A BUDGET of £9,000 has been put aside by Craven District Council to negotiate new bin collection points with residents.

Around ten per cent, or 2,5000, of residents, mainly of terrace homes in Skipton and South Craven, are likely to be hit by the new collection points, being brought in following a directive by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to avoid repetitive strain amongst bin men.

Effected residents will all be contacted in the next few weeks by council officers who will explain what is required and to listen to suggestions, heard last week's full council meeting.

Some councillors called for the matter to receive further debate and complained that the promised HSE report had not been sent to all members.

They argued it was difficult to make a decision without being aware of the points raised in the report, but an attempt to get it sent back to Policy Committee was lost following a vote. It was also pointed out that the Policy Committee would receive an updated report after residents had been consulted.

Cllr Carl Lis, lead member for waste management, apologised that the HSE report had not been distributed but stressed that the council had no choice but to act and to act quickly.

"The HSE is saying that we are conducting a process that is unsafe and we have to put that right," said Cllr Lis.

He explained it was the repeated moving of several wheelie bins in one area by operatives that caused the strain and that there was no problem with single bins.

He added not to act quickly and within the requirements of the HSE could result in the ultimate prosecution of the council.

The collection points would effect all wheelie bins, but not the blue bags, used to collect paper and cardboard, which used a different form of collection.

Cllr John Kerwin-Davey predicted that the council would be overwhelmed with requests for help in moving their bins and thought the estimate of it effecting 2,500 residents was 'nonsense'.

Cllr Robert Heseltine thought the majority of the effected 2,500 would apply to have their bins moved for them and predicted that would cause all sorts of problems with assessing who was eligible.

And Cllr Philip Barrett agreed it had been wrong that all members had not had sight of the HSE report.

"We have got to get this right and we need to be aware of the full facts."