Home working in Leeds blamed for missed bin collections

Home working has been blamed for missed collections

A rise in the number of people working from home has been blamed for missed bin collections in Leeds.

Senior city councillor Mohammed Rafique told a meeting cars being parked on streets all day made it harder for bin crews to access some areas.

However, he praised staff, saying that fewer than 0.2% of collections over the last year had been missed.

Vehicle breakdowns, roadworks and staff shortages had also led to some missed collections, councillors were told.

The issue was raised at a council scrutiny meeting on Thursday, with Mr Rafique, who is the Labour administration's executive member for environment, saying: "[There are] more cars parked on our streets than ever before because more and more people are working from home.

"In the past when people left their homes and went into the office, it was somewhat easier to navigate through some narrow, difficult streets.

"There's also vehicle breakdowns, roadworks and sometimes we have a shortage of crews," he said.

Vehicle breakdowns, roadworks and staff shortages had also led to some missed collections, councillors said

Conservative councillor Paul Wadsworth told the meeting the authority's "performance on paper" was "not what we see on daily basis".

"It's the most annoying thing when you pay your council tax and then you come home and your bin hasn't been collected," he said.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, a spate of missed collections in the summer of 2021 was blamed on a rise in household waste from home deliveries and annual leave being taken by crews, as Covid restrictions ended.

Mr Rafique said the service had improved its performance in 2022.

However, he said: "If you're the customer at the end of the day whose bin is missed, then it's not what you want to see.

"What's important is when they are missed... we do go back and collect them," Mr Rafique added.

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