Rubbish and recycling collections have been missed for weeks in a street in Brighton, with the council blaming scaffolding, saying that it had caused access problems.
But residents dismissed it as “a rubbish excuse”, saying that a garden waste lorry had been without any problems, while a councillor called for better planning and communication.
People living in Withdean Court Avenue, a cul-de-sac in Brighton, said that recycling had built up for more than a month while their other rubbish had not been collected for at least three weeks.
One of them, David Samartin reported missed collections to Brighton and Hove City Council’s refuse and recycling department, Cityclean, but to no avail.
And as the rubbish piled up, the bins were attacked by gulls, foxes and rodents, adding to the mess in the street.
Mr Samartin said that the area suffered similar problems a year ago, with services eventually returning to normal.
The council said: “We’re really sorry about the missed refuse and recycling collections at Withdean Court Avenue.
“We have had access issues there relating to scaffolding on the building. We are working to restore regular collections at this location as a matter of urgency.”
But Mr Samartin said that the scaffolding was on a detached house, set back from the road, adding: “I would like to respectfully disagree with the council as the garden waste truck makes it up our street every Thursday regardless of the scaffolding.
“In addition, the scaffolding is on one house on the street and it doesn’t hinder access. We had a fire engine and ambulance up our street a few nights ago without issue.
“Finally, many of the residents, including me, have written to Cityclean numerous times and there has never been a reason given for the missed collections. Their reason sounds like a rubbish excuse.”
Conservative councillor Alistair McNair, who represents Patcham and Hollingbury, has taken up the complaint alongside his ward colleagues, Carol Theobald and Anne Meadows.
They have received complaints from several roads in the area where collections have been missed for three weeks or more.
Councillor McNair said: “Surely the minute Cityclean knows there is an access issue, residents should be informed of the problem and a solution such as a rescheduled but imminent collection using a smaller vehicle.
“Scaffolding goes up all over the city all the time. It shouldn’t hinder the collection of rubbish and recycling beyond a matter of a couple of days to organise a change in delivery. It shouldn’t take weeks. And residents should be informed as soon as possible.
No collection today around Hove Park
….what a load of..
You have no collection because recycling team are a bunch of lazy lefties.
Don’t be a mug and believe all what you’re told, not just about local bin collections but all sorts of weak excuses given out by officialdom and businesses.
It’s beginning to look like a reduction in the regularity of bin collections bit by stealth, using any old crap excuse.
I issue this challenge to our councillors; prove me wrong.
Nah John, from what I’ve seen and heard is more along the lines of there needs to be accountability within CityClean, and consequences when they don’t fulfil their obligations. This stems from, in my opinion, the manager of CityClean. I would suggest the only reason they get away with it so often is because they are part of the council. If this was a private contractor? They’d have their contract open to tender.