RESIDENTS in Thornbury say they are frustrated over a constant stream of leftover waste at the end of their road which is a collection point for wheeled bins.

They say the patch of land at the end of Woodhall Terrace and Woodhall Place is regularly littered with black bin bags, furniture, rugs, and clothing.

The bags were often torn open by animals and the resulting mess never seemed to get cleared up properly, said Rob Southwood, who has lived in Woodhall Terrace for the last 10 years.

Mr Southwood has complained to Bradford Council about the situation more than a dozen times since bin collections from residents’ back doors were halted four years ago.

It was at this point that residents at around 40 homes were told to either wheel their bins to their front doors or to a collection point by the rear of 11 Woodhall Terrace.

Mr Southwood said: “The problem started in 2014 when we were told that the back road was too dangerous for their operatives for health and safety reasons, because of the potholes. We have to take all the bins to a centralised point – but contaminated bins are not taken, wheelie bins go missing and then people put their waste out in black bin bags, and they are not taken.”

He said that the situation with leftover waste had become worse since the council moved to collections on alternate weeks last year.

In an email exchange, the council’s strategic director for the Department of Place, Steve Hartley, responded to Mr Southwood’s concerns, outlining that any other waste left after refuse collections had taken place was classed as fly-tipping.

He said council wardens were aware of the issue and enforcement action had been taken against those properties with accumulated waste.

Mr Southwood said he had called for the council to reassess the road’s condition after residents filled in some of the potholes on the unadopted road last year.

Now the council has confirmed that it has reassessed the back road, but still believes it cannot reinstate the rear door collections – this time due to the weight of the bin wagon.

A council spokesperson said: “Staff from the waste collections team have visited Woodhall Terrace and Woodhall Place to assess whether a bin collection vehicle could access the properties from the rear. Unfortunately, in their opinion, the condition of the road could not withstand the weight of the vehicle.

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“In order to ensure everyone’s safety we have introduced a front door collection which is still accessible to both an able-bodied resident and the collection crew, however if, for any health reasons, there is no one residing in the property who is physically able to move their wheeled bin, they can apply for an assisted collection.”