Birmingham residents concerned by 'poor' bin collection service

Residents of parts of Birmingham have said their bins are not being collected when they should be.

Areas affected include Bartley Green, Selly Park and Northfield.

Labour MP for Birmingham Northfield, Laurence Turner, said: "The collection service has been poor for some months".

Birmingham City Council said the waste service was undertaking a "change programme," including new vehicles and staffing arrangements.

Leanne Gregory, who lives in Northfield, said this week the collection was on time for "what seems like the first time in probably a month-and-a-half," but that three times in October this did not happen.

Once, it was 16 days between collections, she said, adding: "Obviously it's not acceptable".

She said locals were "really concerned" and they had previously said there were "rats running around into the homes".

"This is not the sort of area where people have access to cars, can go to the tip," Ms Gregory said. "We live in an area of high social housing.

"These are houses that are full to the brim of families. So the bins, we need them collected weekly."

Mr Turner said Thursday was the usual collection day and "from the afternoon onwards into Friday and Saturday the email inbox starts filling up".

He added: "Things really came to a head in June, July, August.

"Things are starting to improve in some areas, but we do need to see more progress."

Council cabinet member for transport and environment Majid Mahmood said the waste service was undertaking "a significant, and long overdue, change programme," including new vehicles, new staffing arrangements and in the New Year "new collection systems".

The authority was experiencing a "significant number" of staff absences, he added.

This was affecting service performance "which is being addressed in the short term, with support from staff at other depots".

Mr Mahmood said: "Any residents whose bin isn't collected on the normal collection day should leave their bin out and we'll collect it as soon as we can. We apologise and ask for people's patience."