Elderly residents at Welsh retirement complex wait weeks for bin collections

Kieran Molloy, Local democracy reporter

Frustrated residents had wait weeks for bin collections as rubbish built up due to cars blocking access.

People living at Doyle Court, a retirement complex in Fairwater, Cardiff, had to wait weeks because cars blocked access to the bins so council bin lorries couldn’t reach them.

One resident, David, 67, told the LDRS: “What you get now is excess rubbish outside by the bins, where it’s an environmental issue, it’s a health issue. And you get the seagulls who come down and pick out the bags and stuff and it’s become uncontrollable from a resident’s point of view.”

Theresa Morgan, 77, said: “It’s been going on now for too long…we’re all sick of it now. We tried to keep it clean everything here and you just can’t.”

The pair claimed that contractors carrying out work at a local school were parking around the streets and causing the roads to be too narrow for the bin lorry to get through. However, the Cardiff Council’s recycling lorries were able to squeeze through.

When the lorries can’t make it through, the collection rolls over to the next one – a full two weeks later. David said he was advised to leave notes on the cars asking them not to park there.

A spokesperson for the council said: “The council has been experiencing problems accessing the bin stores on Doyle Avenue, due to irresponsible parking blocking access to our vehicles. The black bags have now been collected, and we would like to ask all motorists not to block access to this street.

“Unfortunately, the council is unable to enforce against obstruction offences. Obstruction offences and dangerous pavement parking fall under police jurisdiction and we are liaising with the neighbourhood policing team to address these issues.

“Our message to everyone parking in this area is please park responsibly and do not cause an obstruction that may endanger other road users.”

The pair also told the LDRS they pay a fee to the owners of the complex, Wales & West Housing, for the bins to be collected. Despite no bins having been collected, they were not refunded this money.

A spokesperson for Wales & West said: “We are aware of the problems residents are facing with bin collections to Doyle Court and on several occasions have incurred the extra cost of hiring a specialist clearance company to empty the uncollected bins.”

They continued: “Our understanding is that the issue lies with parking in the public streets leading up to the entrance of the scheme, which we have no control over. Major construction work in the area has led to more vehicles parking in the streets and access becoming more of a problem for the council’s vehicles. We have been in contact with the council as we want to work with them to come up with a solution to resolve the issues for our residents.”

The bins at Doyle Court were finally collected on February 23.