Allerton Park waste disposal contract – last minute move

The York Council has today agreed to extend the deadline by which planning permission for the new waste disposal facility at Allerton Park must be achieved.

The agreement with the contractors AmeyCespa was due to expire today but a last ditch agreement has extended the agreement until at least the “Cabinet” meeting on 1st October.

Allerton park waste centre

The granting of planning permission had been held up following a move by a Parish Council which asked for a judicial review of the terms of the planning permission.

This is still being considered by the Court of Appeal

The North Yorkshire County Council also has to agree a way forward.

If the contract were terminated at this stage, then a payment of £3 million could be due to the contractor.

It is unclear why the York Council was forced into making a decision today with minimal notice. The terms of the contract have been known for over 2 years.

Friday 13th – Looking unlucky for York Council as traffic congestion and un-emptied bin problems mount

The Council’s web site crashed for a short time as problems with traffic congestion and un-emptied waste bins mount.

Click to update

Click to update

A combination of the Lendal Bridge closure, poor weather and high traffic volumes is causing mounting delays on the northern by pass and the inner ring road.

Further congestion is expected tomorrow as the City hosts the “skyride”.

Meanwhile the backlog in emptying waste bins shows little sign of subsiding. There is talk of working on Saturday to address the backlog but how residents will be made aware of such a decision remains a mystery.

The local media have been strangely reluctant to report the scale of the problem pausing only to remind residents to put their bin out by 0700 hours – pretty much futile if the bins aren’t cleared for over 24 hours.

The Council is now saying “ on Friday 13th September some properties in the following streets did not have their garden waste collected as scheduled:

Poppleton – Streets and all streets off

• Station Road
• Longridge Lane
• Black Dykes Lane
• Main Street
• Ebor Way
• Montague Road
• Millfield Lane
• Beech Grove
• Westfield Close
• Willow Croft
• Hodgeson Lane
• The Green

Clifton – Streets and all streets off• Shipton Road
• Malton Way
• Brompton Road
• Rawcliffe Lane (part)
• Surray Way
• Filingsdale Road
• Eastholme Drive
• Northolme Drive
• Southolme Drive
• Westholme Drive
• Grasmere Grove
• Borrowdale Drive
• Westmore Drive
• Alwyne Drive
• Alwyne Grove
• Westholme Drive
• Potterdale Drive

Rawcliffe – Streets and all streets off• Bowness Drive
• Furness Drive
• Howard Drive
• Troutsdale Avenue
• Stainsdale Close
• St Marks Grove
• Bilsdale Close
• Manor Park Road
• Manor Way
• Rawcliffe Croft
• Eva Avenue
• Manor Lane
• Cobham Way
• Armstrong Way
• Conningham Avenue
• Village Street

We will return to these properties to make collections on Saturday 14th September. Please ensure that your bin is out by 7am as the crews will be returning early in the morning.

Now Strensall, Haxby and Wigginton green waste bins not emptied

The chaos on bin emptying continued today with the Council admitting that green waste collections did not take place across large parts of Strensall, Haxby and Wigginton today.

Cllr Levene attempting to master a street sweeper. Coming to street near you? Probably not!

Cllr Levene attempting to master a street sweeper. Coming to street near you? Probably not!

It is the latest failure in an apparently unending saga of mistakes arising out of new bin emptying schedules.

Earlier in the week the Labour councillor responsible for the blunders (Cllr Levene) told people to “calm down”.

He told the media “Though the Council has written directly to the small number of properties that will see a significant change to their collections, there will inevitably be the odd issue to iron out when moving to a new system. We would ask residents to ensure they put their waste and recycling out before 7am on their collection days“.

Unfortunately many of the failures have been at properties where there was no planned change to the day of collection. So many did not receive a letter and the Council has effectively sought to bury the bad news deep in their web site

The failures were described as “bedding in” problems

Their web site says

Whilst the new collection rounds are settling down there will be instances when some properties are missed. We are sorry that on Thursday 12th September some properties in the following areas did not have their collection on the scheduled day:

• Rubbish collection (black bin) – None
• Garden waste (green bin):

◦WalmerCarr,Wigginton

◦WindsorDrive,Wigginton

◦OakenGrove,Wigginton

◦TheVillage,Wigginton,

◦MillLane,Wigginton

◦CornerClose,Wigginton,

◦HelmsleyGrove,Wigginton

◦StrensallPark,Strensall

◦AlexanderRoad,Strensall

◦YorkRoad,Strensall

◦BarleyRise,Strensall

◦PortishamPlace,Strensall

◦LongFurrow,Haxby

◦Mancroft,Haxby

◦Wheatfieldlane,Haxby

◦Greendyke,Haxby

◦LundClose,Wigginton

◦BellClose,Wigginton

◦StoopClose,Wigginton

◦ManorGarth,Wigginton

◦ForestClose,Wigginton

◦Middlebanks,Wigginton

◦PlantationWay,Wigginton

We will return to these properties to make collections by the end of the next working day

Update – Waste bin emptying problems now hit Woodthorpe

UPDATE 1400 hours – Bins ARE now being emptied in Askham Lane, Chapelfields and Woodthorpe (which was also missed yesterday)

The Council web site now includes the following comment –

Waste Collection Services Update

A comprehensive review of waste collection rounds has been carried out and some service changes were implemented on 9th September 2013.

Our collection crews are working hard to ensure your waste is collected on the scheduled collection date. Please help us by ensuring your bin is presented before 7.00am on the date of collection.

Whilst the new collection rounds are settling down there will be instances when some properties are missed. We are sorry that on Wednesday 11th September some properties in the following areas did not have their collection on the scheduled day:

• Rubbish collection (black bin) – Acomb & Boroughbridge Road

• Garden waste (green bin) – Holgate & Acomb

We will return to these properties to make collections by the end of the next working day.

The Council have admitted that there are “bedding in” problems with the new refuse bins emptying arrangements.

Askham Lane - late Tuesday

Askham Lane – late Tuesday

That rather understates the issues faced by 100’s of residents who now don’t know when their bins will be emptied.

The Council web site was down yesterday and delays of around 5 minutes have been reported by residents trying to ring the Council help line.

Bin changes could see a repeat of ‘Christmas Chaos’

Liberal Democrat Councillors are warning that bin changes introduced this week could see a repeat of the collection chaos which hit parts of York last Christmas.

The new waste and recycling times, which started this week, see changes to collection days for over 10,000 households in York. The changes will affect areas including parts of Copmanthorpe, Haxby, Wigginton, Huntington, Dunnington and Fulford.

City of York Council has claimed that all residents should have received a letter informing them of the new collection arrangements. However, there is growing concern that some residents are unaware of the changes and reports from residents in Copmanthorpe that their bins were not emptied yesterday. Councillors were only given details of the new collection times on Friday and therefore have been unable to help publicise the changes.

(more…)

New bin emptying schedules hit problems

As we forecast on Friday, it looks like the new bin emptying schedules are proving to be a major challenge for the Council.

In parts of Copmanthorpe reports are coming in of un-emptied bins.

Disquiet on "twitter"

Disquiet on “twitter”

The complete list of affected properties can be viewed by clicking here. It is in alphabetical street order. These are the arrangements publicised by the Council. Hopefully they will issue a statement on Tuesday explaining what has gone wrong

Alternatively, you should also be able to check out the day that your next collection is due by entering your postcode at this web location Last week the Council issued a media release which quoted the wrong web link)

Waste collection cuts and changes from 9th September

The Council have issued a media release confirming the cuts that it is making to waste collection arrangements.

Green_waste_family_89__1

They say that “less then 10 per cent of all households will see significant changes to the day and time that their rubbish and recycling is collected, but the review has contributed towards significant savings of £300,000 in 2013/14”.

New rubbish and recycling calendars will be sent to households citywide from today (Tuesday 27 August) with new collections to commence from Monday 9 September.

The majority of households (72,000 homes) will continue to receive their normal collections on the same day on a fortnightly basis. The time of their collection may vary and residents are advised to ensure they present their rubbish and recycling before 7am on the day of their collection.

Further to the introduction of the new rubbish and recycling collections, changes to garden waste will also take effect from 9 September. The Council will introduce “an annual subscription charge for additional garden waste and not collect waste during the winter months”.

A charge of £35 to cover 12-months will come into effect for households with more then one garden waste bin.

No garden waste will be collected during the winter months of November to March.

For full details of the changes to rubbish and recycling collections, or if residents would like to subscribe to the garden waste service, please call 01904 551550.

The Council also says that can look up their collections by postcode by clicking this LINK