Concerns over ‘appalling’ missed bin collections in Gloucestershire
Collections for some residents are so bad that one in every three is being missed
There are concerns bin collections for some Cotswold residents are so bad that one in every three is being missed, “blighting” a picturesque hamlet.
Cotswold District Council chiefs have apologised several times for the problems caused by changes introduced to household waste collections in summer 2024.
They say the situation has improved for most of those initially impacted.
But food waste rounds in and around Birdlip were missed as recently as last Friday (September 26) and residents were told to wait until today (September 29) for them to be collected.
A Middle Duntisbourne resident raised the issue of missed bin collections at the council meeting last week.
Valerie Dyson asked what the council was going to do about the appalling situation with bin collections which is “blighting” her hamlet.
“Since the refuse collection was reorganised in June 2024, our black bin collection has been appalling,” she said.
“On average, one in three collections are missed. And since our collection day is Friday, black bins are left by the kerbside over the weekend, blighting our lovely hamlet.
“My understanding is that Ubico has insufficient vehicles of a smaller size needed for our narrow lanes.
“There is apparently only one truck and it frequently breaks down. The council has been made aware of this but is refusing to purchase new vehicles.
“We are unable to report on missed collections on the website as they apparently already know about it.”
She said the allocation for Ubico vehicle replacement allocation was unspent according to the draft financial statements for the last financial year.
“Why is the service so bad? Why is the council unwilling to make the investment in vehicles needed to fulfill their statutory duty?
“Why does the council give priority to other spending such as PR?”
Environment and Regulatory Services cabinet member Andrew Pellegram (LD, Chesterton) said she knew it was not good enough.
Cllr Pellegram said there was a problem before she took over the portfolio.
“All I can do is apologise,” she said.
“I know it’s not nice. I’ve got a new team in place, they are fantastic.
“We are doing a lot, I hope that very soon you will actually see a change.”
However, she explained a new team is working on improving the bin collections and some of the Friday collections will be moved to Wednesdays.
She confirmed they have had vehicle break downs and insufficient crews and an overreliance on agency staff.
The cabinet has also decided recently to spend funds on new vehicles.