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14
Aug 2024
Harrogate district worst hit as missed bin collections rocket
The number of missed bin collections has almost doubled in North Yorkshire — and the Harrogate district has been particularly badly affected.
The latest figures are contained in a report by North Yorkshire Council that details its performance in the first quarter of the 2024-25 financial year, which ran from April to June.
The report reveals that the number of missed bins in the county increased from 2,461 in January to March this year to 4,622 in April to June.
It does not give a breakdown of figures for each district but highlights concerns specifically for Harrogate.
The report says:
The increase in Harrogate locality in June was due to staff absence/leave, most recycling crews were short staffed; additionally, a single instance of nine vehicle breakdowns in one day compounded pressure on the service.
the number of missed bins in the area
The report adds that the missed collections were completed within 48 hours and the issues were being addressed through several actions. It says:
These include looking at a strategy to support bank holiday catch up, working with the area transport manager to bring vehicles from Selby locality, as well as hiring some in, addressing the absence as per the policy, and recently recruiting six staff to replace staff who have left.
The report adds there is currently no benchmarking data available because there is no national definition of a ‘missed bin’. It says "each council records missed bins differently and has different criteria as to what constitutes a missed bin".
The report will be considered by the council's performance monitoring executive on Tuesday next week.
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