Council leader insists rubbish build-up 'not a major problem' - Telegraph.co.uk

Exeter has been one of the worst affected areas, with residents claiming that their health has been put at risk by some bins remaining unemptied since December 8th in places.

Even the normal collections only take place once a fortnight so the normal timetable, which was changed in advance because of the Bank Holidays, will not resume until January 24th.

But Mr Edwards, the leader of the Labour-run town hall, told BBC Radio Devon on Tuesday morning: "I do not see it as a major problem."

Told that nearby councils had arranged extra collections to take piles of bags off pavements and gardens, he replied: "I did not believe it was necessary.

"The tips are all closed on the Bank Holidays as well so we'd have nowhere to take the rubbish."

Mr Edwards said he himself had not had his rubbish collected for more than a month, but claimed none of his constituents had complained because they appreciated the disruption caused by the snowfall in December.

Mr Hannaford, who holds the environment "portfolio" on the council, said some residents of the Polsloe area had to take some of the blame for uncollected bin bags.

"There is a longstanding issue of the residents in Polsloe misusing that back alley and in that area of the city it has been a persistent problem.

"Now we have got to start looking at enforcement action in that area. They do have room to store rubbish in their garden and don't need to pile them.

"But that alley is used as a dumping ground and there is regular fly-tipping.

"I have been down to visit the site myself in the past and a lot of the bags were ripped open and there was refuse inside that could have been recycled."

Cllr Yolonda Henson, leader of the council's Conservative group, said: "This has been the worst I have ever seen it.

"It is absolute nonsense for the portfolio holder to blame the residents for this. Let him walk around this area and tell that to my residents.

"We cannot keep blaming the residents. Are we saying they should keep 14 bags of rubbish in their kitchen or living room?

"This is a basic service that the taxpayer pays for. If the current system is not working, which it clearly isn't, we need to look at something else."

Joe Fawcett, a software developer whose home overlooks an alley of uncollected bin bags, said: "I am extremely unhappy with the comments I heard from our council leader.

"The problem started when they switched the bins from weekly to fortnightly in September. If you missed one collection before it was fine because you only had to cope for a week but now we are having to cope for a month."

Birmingham has also seen large piles of bin bags build up over the past month, with the situation worsened by a strike and work-to-rule by dustmen, and the council admits the backlog will remain until the end of this week.

Other areas including Barrow and Widnes say scheduled collections will not resume until Monday but Bradford said its backlog had been cleared by staff working over the weekend.

Calderdale Council, some of whose residents say they have been waiting for bin collections since November 23rd, said: "Weather permitting, we expect all households to have received a collection by the end of this week and the entire backlog of household waste to be collected by mid January."

Residents continue to complain on Facebook and Twitter that their bins have not been emptied for up to six weeks.

One Twitter user in Guildford wrote: "Used to call the refuse collectors 'Bin men'. I'm re-naming mine to 'Not been men'. No collection for 5 weeks now."