Libraries across St Albans City and District are to loan out electricity monitors so that residents can find out how much electricity their household is using, the cost of that energy and the amount of CO2 emissions they are producing.

In a trial initiative organised by St Albans City and District Council, St Albans Central Library and Harpenden Library have been offering residents a free three-week loan of the devices. This trial has been so successful that the Council has now arranged for electricity monitors to be available on loan from all the libraries in the District.
Studies have shown that by using an electricity monitor households become more aware of how energy is being wasted and, by changing their behaviour, can reduce the amount of their energy bills.

The electricity monitors are simple to use. All residents have to do is clip a transmitter onto their electricity meter so that the wireless device can display real-time information about their usage. As they wander around the house throughout the day, switching appliances on and off, they can then see which appliances use the most energy. The more appliances that are switched on, the higher the values displayed on the monitor. Each of the electricity monitors come with instructions, a battery recharger and rechargeable batteries, where required.

Councillor Geoff Churchard, portfolio holder for Environment and Sustainability, at St Albans City and District Council said: “These electricity monitors will help residents understand their energy consumption, and offer them the opportunity make savings on the amount of their energy bills.”

Solar photovoltaic panels installed on the roof of St Albans City and District Council’s offices in St Peter’s Street last year have produced 9.416MWh of electricity, saving the Council more than £560 in fuel costs.

Since their installation in March last year, the 75 polycrystalline panels have produced energy equating to a saving of 5.348 tonnes in CO2 emissions.

The Council is also expecting to receive an annual payment of around £1,000 through the government’s Renewable Obligation Certificates incentive scheme, which rewards microgeneration schemes with cash.

Real-time information about the amount of electricity being produced by the panels and the carbon dioxide savings that are being made is displayed on a unit in the reception area of the council offices and is accessible to residents.

Cllr Geoff Churchard, portfolio holder for Environment and Sustainability for St Albans City and District Council, said: “The solar panels are proving to be a real benefit, helping the Council reduce fuel costs and CO2 emissions by producing electricity. They are just one example of the many steps that the Council is taking to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions and is one that residents and local businesses can also follow. There are more than 70 actions in the Council’s Nottingham Declaration on Climate Change Action Plan.”

The Council is committed to minimising the impact of its activities on the environment across all service areas and is introducing a range of measures to reduce energy use, transport emissions, consumption of resources and waste production. The Council’s Carbon Management Plan sets out a range of actions that it will implement to achieve its target of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 25% in 2013 from a baseline year of 2006/7.

St Albans City and District Council is to urgently investigate the emissions benefits of asking car drivers to switch off their engines while waiting at the Peahen Junction lights on Holywell Hill, St Albans as part of plans to improve air quality in St Albans City Centre.

The move follows a meeting between officers from Herts Highways and the Environmental Health department of the District Council, local councillors and a representative of the Holywell Hill Action Group on 22 December.

The Council has already extended the area covered by the Air Quality Management Area Order for the Peahen crossroads, a traffic hotspot in the city. It has also drawn up an action plan setting out various short and long-term steps to help reduce air pollution in St Albans. This was approved at Cabinet on 8 December 2009.

Councillor Robert Donald, Leader of the Council, said: “As an immediate interim action, I have asked council officers following this meeting to urgently investigate the emissions benefits of asking drivers to switch off car engines while waiting at the Peahen Junction lights, as environmental technical advice on this action currently appears divided. If it can be shown to be self-evidently beneficial we have agreed with Hertfordshire Highways that they will provide signage requesting drivers to take this preventative action. I am not aware that this particular measure has been trialled anywhere else in the UK for this environmental reason to date.”

The meeting also considered the possible pedestrianisation of St Peter’s Street and Market Place. Before taking this any further, Herts Highways will be modelling traffic flows and various traffic management options will be used to develop a model to assess their impact on surrounding roads. This will be followed by a public consultation in the summer if it is decided to take forward this idea any further. Another possible measure that was discussed was a mini park and ride scheme around St Albans. Herts Highways will initially be conducting a feasibility study to assess whether this is at all viable. No decisions have yet been taken on either of these possible solutions.

Councillor Robert Donald, added: ”This plan sets out clearly what actions we can take to improve air quality in the vicinity of the Peahen junction. Reducing congestion and improving air quality in the city centre is a major challenge for the City and District.

“Through the City Vision project, we have been looking at the future planning and development of St Albans and ways to encourage more people to travel around it by bus, cycle or on foot.

“We are also working hard with our partners to address traffic congestion and CO2 emissions particularly in the city centre. Earlier, this year we set up a new transport partnership called Network St Albans which brings together the District Council, Hertfordshire County Council, the University of Hertfordshire and local bus and rail companies to consider how best to cut traffic related road congestion and air and noise pollution. It is already looking at creating a better bus network with integrated ticketing and new bus maps; providing more real time travel information, improved junction traffic flows and a better network of pedestrian and cycle routes; and investigating the feasibility of other vehicle congestion reduction measures.

Councillor Geoff Churchard, Portfolio Holder for Environment and Sustainability at St Albans City and District Council, said: “Air quality is a serious concern for people who live and work on Holywell Hill and around the Peahen and we will be working with them, through the action plan, to resolve this issue.”

We are getting mixed reports about gritting and snow clearance across the county. Clearly there was a serious incident in Hunton Bridge and roads in St Albans are pretty but in quite a state. We understand that the priority must be to salt main roads, but certainly these were not in a good way at midnight last night.

Please send us any updates, including photos, so that we can form a clear picture and if necessary lobby the county council for more effort.

Message from the District Council

Whilst the District Council is responsible for street name plates, the other signs we see on the public highway are mostly the responsibility of Hertfordshire Highways.

The majority of the signs are there for a legitimate purpose but there are some which were erected to give advance warning of new changes in speed limit, road layout etc. The necessity to have these signs diminishes with time, and whilst a sign saying new road layout would be appropriate for several months after a change is made, it is not appropriate several years later. The District Council is therefore helping to compile a list of such signs which will be forwarded to Hertfordshire Highways to allow them to programme their removal.

Other examples might include developers’ signs when the site is complete and the new residents have moved in. Sometimes public utility companies leave signs behind when they have been working in the District.

Please let us know if there are any you wish us to draw to the attention of either council.

Featured below are Cllrs Jack Pia, Michael Green and Geoff Churchard, who attended Saturday’s climate change march in London.

Briefing note from the county council

There are approximately 2500 highway structures on the local road network in Hertfordshire of which 1700 are owned by HCC. The remainder are owned by third parties such as Network Rail, British Waterways or District Councils. Highways Structures typically include for Bridges, Culverts, Retaining Wall, Gantries and Tunnels.

Hertfordshire Highways has a dedicated structures team to look after County bridges stock but not responsible for the condition survey of the private bridges.
For the County bridges, every structure is visually inspected on a biennial cycle. The inspection results are recorded to nationally agreed standards where a bridge condition indicator (score) is determined. The current bridge condition indicator for Hertfordshire bridges stock is 87/100, which is ranked as good.

In Hertfordshire, we do not have such major rivers (or coasts) to exacerbate the flood risks and our bridges are less exposed to flooding dangers as compared to other parts of the Country. However, we are not complacent on the above safety issue and have opted for a further under water type inspection to complement our above water level visual inspections. We typically keep a list of those structures with a potential scour problem (due to nature of the watercourse they cross) and we carry out a detailed under water inspection to guard against scour to such bridge foundations.

This year’s cycle of diving inspection is programmed to be complete by April 2010.

The Liberal Democrats have written to the county council today to ask for assurances over the condition of bridges in Hertfordshire.

Group Leader Chris White said: ‘The rains in Cumbria were a wake up call. Hertfordshire has also been recently flooded and - as the climate changes - will no doubt flood again.

‘I think the public will want assurances that our bridges are in reasonable condition and are not in danger of being swept away.’

The County Council’s urban transport plan is now up on the web.

http://www.hertsdirect.org/docs/pdf/s/stautp2009.pdf

Chris White has today slammed the current consultation over housing numbers which could see an ADDITIONAL 9,500 homes built in the St Albans area - over and above the already excessive targets previously set by the East of England Regional Assembly.

Chris, speaking at the County Council’s Environment and Planning Panel, said: ‘The original figures were already based on inflated demand - fuelled by the tendency of irresponsible bankers to lend to home buyers who can’t afford it. It beggars belief that this situation will be allowed to continue unchecked even if the bankers’ friends - the Tories - were to win the next election.’

He added: ‘St Albans in particular is likely to suffer under these plans: it cannot cope with a total of 16,480 extra homes without entirely grinding to a halt. I note that there are no significant government plans to improve public transport. After all they have handed over all our money to the bankers - the same people who caused the inflated growth figures in the first place.’

County council officials have today accepted that the council needs to respond to Liberal Democrat demands to join the 10:10 environmental campaign.

Chris White commented: ‘We raised a question about this at the last council meeting and I guess we should be pleased that we got any reaction at all. But all we are getting at this stage is a promise of a report at the January meeting of the Environment and Planning Panel. The council frankly needs to get a move on. After all this is supposed to be a commitment to cut emissions by 10% in 2010.’

For more information on 10:10: http://www.1010uk.org/

Grants for loft and cavity wall insulation and solar panels are among the energy efficiency measures that are being offered to homeowners and tenants living in the St Albans and City District, as part of an initiative to cut carbon dioxide emissions and reduce fuel poverty.

St Albans City and District Council is one of 15 local authorities across Hertfordshire and Essex that have together obtained £6.6million worth of government funding to help install a range of energy efficiency and renewable energy measures for private homeowners, leaseholders and tenants over a two-year period. Together they have formed Herts Essex Energy Partnership (HEEP) which has appointed Climate Energy to manage the initiative, oversee the works, appoint contractors, grant payments and market the scheme.

Homeowners in receipt of qualifying benefits or who are aged 70 years or more will be eligible to receive free energy-saving measures such as loft and cavity wall insulation, heating system upgrades, and renewable technologies such as solar panels, subject to the availability of funding, qualifying criteria and a technical survey.

Those who are not in receipt of benefits are entitled to loft or cavity wall insulation at subsidised prices that start at £99. In addition, they may be eligible to receive grants and interest free loans to cover the cost of installing renewable technologies and heating upgrades, again subject to the availability of funding, qualifying criteria and a technical survey.

Cllr Mike Ellis, Portfolio Holder for Environment and Sustainability at St Albans City and District Council, said: “I would commend this scheme to residents. It will help homeowners improve the energy efficiency of their homes and reduce their fuel bills. It will also help reduce the number of households that suffer from fuel poverty and bring down the carbon emissions of the district.”

It is estimated that 13,500 households across Hertfordshire and Essex will benefit from this package of measures. The aim is to increase the energy ratings of these homes, as measured by the government’s Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP), to more than 65, which would help reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by 25% on average. This would result in the scheme producing a combined reduction of approximately 10,000 tonnes of CO2 per annum.

Residents who are interested in the scheme should call 0800 980 6026, quoting STA1009, or go to www.heepgrant.org.

Herts and Essex Energy Partnership (HEEP)

St Albans Council have begun a new household energy efficiency scheme which we want to publicise and promote to residents.

Until now, you have been referring residents interested in energy efficiency to the Energy Saving Trust (0800 512 012), Warm Front or Cocoon but from now on please divert any callers interested in:

- energy efficiency
- insulation (i.e. loft, cavity, solid wall)
- renewable technologies (i.e. solar panels)
- reducing fuel bills

to the following scheme:

Tel: 0800 980 6027
Web: www.heepgrant.org

Customers on benefits or over 70 – will be entitled to a wide range of measures, from insulation, to renewable technologies ABSOLUTELY FREE. There will be no contribution necessary from the customer.

Other customers – will have all of the above offered at a highly subsidized price (£99+) as well as full advice and support. In addition, they will be able to take advantage of an interest-free loan towards the price of renewable technologies such as solar panels.

This £6.6M project has been funded through the East of England Regional Assembly (EERA) and will be managed by Climate Energy.

If you require further information please contact
Candice Luper (Sustainability Officer) on 2466

Updated list of ENERGY-RELATED projects and offers

FREE Insulating Radiator Panels

SADC will provide six insulating radiator panels and a roll of tape to any householders that requests them for FREE (while stocks last).

Though there are no criteria to meet in order to obtain these panels, we would specifically like to target those who live in inefficient housing, the elderly, vulnerable or those struggling to pay their fuel bills so please publicise appropriately. (Social housing tenants should contact the Housing Department/housing association if they have questions about insulation).

This scheme is strictly DIY and they will need to fit the panels themselves behind radiators on external walls.

Panels, Tape and fitting instructions will be given out on request at the reception desks of the District Offices and Harpenden Town Hall. Staff giving these out should continue to record who has been given panels and pass this list to the Sustainability Team.

FREE Handheld Electricity Monitors

Handheld electricity monitors are available from St Albans Central Library for FREE 3 week loan to all SADC residents holding a library card.

These monitors enable householders to find out how much electricity their household is using, the cost of that energy and the amount of CO2 emissions they are producing.

Studies have shown that by using an electricity monitor households become more aware of where energy is being wasted and, as a consequence, they can save up to 20% on their energy bills.

Contact for all the above schemes:
Candice Luper (Sustainability Officer) ext 2466

Neonicotinoids are killing the honeybees.
Please join the campaign to ban neonicotinoids.
Click the link below to take action and sign the petition:
http://www.soilassociation.org/Takeaction/Savethehoneybee/tabid/434/Default.aspx

Please forward this and help save the bees.

The introduction of the Twin Bin service has resulted in a boost to the recycling rate for St Alban’s City and District and a significant reduction in the amount of waste going to landfill.

The recycling rate has increased, from 36.35% to 47.44% of waste over the last year, according to provisional figures. This means residents are on track to meet St Albans City and District Council’s recycling target of 50% of waste by 2010/11.

The amount of waste that was sent by the council to landfill last year fell by almost 6,000 tonnes, down from 33,849.68 tonnes in 2007/8 to 27,904.28 tonnes of waste to landfill in the year 2008/9.

The council will be rewarded with a payment of £300,198 from Hertfordshire County Council for meeting landfill reduction targets.

Cllr Mike Ellis, portfolio holder for Environment and Sustainability at St Albans City and District Council, said: “I warmly congratulate our residents on their achievement. They have made a significant contribution to the environment by reducing our landfill by almost 20% in a year when the new service was being put in place. They have increased the recycling rate by nearly a third. We are on track to reach our recycling target and to becoming one of the best recyclers in the county and country.”

The Twin Bin service was introduced in the district last year. Under the service, the black wheeled bins containing non-recyclable household waste are emptied one week and the green wheeled bins containing garden waste, cardboard and card are emptied the following week. Food waste is collected every week as it can be placed in either bin.

For more information about recycling go to: http://www.recyclingforapremier.com/

Member contact:
Cllr Mike Ellis, portfolio holder for Environment and Sustainability at St Albans City and District Council
Tel: 01727 739796

Contact for the press:
Amanda Wilkinson, communication officer
St Albans City and District Council
Tel: 01727 819317 E-mail: amanda.wilkinson@stalbans.gov.uk www.stalbans.gov.uk

I have been asked whether council staff or contractors who clear up litter should also be collecting bottles: some residents have found that these are not being picked up and find these items of rubbish some of the most worrying.

I can confirm that it IS council policy to collect these items. If you find that these are not being collected then let me know.

St Albans City and District Council is celebrating its high court victory preventing thousands of new homes being built on the green belt in and bordering the District and creating a continuous urban sprawl between neighbouring communities.

Cllr Robert Donald, Leader of St Albans City and District Council, said: “This is a great victory for our council but above all for our residents. It is a real David and Goliath moment. This shows we were right to take legal action despite being originally advised there were high risks and that success was not guaranteed. This result illustrates our unequivocal commitment to defend the green belt and to safeguard the unique character of the natural landscape and the mix of historic city, towns and villages around our District. These proposals would have ruined this unique character for ever. We recognise this is only one battle won and not the whole campaign. I will go on challenging increased housing development proposals in the green belt as long as and as far as I possibly can to save our District from becoming just another Greater London suburb.”

In a landmark legal case the council has successfully challenged the proposals in the East of England Regional Spatial Strategy (the Plan) that related to the development of potentially 5,000 plus homes to the East of Hemel Hempstead, within St Albans District, and more than 1,000 to the west of Hatfield/Welwyn Garden City, actually bordering the District.

This is the first time that any council has successfully brought a legal action in England asking for parts of a Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) like the East of England Regional Plan, to be quashed.

The government will now be forced to re-examine these particular site proposals in the regional plan. The council will also have to review its current draft Local Development Framework Issues and Options planning document, in the light of this legal decision, and this may mean a small delay in publication and the start of the consultation period.

The council issued legal proceedings, along with Hertfordshire County Council, against the government in June last year seeking to quash those parts of the Plan that relate to proposed housing growth east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield.

Following a three-day hearing in the High Court that ended on 20 May 2009, Mr Justice Mitting found that the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government had not conducted a proper environmental assessment in preparing the Plan. He also ruled that the parts of the Plan that relate to the housing growth to the east of Hemel Hempstead and the west of Welwyn/Hatfield be quashed.

He ordered that the Secretary of State pays the council £15,000 towards over half its legal costs.

Cllr Chris Brazier, deputy leader and portfolio holder for Planning and Conservation, at St Albans City and District Council, said: “The council challenged the East of England Plan in the interests of our residents. I am pleased that the High Court have accepted our arguments that the proposals in the Plan for additional housing were not properly assessed as to their environmental impact.”

St Albans City & District Council has installed solar photovoltaic panels on the roof of its civic offices in St Peter’s Street as part of a range of measures that demonstrate it is leading the way on reducing carbon dioxide emissions in the community.

It is hoped that the move will encourage local businesses and residents to assess their own carbon footprints and to take steps to reduce them.

The 75 polycrystalline panels have been fitted by South Facing - Solar Electricity to the south elevation of the roof in order to maximise solar capture. They are expected to produce around 10,000 kWh of electricity per year which equates to a carbon dioxide abatement of some 5.52 tonnes per year.

In addition to carbon savings, the panels are expected to save the Council around £1,000 per year in fuel costs. The Council is also expected to receive an annual payment of around £1,000 through the government’s Renewable Obligation Certificates incentive scheme, which rewards microgeneration schemes with cash.

Information about the amount of electricity produced by the panels and carbon dioxide savings made will be displayed on a unit in the reception area of the civic offices which will be accessible to residents. This information will also be published annually on the Council’s website.

Councillor Mike Ellis, portfolio holder for Environment and Sustainability for St Albans City and District Council, said: “I am delighted that the solar panels are up and running at the Civic Centre. They demonstrate how these panels can be installed in a sensitive way, on a major building, within the conservation area. I hope that others will feel encouraged to follow suit both within and outside the conservation area to help reduce carbon emissions.”

The Council is committed to minimising the impact of its activities on the environment across all service areas and is introducing a range of measures to reduce energy use, transport emissions, consumption of resources and waste production. The Council’s Carbon Management Plan sets out a range of actions that it will implement to achieve its target to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 25% of 2006 levels by 2013.

Further information about the Council’s Carbon Management Plan and the steps it is taking to reduce its carbon emissions is provided online at http://www.stalbans.gov.uk/environment-and-planning/energy/renewable-energy/

Businesses and local residents interested in reducing carbon dioxide emissions and installing solar panels can obtain further information from the Energy Saving Trust at http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/

Note from the District Council

St Albans City & District Council is pleased to let residents know that
they can now recycle their Yellow Pages.

The new Yellow Pages are due to be delivered across the district in
April and the Council would like all old copies to be recycled.
Residents are asked to put their old copies in their paper recycling box
for collection as usual on their collection day.

For more information and advice on recycling visit
www.recyclingforapremier.com ,
email client.services@stalbans.gov.uk or telephone the Customer Contact
Centre on 01727 819285.

I have secured a statement from Hertfordshire County Council about their intentions about both Market place and St Peter’s Street. I am dismayed to read that there is no consideration of consulting with the public on any of these issues. I will, howeer, make sure that the public is fully involved, eve if HCC has lost sight of them.

I would warn readers that ‘pedestianisation’ is a loose term and that it often means just the banning of motor vehicles other than for access or emergencies.

Pedestrianisation of Roads in St Albans

Further to the public consultation on the St Albans Urban Transport Plan
during the summer and autumn of 2008, a number of comments were made
from members of the public and local councillors regarding the
pedestrianisation of both Market Place and St Peter’s Street. This
feedback has been incorporated into the final document which has been
completed but has not yet been published.

Now that these suggestions have been formally raised and noted they will
be taken into consideration when any new proposals are brought to the
drawing board. No work is planned for 09/10, apart from a Traffic Model
which will be constructed this financial year and from which computer
simulations can be run.

This model is the first analysis of existing traffic problems within the
City and will be used in future decision making processes for schemes.
Whilst models have been done in the past, there has been nothing of this
scale and detail. It will look at traffic travelling into St Albans, as
well as the routes that people choose when simply passing through. It
will look at the places where congestion regularly occurs and therefore
the impact that schemes and improvements to other areas e.g. the Ancient
Briton or the King William junctions could have on these already traffic
affected areas. It will also look at how pedestrianisation could affect
other roads i.e. moving the problem elsewhere etc.

It is not currently the ambition of HCC to pedestrianise either St
Peter’s Street or Market Place. Certainly no funding has been secured
for either location. If pedestrianisation was to occur then a full
consultation process will be carried out with local businesses. Access
will always be maintained for deliveries though possible at restricted
hours. It has also been suggested whilst hypothetically discussing the
pedestrianisation that provision be made for customer collections.

If you missed the City Vision exhibition, then have a look on the St Albans District Council website. Please let me know your views as to how you want St Albans to develop over the next few years. It’s a fine city but could be a lot better provided we think ahead and don’t let our lives be dominated by the whims of developers.

http://www.stalbans.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/press-room/items/2008/pr-2008-october/pr-city-vision.aspx

There has been some recent controversy, stirred up by our MP (who is not of course from St Albans).

I have certainly been told by many residents that they are frustrated by the fact that St Peter’s Street is still open to cars, although others have doubts about where the cars would go banned from the town centre. Evidence gathered when the street was closed for roadworks over the past two years shows that ‘footfall’ (the number of people shopping) went up when the street was closed.

No pedestrianisation scheme is likely to exclude buses or taxis - or emergency vehicles. If readers have views then let me know by completing the on-line poll on this site.

Chris has called upon the Government to change the law to give councils the temporary power to take over empty shops where the landlord has not taken reasonable steps to find a tenant.

Chris said on Radio 4’s Today programme and BBC breakfast yesterday: ‘We are in danger of moving from clone town to ghost town. As more shops get boarded up high streets become less attractive and fewer people want to visit. This can then lead to a spiral of decline - sometimes known as broken window syndrome.

‘If councils had the power to take over these shops they could use them for purposes which will help us all through the recession - clubs for jobless people, temporary youth clubs, or even just cheap accommodation for businesses which are struggling. But the real boon would be that the high street wouldn’t spiral into decline.

Under the proposals landlords would have three months in which to find a tenant before a council could use the powers proposed. Even if a council did use compulsion, the landord would still receive rent.’

I have had renewed noise about excessively noisy announcements from the station. FCC have got back to me and say:

- the problem is now cured
- the local staff now have access to the box (this was previously a problem for some reason - only staff up the line could deal with it)
- there is anyway a new system on its way which will be sensitive to ambient noise.

Let me know what you think: do you believe things have improved?

This was issued last Tuesday but still holds good. Further updates will be made available as published.

Refuse and Recycling FAQ’s (for waste website)

Q What is happening with refuse and recycling collections this week?
A All scheduled collections are taking place this week where it is safe to do so. We do however have to be mindful of the safety of our crews and residents both when moving large and extremely heavy collection vehicles around in slippery conditions and when moving containers off and on the footways.

Q My road is still icy. Will my refuse and recycling be collected?
A We will attempt to access as many roads as possible. Any roads that are not accessible will be listed here and regularly updated. We will return to these roads during the course of the week as conditions improve, so please leave your waste/recyclables accessible for collection.

Q Will you be collecting missed refuse or recycling from last week?
A Unfortunately, there is not sufficient vehicle capacity or resources to collect all the refuse and recycling from the missed areas last week. Also the crews are in different parts of the district. However on your next scheduled collection day during the week commencing Monday 16th February, we will collect all excess refuse and recycling as follows:
a) Flat packed cardboard placed next to your green wheeled bin/bag
b) Excess newspapers, magazines, cans and plastic bottles placed in carrier bags next to the boxes - but glass bottles must be in the recycling boxes, NOT in bags
c) Excess refuse in refuse sacks next to the black wheeled bin

Q When will collections be fully back to normal?
A We are now running to the normal schedule. Weather permitting, we expect all missed collections to have been picked up by the end of the week commencing 16 February.

Q By next week I will have had uncollected food waste for well over two weeks. Are there health concerns?
A No.The low temperatures and the containment of the waste in the secure wheeled bins/kitchen caddies will ensure that there are no possible health concerns. Food waste can also be disposed of in either green or black bins. Any bagged refuse prone to attack by animals can be double bagged .

Q What happens if my refuse bin is overflowing?
A Please put any refuse which cannot be stored in the bin in black bags and place next to the black bin on the scheduled collection day. Please tie all bags securely.

Q How do I find out the latest information?
A We will be updating our website regularly with the latest information and answers to residents questions. This information will also be held by our contact centre staff (01727 866100) and we will be issuing information to the local press and radio, and to local councillors.