SNOW: Liberal Democrat hits out over missed waste collections (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)
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SNOW: Cotswolds Liberal Democrat Paul Hodgkinson hits out at Cotswold District Councils and Ubio Ltd over missed waste collections
1:58pm Thursday 24th January 2013 in News By Ian Craig
A LEADING Cotswolds Liberal Democrat has hit out at Cotswold District Council’s waste contractor Ubico for cancelling collections for the entirety of this week as a result of the snow.
No waste or recycling collections have been made in the district since Friday, and Cotswold District Council said the earliest they would start again is Monday.
Cotswold Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Paul Hodgkinson (Churn Valley) described the cancellations as “crazy”.
“I understand the issue of being mindful of the safety of workers but we’ve had postmen and other deliveries – it seems to me where there’s a will there’s a way,” he said.
“There has to be some way of doing some form of collection on main roads at least.”
Although Ubico has said residents will be able to leave double the amount of usual waste and recycling on their next scheduled collection day, Cllr Hodgkinson said many residents were angry they would not have collections for an entire month.
“We had the same problem in December 2010 and January 2011 and I was hoping lessons would be learned from that, but clearly not,” he said.
“People say ‘We pay our council tax, why can’t it be collected?’, “Residents expect more than just one collection a month.
“I’m told in other councils they offer overtime to workers – it is a statutory service after all.”
Emergency pick-up points have also been set up at Cirencester lorry park, Fairford High Street car park and Lechlade town council offices and are open from 8am to 2pm until Friday.
Waste collections are going ahead as normal in neighbouring West Oxfordshire district.
Collections are also being carried out in Stroud district, although some delays are being experienced.
Cotswold District Council has today issued a leaflet explaining why collections are not being carried out, including that Ubico’s 26-tonne collection vehicles could pose a serious danger to residents and workers in icy conditions.
The full leaflet can be seen here.
Comments(19)
Olly Cromwell
says...
3:57pm Thu 24 Jan 13
The main roads are perfectly fine so quite why Cotswold District Council have thrown in the towel and abandoned collections for the whole week is really letting taxpayers down.
Get some snow chains for the lorries and ice boots for the operatives and get back to work.
'Best endeavour' practice should operate just as is happening with Royal Mail.
Iansky
says...
5:34pm Thu 24 Jan 13
Perhaps we need a new provider as this is becoming a habit when we are faced with inclement weather.
They are also prone to leaving empty bins scattered across pavements.
I am not callous and do have some sense of empathy as certain roads + 85% of pavements have been lethal as not cleared, Cecily Hill in particular has been a solid sheet of ice made worse by the road camber.
Another fine example of incompetence - makes me wonder what our Council tax is for........high salaries?
Council Taxpayer
says...
7:03pm Thu 24 Jan 13
This typifies the bizarre decision making process at CDC where the chief executive made the crazy decision to blow £20,000 of our cash on employing a magician to cheer up workers.
Couple this with the thoughtless decision to hike parking charges during the depth of a recession and a pattern of incompetence and contempt for local taxpayers is obvious.
lucky1986
says...
7:51pm Thu 24 Jan 13
Crispin Mount
says...
8:51pm Thu 24 Jan 13
Anyone else noticed everything Cllr Fowles touches goes wrong?....Water Park fraud scandal, bins, bogs, car parking, etc.
Council Taxpayer
says...
12:30am Fri 25 Jan 13
Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum
says...
9:15am Fri 25 Jan 13
That, my friend, is a brilliant story maybe kept for another time.
Have you heard the one about thecounciller, the converted barn and the Land Rover??
David Broad
says...
10:25am Fri 25 Jan 13
David Broad
says...
10:26am Fri 25 Jan 13
Susie Clark
says...
5:21pm Fri 25 Jan 13
And this is the man who is using road safety as his County Election platform later this year.
Olly Cromwell
says...
10:23pm Fri 25 Jan 13
As the inept Tories can't deliver a statutory service then they should refund some Council Tax.
David Broad
says...
11:35am Sun 27 Jan 13
Buses were still not running along my road on Friday because of the weather, that is the main vilage road, not some narrow farm track, and the pavements in Cirencester from CDC offices to Burford road were uniformlysnow covered on Thursday when you were blathering about Ice boots and skid chains
Have you ever tried to fit skid chains? On a twin wheel axle of a 26 tonne truck. It is bad enough on a 15" car wheel and yes the chains do wreck the Alloy wheels even if you can fiddle the chains around the spokes
You just have not thought through the logistics of catch up, that is you have to get people to leave their bins at the roadside, and that means in the way on the pavement in Cirencester and blocking our entrance in my case. Not very clever.
If anyone missed a refuse collection then Ubico have said they will collect black bags next time.
Sorted.
Olly Cromwell
says...
1:11pm Sun 27 Jan 13
The commercial waste contractor was out collecting last Thursday.
Ubico was out collecting in Cheltenham at the weekend, yet in the Cotswolds where Council Tax is one of the highest in the UK we get bottom quartile Tory politicians making 2nd rate decisions.
4 weeks is too long to wait for a collection which is what your policy means for some residents.
PS: Stop taking the patronising pills or you'll face being demoted to the CDC Cabinet!
userBJones
says...
8:18pm Mon 28 Jan 13
I understand the issue of being mindful of the safety of workers but we’ve had postmen and other deliveries – it seems to me where there’s a will there’s a way,” he said.
Maybe Mr Hodgkinson needs to view these videos on YouTube, just ask yourselve "what would have happened if a child was behind these vehicles.
Just type into YouTube the following:
Kirklees bin wagon skidding on ice and snow
UK refuse lorry skidding on ice
Refuse truck on ice
Dustbin lorry stuck in the snow
Iansky
says...
1:56pm Tue 29 Jan 13
lucky1986 wrote:Lucy - without being facetious, the current bins issued to residents have wheels and the bin men wheel them to the rear of the wagon where they are hooked and lifted automatically by the arms - no heavy lifting, pulling, dragging etc.
Has anyone thought about the fact they would have to pull the heavy bins to where ever they could get the lorry to? I know I wouldn't want to put my back out for some rubbish! Then not be able to work for a lot longer? And how many of the estates or little roads actually get gritted or cleared?!
What frustrates me is that this is now year 3 of this type of incident and still things have not improved in Ciren.
Wiltshire were in evidence on the road clearing rubbish but we in Ciren are fast heading into week 4 of no collection, scattered rubbish on pavements a total joy for vermin!
Olly Cromwell
says...
7:55pm Tue 29 Jan 13
As it was particularly windy and wet today Cotswold District Council & Ubico regret the non-appearance of the waste wagons (again) because there was an outside chance some flying newspaper (probably a copy of Private Eye) from an uncollected recycling box abandoned by the kerbside would stick to the window of the truck and cause an accident similar in devastation to Fukushima.
Best to stay in bed....just in case.
Iansky
says...
1:30pm Wed 30 Jan 13
Olly Cromwell wrote:Blast - and here's me thinking it was the "wrong type of rain".........I was going to call work and tell them I could not make it in but my conscience prevented me from doing so as we have enough around the area without one already!
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT As it was particularly windy and wet today Cotswold District Council & Ubico regret the non-appearance of the waste wagons (again) because there was an outside chance some flying newspaper (probably a copy of Private Eye) from an uncollected recycling box abandoned by the kerbside would stick to the window of the truck and cause an accident similar in devastation to Fukushima. Best to stay in bed....just in case.
Council Taxpayer
says...
9:20am Thu 31 Jan 13
Mr Horwood said: "I'm told Ubico have said to councillors that these were operational decisions. I think they were just bad decisions. Councillors should read the riot act to Ubico's senior management, get them to prioritise clearing the backlog and make sure this kind of thing never happens again."
Why couldn't members of our useless Tory cabinet at CDC say something like that?
One other thing.....after a month without a refuse collection, can we have our money back please?
David Broad says...
3:30pm Thu 24 Jan 13
I am at the CDC offices now but an hour ago the roads around Chedworth, which is two miles north of Paul's Ward and has a scheduled collection today were single track between snow banks, where they have been cleared but otherwise completely covered in snow, in fact I had to turn round an hour ago as the the road south to Calmsden and Cirencester was snow covered, and too risky to use, even our valiant postman was around two hours late, and to be honest the last thing we need is a 26 tonne refuse lorry stuck in the village. Arrangements have been made, people with missed collections can put out black bags next time, it is more important to get the message out through Parish Websites and the like promptly so bins are not put out needlessly.
You need to have consideration for the people that do the collections in the freezing numbing cold on icy roads and pavements risking broken legs crushed ribs and worse, a bit of thanks when they struggle through would be nice not endless carping unfair criticism.