South Holland District Council members debate new waste collection services

Councillors in South Holland have raised concerns about how the new waste collection service will be implemented.

Cabinet members voted to replace bags with wheelie bins at a special meeting last month - but the performance monitoring panel had a chance to look at the detail at its meeting last night (July 15).

South Holland Independents deputy leader Coun Chris Brewis said that some homes would be exempt from the changes because bins will not be suitable for their properties.

He said: "It's going to become more complex when we're having to deliver bags to a small number of houses which are exempt from the changes. This will make it much more complex to manage."

The Sutton Bridge councillor added: "I have a high number of terraced houses in my ward which will not be able to use bins. Half of my ward is terraced houses so a significant proportion of properties will not be taking part."

Coun Jane King (Reform UK) said that she was still disappointed with the council's decision to change from bags to bins.

She added: "I hate the idea of bins. I do not want one and I won't be having one."

Panel chairman Brian Alcock (South Holland Independents) said: "The service is going to continue but in a different form. The sacks have been an effective system, part of which is going to continue.

"We're going to be staying with a bag system to some extent."

Coun Andrew Woolf (Conservative) raised a question about how people moving in to the area can get support with the service when needed.

He said: "How do we deal with new people who have just moved in and may not have got bins?"

Matt Fisher, head of environmental services at the South and East Lincolnshire Partnership which covers South Holland, Boston and East Lindsey, said: "A decision has been made to replace bags with bins. That decision is in order to the Environment Act 2021 which requires us to provide a more effective and efficient service.

"The impact of that decision will mean that we will wind down the bag scheme. It will be replaced by a different service. We are looking at ways of making it easier for residents to know where to go when they have a problem with their waste collection."