By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
There are concerns missed bin collections in Gloucester could lead to vermin and maggot issues during the recent heatwave.
City councillors say residents missed out on bin collections just before the bank holiday weekend in Barton and Tredworth.
And Labour Councillor Roseanna Marshall, who represents the area at Gloucester City Council, said one resident has not had their bins collected for three weeks.
“Another resident who pays £60 a year for the green waste collection on Hopewell Street has not had her green bin collected multiple times this year,” she said.
“They also did not have their black waste sack and green waste collected on Friday. With the heatwave this is only going to cause more issues with waste, vermin and maggots in the area.”
She also said residents have not been able to report missed bin collections on the council website.
“When residents are attempting to report it after 4pm it states it is too early to report it,” she said.
“Another resident was not updated about cancellations in the recycling collection on Howard Street – there appears to be no clear communication between Ubico and Gloucester City Council.”
Judy Cera, a resident, said her refuse and garden waste should have been collected on Friday but they were both missed.
“I tried to report the missed collection online but the website gave me a message saying it was too early to report it, and another message saying it was too late to report it,” she said.
“I phoned the council and they apologised and promised that it would be collected on Monday or Tuesday. I am writing this on Monday evening and it hasn’t been collected yet.
“This is very inconvenient as I have spent the bank holiday weekend gardening, and I have nowhere to put the waste.
“This is not the first time I’ve had this issue with my garden waste. When I first started paying for the service in February, I had to phone the council on numerous occasions due to missed collections, and I made a formal complaint.
“I pay extra for this service and I shouldn’t have to chase up the collection every fortnight.
“The council needs to sort this out, and they need to fix the system for reporting missed collections online.”
Liberal Democrat Councillor Sebastian Field (Podsmead), who is the cabinet member for environment, said he was sorry to hear that some residents have had problems with bin collections.
“Missed collections are closely monitored by Ubico and we consistently see low levels of missed collections across the city with an average of 99.9% of all collections completed on time,” he said.
“Residents and councillors are encouraged to report issues with waste, recycling and garden waste collections directly to the council using our various reporting channels.
“If they are not happy with the response there are also channels for escalation and the council aims to respond and improve services based on issues experienced by residents.
“I’m sorry to hear that some residents have experienced problems with collection. We’d like to give a reassurance that we take every issue very seriously.”