Bin there, done that!
Or, in Craigavon, as the case may be, didn’t!
For missed bins again have left ratepayers there feeling decidedly short-changed.
And, as far as DUP Alderman Margaret Tinsley is concerned, enough is enough.
With a feeling of déjà vu – and with an as-sure-as-day-follows-night tone to her voice – the local representative cut to the chase.
“It will not come as any surprise at my disappointment at Craigavon again,” remarked Alderman Tinsley. “We have had a series of missed bins today again on the green bin runs. I was contacted all afternoon by those that were missed. I’ve got a full list.”
She raised the matter at the environmental services committee on Tuesday night, upon consideration of a departmental business plan highlighting targets and improvements for the year ahead.
While such plans may come along, reliably, with their required frequency, Alderman Tinsley was wishing the same could be said of the bin lorry.
“I see under the business plan that we want to have a high standard of service, and every month I’m coming to this chamber with missed bins, missed bins,” she said.
“I don’t know what the answer is or what the issues are. This time there was a vehicle issue. But it just seems to be constantly the Craigavon run. I know it’s maybe happening occasionally in other areas, but every month I’m coming to the chamber here and under the Craigavon run there’s at least either the brown bin or the green bin being missed.
“So, I mean, yes, I think it’s great having these words in this report, but these words were here last year, and that is the standard I know we want to be working to and, in a lot of areas, we are. It’s very disappointing to take away from the good work we are doing, but we’re not doing it across the board.”
The current situation, she said, meant council was “not where we ought to be”.
“I don’t know what the answer is,” added Alderman Tinsley. “But I don’t want us coming again next month, because last month I was in the chamber and I was raising about the Craigavon run after a bank holiday and about the issues we had and, again, tonight.”
Head of environmental services Lisa Doherty accepted that it was “disappointing” that services are “impacted at the moment”.
And – trying to offer some comfort and promising to bring “something back” to a working group – she added: “We are working through to try and build resilience within the services, with staff and with vehicles.”
