Councillor Jim Bollan, who claims Labour’s Clrs David McBride and Martin Rooney are defending the indefensible mistakes of highly paid officers.
By Bill Heaney
The chaos which has accompanied the bin collection service over the festive holidays in West Dunbartonshire continues.
There have been reports of fly tipping and many back gardens and back courts littered with rubbish which the Council has a responsibility to clear up.
Queues of residents with rubbish in the boots of their cars at the Dalmoak transfer station on the Dumbarton-Renton road caused grid locking both ways as the station was full to overflowing.Communtiy Party councillor Jim Bollan said: “”This is another disaster brought about by the incompetence of the Labour Council who changed the holiday calendar without any direct consultation with the workers who empty the bins.
“The chaos with bin uplifts over the holiday period is a direct consequence of Labour’s tampering with the holiday calendar.
“The decision which was made in secret on December 17 by Labour councillors Rooney and McBride and kept from the public and opposition councillors until after the Council meeting on the18th was premeditated and shameful.
“The changes made to the holiday calendar, which is [intended] to save money, needs to be set aside until meaningful consultation takes place with all staff affected.”
Meanwhile, the Council is ignoring the pot-holes in the roads which are causing damage to a great number of vehicles and residents of the council estates and side streets are finding the conditions underfoot very dangerous.
There are reports too that plastic bags overflowing with rubbish have been left on the pavement outside the former Co-op buildings in Dumbarton High Street.
Asked for a comment and advice to people on what to do given the circumstances, West Dunbartonshire Council’s communications team, which costs the taxpayers hundreds of thusands of pounds a year, refused to comment.
* The rescheduled schedule for bin collections did not work either when residents in parts of Bonhill, who were told the work would be done on Sunday afternoon, failed to have a visit from the bin operatives.
Fly tipping is unsightly and environmentally harmful. Uplifting it is expensive.
And yet everything this council does seems designed to make fly tipping and or improper waste disposal more likely.
First the council introduce charges for collection of brown bin collection.
Then they introduce charges, and pretty hefty charges at that for household uplift of things like chairs, or seats, and the like.
Then they restrict households bringing waste to the recycling centre if they use a van and do not give a minimum hours notice. Fail to do that, or give the wrong registration, even by one digit, and the householder is turned away.
It’s the policy of the madhouse. But then you look at waste disposal and recycling.
Seems that with the sudden closure of Auchencaroch all waste is now being transported to Glasgow. Having to haul tens and tens of thousands of waste to Glasgow must be costing an absolute fortune. And it takes three of crew to drive the bin lorry to Glasgow and back.
And this council say they are short of money. What’s going on?
They are short of money another lie they have sold ground where the swimming pool was
Fly tipping is everywhere beds and settee outside or inside people’s gardens and they have been there for a few months
A few years ago the council got caught paying overtime to senior management that were not entitled to get overtime because of their pay grade . now that they said they have to save more money so they are going to cut public holidays for the waste service and others like home care it has been let out that the senior management of the road department are being paid overtime again (it never stopped)but now they have found a way to pay them no surprises there then.these are people responsible for fixing the potholes and gritting and they work from home so how does that work?
With all the new housing developments in west Dunbartonshire, council tax collection must be sky rocketing, they are not cheap houses and the bands will be high. Where’s all the money?