Sweary note as Cotswolds residents ask why they pay council tax as bin collections are missed
Cotswold residents question why they pay council tax as missed bin collections and the inability to report the issue spark frustration across the district. Cotswold council leaders apologised to residents for “unacceptable delays” in their rubbish collections after changes were implemented over the summer.
Civic chiefs say they have received numerous complaints since the start of July from many people who are angry about missed bin collections - with some "waiting for weeks on end". And this week an overflowing bin was spotted in School Lane, Cirencester.
Residents there left a note on the bin asking for the rubbish to be taken away. The note reads: "Please take this sh*t away! What do we pay council tax for? It's unhygienic."
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Conservative councillor Julia Judd raised concerns over missed bin collections across her Ermin ward and elsewhere in the district at the meeting on September 25.She said the issue has been “prolific” over the past three months.
Cllr Judd said the problem has abated but not ceased and raised concerns residents have been unable to use the Cotswold District Council's website missed waste collection reporting tool, because a missed collection in their area had already been reported.
“This caused great frustration and concern, not only because missed collections could not be logged, but they could not tell what type of waste had already been reported, so people were left in the dark,” she said in a written question to council leaders.
“Furthermore, many villages who had reported missed collections were not included in the published list.” She asked if the reporting tool could be redesigned to make it more accessible, accurate, transparent and easy to use?
Deputy leader Mike Evemy (LD, Siddington and Cerney Rural) apologised once again to residents who have been inconvenienced after the recent reorganisation of bin collections. He said the waste team is committed to reviewing and improving the reporting processes following the recent round re-organisation.
“This review will include an evaluation of the entire online process, from residents reporting missed collections to crews addressing the issue, ensuring it is effective and allows residents to accurately report missed containers.
“The review will also look into the messages residents receive when reporting missed collections. This will include issues like ‘gate checks,’ where crews may indicate bins weren’t placed out for collection or were contaminated, which currently prevents residents from logging missed bins.
“Key stakeholders, including customer services and the digital team, will be involved in the review, and extensive user testing will be conducted to ensure the tool is accessible and easy to use.”
Cllr Judd said at the full council meeting yesterday that one of her biggest concerns is the residents have been unable to report their own missed collections. She questioned the validity of performance reports if data on missed collections is being missed out.
“This has caused enormous frustration," she said. "The data of the performance reports must therefore be flawed. Because people can’t actually report. I question whether all missed collections can be logged and performance reports are therefore true.”
Cllr Evemy said he was very mindful that it’s very frustrating “when you are trying to use a system and you can’t get to use it”. “That’s why I think we need to look into it. I’m happy, as part of that review, it would be helpful to get some perspective from other people, not just myself.
“Some of the issues have been where there is a service failure. Ubico knows they haven't’ collected and it’s from a larger set of houses. [In that case] then you can’t report what the residents think is a missed bin.
“Because we know about it. The day after, the plan is to come and collect it. If it’s not collected then you can report it.” He said some of the problem is around the process and it may not be well explained.
“A resident doesn’t know the difference between a missed bin ad service failure necessarily knows if someone else’ bin has been missed too. I’m happy to receive feedback from residents.”