Published: Tuesday, 6th December, 2005 15:09
Leave your bins at the end of the road landowners told
By Border Telegraph Newsroom
Print Article
LANDOWNERS have reacted furiously to Scottish Borders Council’s decision to stop driving along private roads to collect rubbish.
Councillors voted last week to adopt a road end refuse collection policy, which SBC predicts can save the council £70,000 a year.
Currently, binmen collect rubbish from outside the doors of houses on private estates.
But council chiefs say this means lorries are travelling almost 14,000 miles every year to do so.
As of April 1 next year, landowners will be obliged to leave their rubbish at the end of their private roads, to save time, money and wear and tear on council vehicles.
Voting on the policy last week, SBC’s portfolio holder for transport and environmental standards, David Paterson, told how a recent morning spent with binmen on their round had left him “amazed at how much time is wasted.”
But the new policy has not gone down well with private landowners.
Lord Earl Haig, of Bemersyde House, near Melrose, said: “It seems to me very sad.
“It is indicative, I think, of money not being spent in the right directions.
“We pay quite heavily in rates, and I think the least they can do is come the extra hundred yards to do the job properly. They are not doing their job properly.
“They are taking everything they can, and I am really dissatisfied.”
James Pringle, Laird of Torwoodlee, added: “We would find it a nuisance, but probably not a disaster.
“But if there were old people living up here, it would be a problem, and I will be old one day.
“It seems that nowadays, decisions are taken without any consultation, and when there is it is not listened to. That’s democracy for you.”
Landowners were given some support during last week’s meeting by Conservative councillor, Sandy Scott, who said: “It is yet another hardship that people in the countryside have to put up with.”
But SBC’s head of environmental services, John Cook, says the policy will mean the council can provide a better service.
He said: “The benefits to the council are reduced costs, maintenance and time spent, so it is better productivity. It is an efficiency measure.
“We are travelling up private roads, and there is the possibility of liability issues in that. The council doesn’t own these roads, and there may be insurance issues.
“But having said that, if there are issues with particular areas, we are happy to discuss that with the owners.”
And Mr Cook also believes the new measures may not cause as big a problem as some might think.
He said: “We have been rolling out the wheeled bins, and people have started to leave the bins at the road end anyway.
“It also contains the rubbish so there are fewer attacks by vermin and birds, so there is less rubbish scattered around.”
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