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13
Aug
Large increase in missed bin collections in Harrogate district
The number of missed bin collections has increased by 87% in North Yorkshire due to changes to collection rounds.
In a performance report due before North Yorkshire Council’s executive next week, the authority reported that the number of missed collections increased from 3,665 in the final quarter of last year to 6,863 in the first quarter of 2025/26.
The report said that reason for the increase was a “higher number of missed bins” in the Harrogate area, which was due to new collection rounds introduced in April.
The council said the changes had “not delivered the level of performance we had anticipated” and that it would improve the service.
It added in its report:
We fully acknowledge that current performance does not meet the standards our residents rightly expect, and we are committed to addressing this through the upcoming changes.
Given the scale of the changes across the county in respect of bin collection, some challenges were to be expected and the teams are addressing these performance issues as part of the project.
During this period, the service has also been managing challenges related to fleet availability, and work is ongoing with colleagues to resolve these issues.
The council introduced new collection rounds in April, which included a four-day week for refuse workers and an end to Monday collections.
In a statement issued at the time, the authority said the decision to end Monday collections was part of its harmonisation agenda across North Yorkshire and would ensure the service “remains as efficient as possible”.
Meanwhile, Kathryn Davies, a Conservative who sits on Knaresborough Town Council, said in a Facebook post that she had met with the council's management team in to discuss "ongoing service failures" in Knaresborough.
She added that the council's waste team had "significant operational problems" since the introduction of the new collections system in April.
Increase footfall and lower vacancy rates
Meanwhile, the report added that Harrogate had seen an increase in footfall in the first quarter of 2025/26.
According to the report, the town centre saw a 4.1% rise in March and a 5.1% increase in April. However, this dropped to 3% in May.
In Knaresborough, footfall increased by 2.7% in March, 2.6% in April and 0.5% in May. The report added that Ripon saw a 2.6% rise in March, 1.7% in April and dropped to -0.3% in May.
Meanwhile, Harrogate also saw a 11.3% shop vacancy rate for the first quarter of this financial year — which is 2.3% lower than the national average.
By comparison, Knaresborough had an 8% vacancy rate and Ripon 12.8%.
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