RESIDENTS of the Keighley Road and Burnside area of Skipton say new bin collection points brought in by the council have led to pavements  being made impassable for wheelchair-users, prams and mobility scooters.

Craven District Council is in the process of rolling out a new  waste collection policy following instructions from the Health and Safety Executive five years ago to review its collection points to cut down the risk of repetitive strain injury amongst its employees.

It has meant residents having to take their bins to communal collection points, cutting down on the distance waste collection staff have to transport the bins to the wagons.

But residents, who have taken to Facebook to express their anger, say walkways are being blocked, giving people no alternative but to walk in the roads.

One resident, Tony Hennigan, said each cul-d-sac had about 12 houses, which meant 12 bins left at the entrance.

“The pavements are very narrow with just enough room to accommodate a pram, pushchair or such.  We  also experience a high volume of vehicles parked alongside the road throughout the estate, manoeuvring around the bins and having to squeeze past the cars will be impossible.”

He added: “At the entrance of each avenue the pavement is sloped to accommodate prams and other wheeled [transport], this is where the bins are to be left making the slope unusable.”

Residents are also worried about bins potentially being left for long periods of time, about them being blown out of position during strong winds, and being left in times of heavy snow.

Paul Ellis, director of services at Craven District Council, said the council had been consulting with those residents affected by a roll-out of its bin collection policy since July and understood that some in the Burnside area of Skipton were unhappy with the new collection point.

“We will keep the new arrangements under review and continue to listen to the concerns raised to ensure the best solution for all parties is in place.

“Crews deal with hundreds of bins a day – a total of 1.6 million a year – and the Health and Safety Executive believes workers could suffer injuries by having to drag them repeatedly up back streets to the refuse collection vehicles.Residents of affected households are therefore asked to take their bins to collection points, to reduce the risk to the collection crews. We had no choice over implementing this policy in order to protect our staff. “

He said all those affected by the new collection points had been contacted by letter and given the opportunity to discuss the proposals with the waste management department. Residents are asked to make sure their bins are ready to be collected by 6.30am on day of collection. Anyone unable to comply because of illness or disability can apply to the council’s assist scheme.