Councillor blames authority’s cuts for unemptied bins

Richard Evans – Local democracy reporter

An angry councillor has slammed a local authority after it blamed residents for overfilling public bins at Christmas.

Earlier this week, residents and councillors complained after bins across Llandudno were left unemptied over the festive period, causing some people to leave bags on top of or around containers.

Bins on Augusta Street, Oxford Road, The Oval, Conway Road, and Vaughan Street were among those piled high with overflowing rubbish, with bags left on the pavement when there was no room.

This led to Cllr Louise Emery branding the mess “a health hazard”.

This was worsened as some dog owners stuffed poo bags into already overfilled bins, which the council criticised.

Conwy County Council instead claimed its open spaces staff worked “between Christmas and New Year, including emptying bins”.

The council said its staff worked “over the weekend” when they “were out from 7am to 3pm emptying bins and litter picking across the county”.

But the authority also blamed the public for not disposing of rubbish properly adding: “It’s disappointing when people are not responsible with their waste, and there is no excuse for dropping rubbish on the floor or fly-tipping.

“If a bin is full, people should use the next available bin instead or take their rubbish home with them.”

But now Old Colwyn councillor David Carr has told Conwy County Council not to blame residents.

“You can’t cut staff and cut the number of bins available and expect there not to be loads of rubbish,” he said.

“You can’t always keep blaming the public all the time. We’ve had big council tax increases year on year. Ever since the last election, it’s been over 30% (council tax increase).

“We don’t know what it is going to be this year. The council are cutting services, the number of people that are available. The council can’t expect anything different. We are having problems with recruitment and retention of staff.”

He added: “It’s a bit rich blaming the public when there are less people getting rid of the rubbish and less bins. The council has got rid of some dog poo bins. The public are paying more and more and are getting less and less.”

Conwy County Council was contacted for comment.