South Holland District Council leaders urge residents to have their say on wheelie bin consultation

With just days left on a consultation to find out if South Holland should ditch refuse bags in favour of wheelie bins, political leaders are urging residents to get involved.

South Holland District Council says more than 7,500 people have already taken part in its waste collection survey but residents have until Sunday evening to make their views known.

With a mandatory weekly food waste collection set to be imposed from central Government in 2026, the council is looking into whether it’s time to make the change and end a situation where South Holland is the only authority in Lincolnshire not to have wheelie bins.

The bin consultation has come as news to many of our readers who have said they were not aware of it until the council’s environmental services portfolio holder Coun Jack Tyrrell had warned people to take part or ‘don’t complain’ afterwards.

Leader of the South Holland Independents, Coun Rob Gibson, is also urging people to have their say - but has said that bins would work for him.

He said: “From a personal point of view, I live out in the wilds so whenever I put my bags out they get torn to pieces and then I have to collect my rubbish which is littering the dykes as the crows have torn the bags.

“Bins for me would work better however my district and county wards take in Spalding town centre and out into the wilds. The town centre bits I can understand their concerns of having bins everywhere and having to drag them through the house. I can understand why some people don’t want them.

“Everyone has different views. We have people who move into the area and they have knowledge of bins and bags. I have not spoken to many people who prefer bags.”

Coun Gibson also felt that the switch over could produce financial savings for the council as its partners in East Lindsey and Boston have already introduced wheelie bins as it could provide better deals when buying lorries along with allowing sharing of resources.

He said: “The whole consultation is to there to find out what people think. I would encourage people to have their say.”

The district council has organised for leaflets to be hand delivered to homes in the area - but one Pinchbeck resident has contacted us to say that he hasn’t received one.

We have asked the council for an update on the leaflet collection.

Coun Tyrrell said: "It’s been a busy few weeks for both myself and officers from across the council as we’ve been hard at work trying to get the message out to as many residents as we can.

“If you’ve been putting off filling it in, make sure you do it before this Sunday otherwise your response won’t be included in the results, and you’ll miss out on your chance to have your say.

“Finally, I’d like to thank everyone who has taken the time to engage with us whether at our in-person events, sharing it with their friends and family on social media or filling in the survey itself – we’ve had some very helpful discussions and I’m pleased so many people want to give us their views on this.”

The communities team will be running a consultation event on Long Sutton Market from 9am to 2pm on Friday.

The council also says it has distributed flyers to households ‘around the district’, posters to parish council along with making printed copies of the survey available at the Priory Road offices, Ayscoughfee Hall and in the South Holland Centre.

With the survey set to close at 11:59pm on Sunday, August 25, residents are now being encouraged to not delay getting their responses back, as any submitted after this deadline will not be included.

To complete online please visit www.sholland.gov.uk/wasteconsultation

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