By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
Tackling the problem of wheelie bins “blighting” historic town centres in Gloucestershire will be looked at by civic chiefs.
More than 230 people signed a petition calling for Tewkesbury to be rid of the bins which currently “blight” its historic streets.
Alan Purkiss, chairman of Tewkesbury Civic Society, says the issue degrades the town, deters residents and businesses, devalues property, is unhygienic, blocks passage for wheelchairs and prams while putting tourists off.
He presented the petition at last night’s (June 24) Tewkesbury Borough Council meeting.
The group is calling for wheelie bins to only be issued within the town’s conservation area where residents have the storage space on their property and commit to use it.
They suggest using blue bags or community storage for those who do not have space for a wheelie bin.
And the petition also asked for the council to consider issuing fines to those who leave their bins out on the streets.
“I’m here to ask you to rid Tewkesbury’s conservation of bin blight,” he said.
“Tewkesbury’s unique conservation area is being severely degraded by domestic and increasingly by commercial bins.
“Investments are being negated. For instance, £179,000 of a £2m total High Street Heritage Action money was spent to good effect on three major alleys and lanes but bins are now obstructing two of them quite heavily.”
He said the local economy is being diminished, property values, tourism and investment are all potentially affected by the presence of the wheelie bins.
“People do and will flee such an environment. Rights of way of prams and wheelchairs are often compromised, particularly in our alleys.”
He said the unintended consequences of their bin policies have never been dealt with by the council and it is affecting the market town’s “jewel in the crown” conservation area.
“Why on earth would you wish to deliver a set of bins to an address with nowhere to store them? But TBC does that.”
He said bags or community storage for bins should be used for premises without space for a wheelie bin. “We are not talking about moving to a bag based system. Merely a proper implementation of TBC’s current exception blue bag policy.
“In Mill Street and Mill Bank all use bags, it works well. No litter, just a very photogenic scene to be enjoyed by locals and visitors alike.”
He asked for wheelie bins permanently left on the streets to be added to the council’s list of fixed penalty notices such as those used for graffiti, dog fouling and littering.
During the debate, Councillor Matt Dimond-Brown (G, Tewkesbury South) suggested the issue should be looked into by the council’s overview and scrutiny committee.
They would look at coming up with solutions for the problem of bin blighting over the next four months. Councillors agreed to not restrict their work to just Tewkesbury town as concerns were raised about a similar issue in Winchcombe.
Councillor Mike Sztymiak (I, Tewkesbury North and Twyning), who agreed with the proposal, said: “Bins are a nuisance.
“We spent a million pounds plus on the centre of town and then we go and spoil it by putting bins in front of all these shop windows.
“It does detract from the area. If we set up a working group we will be able to get under the covers of these issues and understand a lot more.”
Any final proposals would be brought back for approval by full council.
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Original post on the Gloucestershire News Centre website
Gloucestershire News Centre