bins – Page 4 – High West Jesmond

February 23, 2017September 3, 2017

Communal bins – make your voice heard

Strong opposition to communal bin proposal

At a recent meeting ofthe High West Jesmond Residents’ Association, residents expressed their strong opposition to the council’s proposal to intoduce communal bins in to the back lanes of High West Jesmond.

The main reasons for this opposition were as follows:

Loss of control over perconal bin space for litter
Likely increase in fly tipping
Environmental blight in the back lanes
Cleanliness (nobody would be responsible for cleaning the bins)
Increased risk of intruders using the bins to break in to properties
Reduced access to properties from the rear lanes
Concem, especially from older residents, about having to go outside their
house each time they want to put rubbish out.

Council says it will save money

The council’s stated rationale for introducing communal bins is cost saving – but from the infomation that we have been able to obtain we are led to believe that the actual cost savings would be minimal and the one-offcosts ofmaking the changes would outweigh the projected savings for some time.

It’s clear that residents of High West Jesmond do not want communal bins imposed upon them.

Make you voice heard

The final decision is likely to be taker at the council’s budget meeting on 1 March 2017 so it’s important to move quickly to make our feelings clearly heard.

If you want to express your opposition to the introduction of communal bins then please do the following:

Write or send an e-mail to Councilor Nick Kemp (who is the Newcastle City Council cabinet member responsible for communal bins) telling him of your strong opposition to the proposal for High West Jesmond and stating your reasons. His contact details are below:

nick.kemp@newcastle.gov.uk

Write or send an e-mail to Catherine McKinnell MP (our Newcastle North MP) telling her of your strong opposition to the proposal for High West Jesmond and stating your reasons. Her contact details are below:

catherine.mckinnell.mp@parliament.uk

Catherine McKinnell MP, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA

High West Jesmond Residents’ Association will continue to support the huge majority of residents who have expressed opposition to this proposal, but it will be extremely helpful if individual residents also write directly to the councillor and our MP to demonstrate the strength of feeling on this issue.

February 20, 2017August 23, 2017

Communal bins proposed in council budget

Proposal to replace wheelie bins with communal bins

Newcastle City Council has issued documents related to its 2017-18 Budget which is to be voted on at a full meeting of the council on 1 March 2017.

You can read more information on the Newcastle City Council Budget 2017-18 page.

The main proposals are contained in a 44 page document called Newcastle 2020: Investing for a fairer future – Newcastle City Council budget proposals 2017-20.

Decent neighbourhoods aim

One of the stated aims (p12) is for decent neighbourhoods:

“Decent neighbourhoods: We will invest in housing suitable for all the city’s
residents including the most vulnerable; and maintain a clean, green and attractive city in which everyone shares responsibility for keeping their neighbourhood looking good.”

Part of this section goes on to say that:

“We will develop a new waste strategy, working with residents and businesses

to reduce waste generation, increase recycling and reduce the amount of

waste we send to landfill, and dedicating £1 million to test and implement the

new strategy.”

Communal bins “where appropriate”

Further information on local services (p33) goes on to say:

“Newcastle produces significant quantities of waste – more per resident than some other UK cities. To address this we will develop a new waste strategy involving a fundamental review of how we reduce, process, use and dispose of the city’s waste. By working with communities to support people to produce less waste and recycle more waste, we will be able to make savings in costs of collection and disposal by 2020. We will also review our waste disposal sites and processes to reduce the amount of waste we send to landfill, and look to commercialise waste streams wherever possible, contributing to our objective of becoming a zero carbon city by 2050.

Collecting and disposing of waste from homes, businesses and public bins across the city takes up the majority of resources in environmental services. There is limited scope for further efficiencies through IT or changes to working practices. Our waste strategy will enable us to further improve efficiency and achieve better environmental outcomes by addressing both the quantity and type of waste produced in the city.

Achieving the transformative change in waste production and disposal envisaged by the waste review will not happen overnight. In the interim while the waste review is ongoing, we will build on previous successful approaches to improve efficiency in waste collection. Communal bins will be rolled out in further areas of the city where appropriate. This will make it easier to recycle, improve the appearance of back lanes and allow them to be serviced more effectively.

We will also dedicate £1 million to test approaches identified by the waste strategy and to support the resulting transition.”

Newcastle City Council view

The Integrated Impact Assessment document (Feb 2017) says that (p10) “back lanes present a number of challenges for the refuse collection service”.

And that communal bins have already been implemented into “All of the relevant back lanes in Ouseburn” and “a number of back lanes in Benwell and Scotswood, South Jesmond and Wingrove” wards.

Newcastle City Council’s document states that “To date, feedback has been positive from local communities where communal bins have been inplace for some time”.

Residents fear rubbish will be even worse

A recent article in the Newcastle Chronicle however made reference to concerns from local residents where communal bins were already in the process of being imposed “a number of residents on four of the affected streets told the Chronicle on Wednesday how they feared the new bin policy would make the issue of rubbish “even worse” in the area” – read the full article “Wheelie bins across Newcastle to be axed in a bid to save cash” on chroniclelive.co.uk .

High West Jesmond residents view

A number of residents have already contacted us to voice their concerns at the council’s budget proposals for communal bins citing specific examples of ongoing problems in a number of back lanes in the pilot areas where Newcastle City Council has been testing communal bins (locations referred to above).

High West Jesmond Residents’ Association believes there should be a full consultation by the council with residents and communal bins should not be imposed where their is litte support for them.

December 8, 2016August 23, 2017

Council proposal for communal bins

Plan for replacement of wheelie bins with communal bins

Newcastle City Council has announced its intention to replace the current individual “wheelie -bins” with communal bins to the back lanes of High West Jesmond. These would provide one bin per every four houses.

City Council proposal

Further detail is available at the council’s website newcastle.gov.uk/environment-and-waste/rubbish-waste-and-recycling/communal-bins

It’s likely that the change would be implemented in Summer 2017 though this depends on the final council budget being approved.

Local opposition to communal bin proposals

There is already some local opposition to the proposals. Our local councillors in East Gosforth ward are against the proposal and have launched a petition at newcastle-libdems.org.uk/en/petition/no-to-communal-bins-petition

High West Jesmond Residents’ Association would be keen to get the views of local residents so that we can take a view of local opinion and, if necessary, make appropriate representations to the council and our local MP.

If you have any comments about the introduction of communal waste bins then please send feedback to us via the normal channels or via the Contact Us page.

November 16, 2016August 23, 2017

Communal bins bombshell

The following article is reproduced from the Newcastle upon Tyne Liberal Democrats website.

Residents have reacted angrily to plans by Newcastle City Council to introduce a communal bin regime in Gosforth, following similar decisions elsewhere in the city.

The Council says this is part of a plan to remove 13,000 bins across the city and to save money on the collections.

West Gosforth Liberal Democrat Councillor Nick Cott said: “There will be real concerns about the effectiveness of the collections. Where communal bins have already been introduced, in parts of Heaton, our Liberal Democrat colleagues report lack of sufficient capacity and examples of overflowing bins. It is also possible that recycling will be discouraged. It is all very well the Council looking at saving money, but unless it has an effective operation the scheme could prove problematic.”

“A petition from householders in the Wingrove area was presented to council last week” said Councillor Dominic Raymont who represents East Gosforth Ward. ” This illustrates the concerns of residents city-wide.

Commercial-sized waste bins will be placed in back lanes at a distance of one every fourth household. There will be three bins: one each for normal and recycled waste, to be collected once a fortnight, plus another for glass with collections every three weeks.

“Basically if you have a back lane then the chances are you are included in the scheme,” said Councillor Raymont. “So we do not expect this will limited to a few streets, it will doubtless affect householders all over the city.”

Councillor Cott continued, “We have seen a number of examples of the lack of consultation with residents in Gosforth by this council in recent years. To ensure our residents are aware of this from the start we have initiated a petition for people to express their opposition.”

Sign our petition here:

https://newcastle-libdems.org.uk/en/petition/no-to-communal-bins-petition

The article article is reproduced from the Newcastle upon Tyne Liberal Democrats website.