Bury Times & Bin Collections

ON Thursday, a letter in the Bury Times was critical

of a claim made by Bury Council in the previous issue
that claimed that the Council had only had '18 formal
complaints' from the public, and that this suggested that
there was customer satisfaction with the local bin collections.

THE Manchester Evening News (MEN) on the 20th, October, ran a story entitled 'More than 10,000 complaints made about missed bin collection since start of year'.  The article referred to bins left unemptied owing to refuse collectors discovering overflowing or overweight bins or simply incorrectly used bins.  But while showing an increase in complaints the article warned that the data applied  'only to Manchester, Salford, Wigan, Trafford, Stockport and Tameside councils.  Bolton, Bury, Oldham and Rochdale said they couldn’t collate their figures to respond.'

Yet, somehow Bury Council managed to rustle up some figures shortly afterwards because Sarah Yates was able to report days later in the Bury Times on the 25th, Oct. 2015, that 'Bury Council chiefs have received more positive feedback about its three-weekly bin collections than complaints.'

Thus Bury Council, the first council in England to collect rubbish bins once every three weeks, is now able to announce according to the Bury Times that 'whilst it received 18 formal complaints, there were 65 compliments registered since the grey bin collection regime began a year ago'.

Consequently, those Jeremiah's like NV, some binmen and local residents, who voiced their concerns of overflowing bins, rat revivals and insect infestations have now seemingly been proved wrong.  Indeed, now councils like Rochdale and elsewhere have eagerly followed in the footsteps of Bury MBC.

The question remains as to why Bury couldn't collate their figures in time to respond to the MEN Freedom of Information request a few days earlier?  Especially given that the number of negative complaints at merely 18, were so tiny compared with almost everywhere else?  Surely they can count up to 18?

In the current Bury Times, Ian Coates from Radcliffe, declares:

'FOLLOWING the story in last week's paper about the three-weekly collections and the council claiming to have had only 18 formal complaints, they are in cloud cuckoo land.  If they actually think people want the three-weekly collections they are deluded.  They are seeing whet they want to see.  Why do they not go on to Facebook and look what the people of Bury and Radcliffe are really saying.'

Only a week ago an ex-policeman was voted into the Tottington Ward of Bury as a conservative councillor, and he fought on the platform of restoring more regular collections of grey bins.