Three residential streets among worst for missed bin collection complaints in 2019

Three of Edinburgh’s worst areas for missed bin collections are small residential streets with two streets topping 100 or more complaints last year, the Evening News can reveal.

New figures show residents on three streets in different parts of the city have suffered disproportionatly from missed bin collections when compared to other parts of the Capital.

However most of the streets that appear in the list of the most-complained about areas are the cities longer roads, such as Telford Road and Gilmerton Road.

Councillor Karen Doran, the vice-convenor of the transport and environment committee said that overall complaints about missed bins are down, with December 2019 seeing the lowest number of complaints for four years.

Worst streets the longest streets

The top three streets for missed bin collections are Gilmerton Road with 126, Telford Road with 100, and Lasswade Road with 90.

The small residential area of Easter Warriston is surprising in its appearance in the top ten with 73 complaints about missed bin collections.

Among those with the highest escalated complaints - the highest level of complaint for bin collections - are the residential streets of Walford Drive in Portobello and Gayfield Place Lane off Elm Row.

Conservative group leader councillor Iain Whyte, who represents the Inverleith ward which Easter Warriston sits in, called on the council to find solutions rather than wait for complaints.

He said: “Easter Warriston and Warriston Road gets parked up with lots of different types of parking and that causes the bin lorries problems sometimes getting in.

“I would have thought that the obvious thing to do was put on a smaller bin lorry and see if they could collect and if it is a regular occurence it could prevent these sorts of problems.

“Given that many of us have the suspicion that a lot of people have just stopped complaining after the really bad problems we had some time ago that actually these figures may mask more of a problem.

Bin collections down from peak last year

Overall, when compared to the second quarter of 2018/19, missed or overflowing bin reports are up 12 per cent at 11,014 in quarter two of 2019/20.

The numbers are lower than their peak in the third quarter of 2018/19 which led to calls for transport and economy convenor Lesley Macinnes to quit after the council received more than 2,500 complaints in one day.

Transport and Environment Vice Convener Councillor Karen Doran said: “We appreciate the frustration caused by missed bin collections, and it’s unacceptable that the public should need to contact us about this.

“However, overall, the number of complaints continues to fall across the city – last month we received the lowest number of missed bin reports for four years, and in the streets concerned complaints have also come down significantly throughout the year.

“Our hard working refuse staff make around 26 million waste collections every year across a range of services, so it’s also worth noting that the number of complaints we receive is a very small percentage of this.

“That said, we still recognise this is a key issue for residents, and we will continue working to improve the service through a range of measures which are regularly reported to Committee.”