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15

Jan 2024

Last Updated: 14/01/2024

Council to review locations of ‘reeking’ Harrogate district litter bins

by John Plummer

| 15 Jan, 2024
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North Yorkshire Council is to review its litter bin policy in the Harrogate district after complaints.

The council is spending £478,000 on replacing about 1,500 litter bins in the district with 775 new, larger bins.

The new bins are emptied less frequently and more likely to be located alongside main roads to make them easier for council staff to collect. It is hoped the new approach will save between £17,000 and £19,000 a year and free up staff for other duties like litter picking.

But the decision to get rid of many old bins in parks, where dogs are walked, and empty them less frequently has upset residents.

The Stray Ferret covered this issue widely last year, reporting on concerns in Knox and Jennyfields as well as submitting a freedom if information request to the council.

The larger new bins are emptied less frequently.



Numerous complaints — including stench — were raised at a meeting of the council's Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee on Friday.

Monika Slater, a Liberal Democrat who represents Bilton Grange and New Park, said the placement of bins was "something I have a bit of a problem with".

Cllr Slater said some were overflowing and one in Charles Avenue in Bilton "did absolutely reek". People, she added, were dropping poo bags where bins used to be.

Paul Haslam, a Conservative who represents Bilton and Nidd Gorge, said he received more emails about poo bins than anything else. He added:

"If you are going to empty those once a fortnight they are going to smell. Lots of people are very concerned about it."


Cllr Hannah Gostlow, a Liberal Democrat who represents Knaresborough East, said Knaresborough Town Council "received lots of emails about it not working" and asked when the promised additional street cleaning would begin.

Michael Leah assistant director for environmental services, told councillors:

"The founding principle from what I've seen is the bin needs to be in the right place and it needs to be collected with the right frequency.
"These are fairly straightforward things and when I've been out on the patch that isn't the case. Some are in the wrong place, some are missing and thy are not being collected with the right frequency. We recognise that and will address that."


Michael Leah (left) and Harry Briggs at the council meeting.



Mr Leah and Harry Briggs, the council's newly appointed head of waste and streetscene services, said the new policy was a legacy project inherited from Harrogate Borough Council. which was abolished on April 1 last year.

Mr Briggs said the bins were located "as close to a road as humanly possible because staff have a large work programme for the day so they don’t have time to go into the park".

But he acknowledged the system hadn't worked smoothly:

"It’s right that we now pause to reflect to see if the locations could be improved upon or the number of bins that have been rationalised is too great.
"The new management team at North Yorkshire Council is looking at this again, that’s not to say that the project was delivered incorrectly but we want now as a new organisation to review that."