Concern is spreading about Wiltshire Council’s decision to suspend kerbside recycling on the Brynards Park development.

The story has already hit the local press http://bit.ly/14UgAk7 

Clearly the short notice given to residents was deeply regrettable and something of a surprise given that collections had hitherto gone smoothly for the best part of 12 months.

After speaking with the Head of Wiltshire Council’s Waste Management, I have been assured that the situation will be very closely monitored and that more needs to be done to find out some of the safety issues the Health & Safety officer outlined to the site foreman. These concerns can then be addressed and kerbside collections resumed.

Having raised the possibility of collections taking place between 7-8am before the site is opened, the Council have advised me that they aren’t able to commit to a 7am collection time. Since the Council’s refuge team work out of Parsonage Way in Chippenham they argue it would be impractical to fulfil this request. Furthermore, if the refuge team were delayed for what ever reason on the day of collection they might miss the 8am cut off time at Brynards Park. This could lead to bins going uncollected. Since nobody wants this to happen the Council feel that the next best solution is to maintain the three allocated collection points in the immediate term.

It is important however that kerbside recycling is reinstated as soon as is possible. I intend to monitor the situation closely and continue to work with the Council to resolve this issue speedily.