Readers express anger at overflowing bins in Peterborough

Readers of the Peterborough Telegraph have sent in photos of bins which desperately need to be emptied, with one reader taking several photographs of overflowing bins at the same place over several days.

Currently waste services are provided by Amey, which has had its contract terminated with Peterborough City Council.

Instead, the council is looking to create a Local Authority Trading Company which will take over the services run by Amey in February 2019, which also include street cleaning, park maintenance and home to school transport.

One unhappy resident is Garry Roberts who visits the playground in Old Fletton every Tuesday with his daughter Millie Roberts, who is two-and-a-half years old.

Mr Roberts said he was “disgusted by the overflowing bins and dog poo bags”.

He added: “Every Tuesday me and my daughter are here and it’s always the same, but today I have seen four city council vans going past the bins and just looking and driving past.”

Amey said: “This is emptied on a weekly basis, however, due to an increase in bin usage owing to the hot weather we are reviewing the frequency of collections across the city and this site is included in that review.”

Peterborough city councillor Richard Ferris complained to Amey of an overflowing bin in Dogsthorpe Road, on the junction of Princes Street. He was told the bin was being replaced by a larger bin, but now there is no bin there.

He said: “The state of our bins had become noticeably worse in recent months. They are simply not emptied often enough. When people are actually trying to use them, this is unacceptable. I honestly don’t care about operational reasons or the need for contract variations; just empty them, please.”

Amey said: “This has been removed due to vandalism. It is scheduled for replacement next week.”

Malcolm Handford sent in several photographs of overflowing bins at the Pleasure Fair Meadow Car Park in Oundle Road from different days.

Emailing the PT, Mr Handford made reference to our story yesterday about fines totalling £419,000 from anti-social behaviour including littering, spitting, unauthorised cycling and urination being paid after tickets were handed out by enforcement officers at private firm Kingdom.

He said: “Why is it okay to fine people for dropping the likes of a cigarette butt when our council consistently allows bins to overflow for weeks on end, causing a huge amount of rubbish on our streets which they turn a blind eye to. If it’s to be a fair system then any fines should include all who cause litter.

“I have photographed the mess from these overflowing bins as evidence and reported the issues many times by email and via FixMyStreet. There is no response from the council or action taken to remedy the problems.”

Amey said: “These are emptied on a weekly basis, however, on the last three occasions syringes have been found in them, requiring specialist attention from our street cleansing team. Following discussion with the city council the decision has been made to remove these banks.”

Is there an issue with overflowing bins near where you live? Let us know and send your pictures to [email protected], tweet us, or direct message us on Facebook.