More bin disruption ahead warns council
Many unhappy villagers have suffered summer of missed collections
KINGSCLERE residents who have experienced problems with their bin collections have been warned they could potentially expect another 10 weeks of disruption.
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council is in the process of re-negotiating contracts and some villagers have reported weeks of missed collections from the current contractor, Veolia.
Weekly collections for others have changed to every two weeks, while some are days late.
Kingsclere resident Jane Hardy said: “Ours are hit and miss. We were missed out all together one week and another week they were three days late. It’s like they don’t see our street.”
David Conquest said: “Maybe it’s about working in the heat, but no warnings, no explanations. Still waiting to see if there will be a collection this morning.”
Sam Miles Morris said: “My bin was collected late four weeks in a row and on the fourth week it wasn’t collected at all – everyone else’s was.
“It’s not so much the fact that the bins are being emptied late that annoys me, it’s the diabolical attitude of the council staff when you ring them to try and get answers.”
The borough council’s cabinet member for the environment and regulatory services, Hayley Eachus, said: “We continue to experience operational issues with bin collections in some areas of the borough.
“The level of service provided by our contractor Veolia has fallen below the expectations of the council and its residents and it has been made clear to Veolia that this fall off in performance is unacceptable.
“Every week we continue to collect approximately 155,000 grey and green bins, garden waste bags and glass recycling boxes and bins. However some residents are experiencing delays in these collections.
“Of those bins, bags and boxes not collected on their scheduled day, most are being collected within 24 hours.
“We apologise for this inconvenience and would like reassure residents we are working with Veolia to address these issues and notices requiring improvement have been served.
“The issues have focused around vehicle breakdowns and staff shortages, a problem being experienced in other areas, and Veolia is working hard to resolve these.
“Additional vehicles have been brought in to support the service and the company is working with agencies to recruit to the vacancies.
“Existing staff are working additional hours, including Saturdays, to catch up on collections.”
Borough councillor Ken Rhatigan (Con) added: “The new contract will be going in in October. There are 10 weeks of the current contract left so there may be more problems during this time. It’s not ideal, but everybody is trying to get it resolved.”
The new joint waste contract starts on October 1 between Basingstoke and Deane, Hart District Council and Serco for the next eight years.
If bins, boxes or bags are not collected on their scheduled day, residents should leave them out and check the website www.basingstoke.gov.uk/ service-updates
If residents cannot access the website, call the customer contact centre on (01256) 844844.
