Anti-wheelie bin campaigner can keep using sacks

Many of the houses in the city have no access to store bins at the rear of the property

A woman who campaigned against the introduction of more wheelie bins to her already crowded street has been told she can continue to use sacks for waste.

In recent weeks Southend-on-Sea City Council has delivered three new wheelie bins to every home deemed to have enough room for them - in addition to garden waste bins and food collection bins.

Resident Amy Heathcote started a petition against the bins, which was signed by about 600 people, some of whom said it made the area look like "bin city".

Following a council review of her property, Ms Heathcote has been allowed to continue using plastic sacks, which she said was "great".

Surveys were carried out by the council and its waste contractor, Suez, to gauge reaction to the new wheelie bins and Ms Heathcote requested a review, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

"Honestly, how can the council think this looks nice, having bins after bins in built-up streets like this?" she said.

"I have fortunately had my review come back to say I am now being changed back to a sack collection, which is great. However, residents in obvious areas where this isn't going to work should not have to put in for the reviews."

Southchurch resident Brendan Lambert also criticised the roll-out of bins to unsuitable properties.

He said: "One in five, circa 14,000 of the homes in Southend, are terraces or similar homes, with limited space in the front, no access around to the back garden, except through the home or down stairs, no off-street parking, or space to wheel bins through.

"In streets with parked cars, and a requirement to 'store the bins on your property', they look like rubbish dumps, even with the bins still new, seven days of the week."

Lydia Hyde, Labour cabinet member for environment and waste, said: "We knew that visual inspection alone would have been insufficient to get it right for every property.

"However, the survey result was simply the initial assessment.

"Thankfully, our initial survey halved the expected rate of reviews, to just over 2% of properties. This suggests the survey was worthwhile.

"Of these, these review requests have been for both ways, with several people initially signed for sacks requesting bins. It also includes requests from residents to share bins between flats, which we also support."