to suffer it and have done for years. Communal bins are a terrible idea and bad for recycling
You’re right, Resident. Before the communal bins we in our street got rubbish collected and recycling was collected in black kerbside boxes, which we put out the night before. There was a ‘consultation’ years back on this communal bin lark. Not many people responded (apathy and an abundance of HMOs hereabouts), but there was a very marginal majority in favour of the new plan. However, after just days of the new plan being implemented, a convenient communal bin was moved somewhere else – probably due to a resident’s objection to having it outside their house, into a location that was highly exposed to the wind and weather coming off the sea. Some while back they moved the bin round a corner to mitigate that, which is not much better, because, if you’re not terribly able, which I’m not, it is impossible for many days of the year. Glass recycling is nowhere really accessible and other recycling is all uphill and somewhere else entirely. Currently, I’m getting some help from friends along the road who are more able.
However, I read recently in some council minutes, that B&H were looking at what neighbouring councils did, including some sturdy sacks that Lewes has. Communal bins don’t work, but apparently the sturdy sacks do, so I suggest that B&H gets on with progressing a real solution pronto. These days, I cannot get round all these dedicated bins, but I could do it all if we went back to a kerbside rubbish solution that was immune to seagulls and a recycling solution that re-instated black boxes for all recycling (including glass).