Bolton: Over 70 houses on one street missed bin collections

Last Christmas saw temperatures plunge all over the north of England with Bolton proving to be no exception.

Cllr Emily Mort, who represents Crompton on the council, now says she received several complaints from residents and says she was aware of the situation on Torrington Avenue in her area where as many as 74 homes missed burgundy bin collection over the week beginning December 12.

She said: “Residents were very understanding and were also understanding that our teams may not have been able to catch up with this due to the ongoing adverse weather conditions and limited resources available.

Cllr Emily Mort brought up the issue of bin collections at a recent Bolton Council meeting (Image: Newsquest)

“What residents are angry about was the council’s refusal to collect escell waste at the next scheduled collection date, particularly at the time of year where these bins are required for Christmas and additional family members after not having festive celebrations for the last two years.”

Cllr Mort said her group agrees with the council’s general policy with excess waste but said town hall leaders should be prepared to vary the policy in exceptional circumstances like these.

Speaking at a meeting of the council, she asked cabinet member for environmental services Cllr Nadim Muslim if he would be prepared to make "practical" decisions in future when circumstances like these arose.

In response, Cllr Muslim argued that the "bitterly cold" weather had made roads icy and conditions dangerous for waste and recycling workers.

He said: “Each morning our crews attempted to visit scheduled areas of the borough and were successful in completing collections on main and other often treated carriageways.

“Not surprisingly they struggled in many residential areas.”

But when asked by Cllr Mort he did not specify how many missed collections were recorded in the week beginning December 12 last year and how many were not caught up on when the next collection date arrived.

Cllr Muslim explained that workers are trained to carry out risk assessments in circumstances like these.

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He said: “Unfortunately, like many areas across the north of England it was simply not possible to complete these collections.”

But he said that the waste team is now reviewing the resources it has available and how they are allocated across Bolton.

Cllr Muslim said: “On average around 99 per cent of collections are made on the correct date throughout the year, unfortunately we do not control the weather.”