Dumfries and Galloway Council bank holiday bin collection row escalates
- Published
A special meeting is to discuss the situation with the region's waste collection services
A council is to hold a special meeting after public outcry over the lack of bank holiday bin collections.
Complaints piled up for the local authority in Dumfries and Galloway after the interruption of the service on Good Friday and Easter Monday.
There will be no collections again on 1 May although they will be carried out as normal the Monday after the coronation weekend.
A special meeting is to be held on Thursday to discuss the situation.
In previous years, bin collections have been carried out over the Easter weekend but this year workers decided to take the holidays.
It provoked more than 900 comments to the council Facebook post highlighting the issue.
Dumfries and Galloway Council has a three-bin system with a grey general waste bin collected fortnightly and a blue paper bin and red plastics one collected once a month.
Residents have voiced concerns about the lack of collections on bank holidays
It means that some bins due for collection on the first May bank holiday would not be emptied until the end of the month.
The council has offered to pick up some side waste at future dates, external to try to alleviate the position.
In the meantime, a political row has broken out, resulting in the calling of the special meeting on Thursday.
The SNP opposition group said the public deserved answers over the potential health impacts of waste not being uplifted.
Leader Stephen Thompson said it had called for the meeting due to "public outrage" and said the council had a duty to deliver a reliable waste collection service while also having fair terms and conditions for its staff.
Labour councillors said that was "too little, too late" after it had called for the special meeting three weeks ago, before the May bank holiday, but the SNP had failed to support it.
Group leader Archie Dryburgh said the "bins crisis" could have been resolved earlier and the public would be "scratching their heads" over why nothing had been done sooner.
Gail Macgregor, who leads the Conservative group which runs the council, accused the SNP of using the situation for "political means".
She said she was committed to giving residents the service they expected while carrying out "constructive negotiation" with staff.
She added that she was disappointed that the meeting to discuss the situation would have to be held behind closed doors due to the terms of the motion which had been tabled.
It is not the first time the council in Dumfries and Galloway has suffered headaches over its waste collection services.
It operated a one-bin system for many years but changes to legislation prompted plans to move to a five-container scheme.
That was piloted but never extended and left the local authority with tens of thousands of bins it did not need and also additional costs running to millions of pounds.
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