Unemptied bins having negative impact on tourism in popular seaside town

Richard Evans, Local Democracy Reporter

Unemptied litter bins in a Welsh seaside resort are having a “negative impact” on the area according to a local councillor.

Councillor Harry Saville has complained to Conwy County Council about unemptied street bins in Llandudno over the festive period.

The Gogarth Mostyn councillor says he has also written to the cabinet member for the environment, roads, and facilities Cllr Mike Priestley.

Cllr Priestley has now said there were several “contributing factors” that caused the issue, including staff time off and fly tipping of household rubbish.

Last week, the local democracy reporting service reported how the authority blamed the public for overflowing bins making streets look unsightly, leading to Cllr Louise Emery calling the situation a “health hazard”. Now Cllr Saville has said residents have complained of the streets being strewn with litter, potentially damaging tourism.

“Over the Christmas holiday I have been contacted by a number of residents who are concerned and frustrated that street litter bins in Llandudno have not been emptied and instead have been left to overflow, leaving litter strewn all around,” he said in a letter to cabinet member Cllr Mike Priestley.

“I have raised these concerns with managerial staff from the environment, roads, and facilities service and have been assured that litter bins have been emptied daily with the exception of Christmas Day.

“However, on 30 December I inspected the two litter bins on Llewelyn Avenue, as well as the litter bin at the junction between Abbey Road and Clement Avenue. All three bins were full and overflowing.

“Whilst I understand that there have been problems with household waste being dumped and taking up space in litter bins, I find it difficult to believe that these bins had been emptied within the previous few days. I understand from some local residents that these bins still hadn’t been emptied on 31 December.

“Another specific bin that local residents have contacted me regarding is the litter bin on Abbey Road at the junction with Church Walks. I’ve been led to believe that this doesn’t appear to have been emptied at any point between 23 and 31 December.”

Clearly a problem 

He added: “Whilst I don’t doubt that some litter bins are being emptied daily, there is clearly a problem that is leading to other litter bins being missed. This is having a really negative impact on Llandudno as both somewhere where people live and work and as a tourist destination.”

Cllr Priestley said he was looking into the matter. “I have asked the department to look into the issues where some bins weren’t emptied and were overflowing,” he said.

“But one thing that is disappointing is, in the pictures Cllr Harry (Saville) has provided on social media, I can see a lot of recycling like cardboard that we collect on the kerbside weekly and black bin bags, which you wouldn’t expect to see normally.

“I’ve asked the department to look into it, and I’ll respond to Cllr Harry accordingly.”

He added: “When it comes to fly tipping, our services would look if we can find out where the fly tipping has come from and deal with it. But one thing, our staff had two days off for Christmas so that was a contributing factor as well.

“I don’t think we had any issues whatsoever on the promenade or on Mostyn Street. There were pockets of areas that I need to look into.”

Conwy County Council was contacted for a comment.