Failure of emptying bins

Shropshire Council has been accused of failing in communication and operational planning due to bins not being emptied in Ludlow in the lead-up to Easter.

Gina Wilding, town clerk at Ludlow Town Council, said that the issue stemmed from a transition in waste contractors (from Idverde to Kier).

However, while she said that Shropshire Council indiciated the issue would be resolved within two days, an interim mitigation was required. This included action from the town council’s outdoor team, which collected 54 bags of excess waste.

There were also reported missed bin collections, including many in the town centre.

In a scathing letter to the council’s deputy leader, Alex Wagner, Ms Wilding said town and parish councils were not adequately informed that bins would not be emptied due to the contract change.

“This lack of timely and transparent communication has left local councils exposed to resident frustration and reputational damage, without the information needed to respond appropriately,” said Ms Wilding.

“Furthermore, when concerns were raised, the response from the council was insufficient and did not reflect the seriousness of the issue.

“This has compounded the problem and undermined confidence in the council’s commitment to partnership working.

“It is difficult to understand why this change could not have been planned and communicated more effectively to minimise disruption – particularly over a sensitive period such as Easter, when service expectations are understandably higher.”

In response, Councillor Wagner said he understood why the situation caused frustration.

“To set out what has happened, Shropshire Council’s street scene team has recently been reorganised, with new, optimised routes introduced for street cleansing and public waste bin emptying,” he said.

“This has included a change of contractor. As part of that transition, all relevant staff were required to complete essential health and safety training as part of their induction, which was concluded during the week.

“Keir will be delivering the service directly in two thirds of Shropshire, whilst town and parish councils in devolution pilot areas took on the service themselves on April 1.

“I fully accept that this transition was not as smooth as it should have been and is a must to improve our contract controls, which our new budget (taking over from April 1 too) will seek to address.

“In particular, communication to town and parish councils should have been clearer and earlier, and I recognise the difficult position this placed you in when responding to residents locally.”

Councillor Wagner added that crews have since been operating as normal, and addressing backlog issues. This includes bins in busy locations that have overflowed during the changeover.

“I am sorry for the disruption this has caused,” said Councillor Wagner.

“However, we are resource starved and cannot afford to borrow ever greater sums to deliver services, so this will take time.”

Moving forward, Councillor Wagner said the council will review how the transition was communicated so that town and parish councils receive timely and practial updates in future, putting in place cearly lines of contract so councils can quickly escalate issues and get responses, and ensuring future service changes include advance briefings where there is any risk of visible disruption.

“More broadly, I do want to emphasise that strong partnership working is important to me and to the council,” said Councillor Wagner.

“That does work both ways, and we are keen to continue building a constructive relationship with Ludlow and other town and parish councils so that we can respond effectively together when issues arise.”

Ludlow Town Council will discuss the issues this Monday (April 20), with members being asked to consider various options moving forward.
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