BARNSLEY Council bosses were quizzed over the waste collection services at a rarely-used ‘call for action’ meeting this week but ‘many more’ questions remain according to a local councillor.
More than 100,000 bins were missed by local collection crews over the first two months of the year due to heavy snow and the implementation of the council’s new safety scheme Be Safe, Work Safe, Target Zero.
Councillors across the borough were inundated with complaints from residents about the bins not being collected, which resulted in Coun Jake Lodge, who represents the Worsbrough ward, issuing a rarely-used call for action after fielding complaints from fed-up residents.
The meeting, which was held on Tuesday, saw Coun James Higginbottom, cabinet spokesperson for environment and highways, executive director for growth and sustainability Matt O’Neill and Gill Charters, head of waste, recycling and neighbourhood services, answer questions from councillors.
But Coun Lodge says there are still unanswered questions.
He said: “My call for action did answer many questions but many more remain as I continue to receive complaints about bin collections not happening and I have residents from across the borough contacting me about bin their missed bins, because they’ve seen the work I am doing to support my own residents.
“To put it simply if I hadn’t submitted the call for action, I believe that I wouldn’t have been doing my job and that is to speak up for the approximately 9,500 people of Worsbrough.
“I was disappointed in the lack of questions from across the chamber, but I am grateful to colleagues who did question the witnesses.
“I hope that the sense of feeling has been recognised and that together we can work towards a safer, efficient and right first-time service.
“Regarding the meeting itself, I will be asking for a comprehensive review to ensure a more seamless process is undertaken in future, for the ease of current and future councillors, who choose to use this democratic and impartial process.”
Some of the questions directed towards the trio ranged from green bin collections, the cost of the disruption and the effect it has had on staff.
Coun Robert Barnard asked why residents should have to pay to replace a damage bin if it is the council workers who have damaged them in the first place.
He added that these bins which have been tagged by the council due to being ‘unsafe’ had been collected for years before.
However Ms Charters said that the scheme had been in place for a decade and just because they had been taken previously, it doesn’t mean that was the right thing to do.
Concerns around the £31 delivery fee for a new bin were also raised after plans were mooted to change this fee to ‘per bin’ rather than a one-off charge.
But Coun Higginbottom confirmed that these plans had been put on hold as the council didn’t feel it was the right time to introduce them due to the current situation.
Coun Lodge added: “I welcome the move to scrap individual bin charges for the foreseeable, something which is a common sense move and I’m sure residents will appreciate it.”
It was revealed last month that green bins which were due to be collected at the start of this month would be put back until April.
Ms Charters said: “The decision was made to minimise disruption.
“The green bins collection aren’t actually statutory.
“They’re discretionary.
“Many don’t supply this.
“A decision was made to prioritise the statutory bin collections.”
Concerns were also raised regarding the way that staff had been treated following the disruption and the council confirmed that work is ongoing to support those who have been affected.
