A plea for Northern Ireland councils to be allowed to fine people for leaving their bins out on the street for too long has been rejected by elected reps.
Councillors at Newry, Mourne and Down District Council environment committee last week unanimously rejected a request by Ards and North Down Borough Council to support a plea for new local authority powers on bins “causing undue obstruction” for prolonged periods.
The Department of Agriculture Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) is currently considering the request from Ards and North Down, for councils to issue fixed penalties to house occupants who fail to remove their bins following “informal requests”.
Ards and North Down Council contacted Stormont over a year ago to make an appeal for powers similar to those in England where local authorities can issue fixed penalty notices after written warnings. Councils in Northern Ireland can only appeal for residents to be considerate in their bin usage.
Rowallane SDLP cllr, Terry Andrews said: “I have a number of points of concern. There have been instances when bins have not been emptied in my constituency for six weeks due to parking issues where bin lorries couldn’t get through.
“Also, there are many houses that the only access for them is to actually take the bin through the backyard into the living room and onto the street.
“So, many residents will leave the bin out to save the hassle of bringing bins through the house every time it has to be collected.”
Slieve Gullion Sinn Fein rep, Oonagh Magennis added: “We will definitely not be supporting this proposal.
“Just for the fact, some people just don’t have anywhere else to put their bins. Cars parking on the streets is a bigger hazzard issue.
“Residents can’t win in this situation. To be honest we don’t think this proposal should have even got this far and it should have been just binned. We are totally opposed to this.
“It would even be a waste of time, as how could it be enforced?”
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