Complaints over missed bin collections in Cumbria
Cumberland Council are under scrutiny
Residents are still complaining about missed waste collections across the Cumberland Council area with one person claiming their bin had not been emptied since November.
The claims were made during Wednesday’s (January 7) meeting of the council’s place overview and scrutiny committee, at Allerdale House in Workington.
They got an update about the council’s waste collection service review and during the debate members said that issues with waste collections was one of the areas where they got the most complaints from residents.
It was recommended that they noted the progress to date on each of the agreed recommendations from November 2024, consider the effectiveness of the project to date and provide their own recommendations and observations, if necessary, which was agreed.
Councillor Jill Perry (Bothel and Wharrels, Green Party) said she had been contacted by a resident in her ward to say their bin was last emptied on November 7, which she said was a long time without a collection.
She also got a lot of complaints about issues with the online reporting system and added: “The online form definitely needs some tweaking.”
Neil Dixon, the assistant director for waste management and public spaces, said there were delays on how it was fed into the system but agreed that it should be improved.
He said there were issues with collections in the Allerdale legacy area, but it was being moved into the Cumberland Council system and should improve, and he assured cllr Perry that he would look into the issue with the missed collections in her ward.
Councillor Tony Markley (Solway Coast, Conservative) said he also got a lot of complaints from residents about bin collections and added: “I’ve never had the telephone ring so many times.”
And councillor Joseph Ghayouba (Bransty, Labour) said there were quite a few teething issues in his ward and he observed that most people were ‘okay with fortnightly collections’ but added: “Apart from Allerdale because they’ve never had them before.”
He suggested that they should promote the assisted collections service and that communication about waste collections in general should be improved and councillor Carni McCarron-Holmes (Maryport North, Labour) agreed.
Councillor John Mallinson (Houghton and Irthington, Conservative) welcomed the move to bins for recycling, as the bags could easily be blown away by the wind, and added: “I think this is all very positive.”
However, he said that not everyone would be able to accommodate four bins at their address and Mr Dixon said: “We are addressing that.”
Councillor Denise Rollo (Harrington, Labour), the sustainable, resilient and connected places portfolio holder, said the progress made so far was a ‘massive achievement’ because they had inherited three separate systems when Cumberland Council was formed but the service was improving. She added: “I am not getting as many reports now.”
Councillor Jeanette Forster (Hillcrest and Hensingham, Labour) said there were issues in Whitehaven, because of the narrow streets and issues such as double parking or a change of collection day, and Mr Dixon said areas could be assessed and he added: “I can look at that.”
According to Mr Dixon’s report the executive committee approved an in-house delivery model following a comprehensive review of all options for the council’s waste collection services and it will include the transfer of Allerdale Waste Services staff under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) into the council to facilitate the new model of collection.
In his report he said: “The in-house delivery model was agreed and on January 20, 2025, Allerdale Waste Services (AWS) staff were successfully transferred back in-house. This followed a period of consultation with the AWS workforce and their union representatives.”
According to the report the four-week informal public consultation on the proposed recommended operating model of:
- Providing fortnightly domestic general refuse collections with a 180-litre capacity wheeled bin;
- Providing fortnightly domestic twin-stream recycling collections with two 180-litre capacity wheeled bins;
- Providing fortnightly domestic garden waste collections March to November with 240-litre capacity wheeled bins with an option for additional bins to be collected with a charge.
Following the consultation responses were as follows:
- 58.5 per cent of responses were from the Allerdale area;
- 63.5 per cent of respondents had only one to two people in the household;
- 58.25 per cent of respondents felt it was important to have a consistent service;
- 92.62 per cent of respondents felt it was important to encourage recycling;
- 40.4 per cent of respondents who expressed an opinion disagreed with a fortnightly collection in Allerdale;
- 53.4 per cent of respondents agreed with a change to bins from boxes in Carlilse for recycling;
- 48.6 per cent of respondents who expressed an opinion agreed with an increase to fortnightly paper and card collections in Allerdale;
- 91.13 per cent of respondents did have a garden;
- 64.1 per cent of residents did agree to a seasonal collection from March to November for garden waste collections;
- 42 per cent of respondents agreed with a charge for additional garden waste bins.
According to the report the executive committee recommended to the full council the addition of £2,400,000 to the capital programme, to be financed by prudential borrowing, to purchase additional bins required for general waste and recycling.
In addition, the executive recommended to the full council, the addition of £12,080,000 to the capital programme, to be financed by prudential borrowing, to purchase the replacement waste collection fleet between 2025 and 2032 and both recommendations were agreed last January.