A wheel menace (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

A wheel menace

13105/2FAMILIES living in a pretty Malmesbury close are outraged that their front gardens have been spoilt by unsightly wheelie bins.

People in Barley Close are furious that the bright green bins have been distributed to their neat and tidy road.

The bins were rolled out in the Malmesbury cul-de-sac this week as part of a large-scale £1.2 million operation by North Wiltshire District Council to cut down on rubbish.

Refuse collectors are instructed only to collect rubbish left in the bins and no other bags in an attempt to reduce landfill and encourage recycling.

But people living in Barley Close feel the 180-litre wheelie bins are totally inappropriate and want to continue using black bin bags.

Angela Hodge said the green bins were an eyesore and ruined the residents' lovely street. I came down the road and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw them. I thought 'good God'," she said.

The road is a row of terrace houses so the wheelie bins have to be placed at the front of them and cannot be hidden from view.

"As you appear at the top of the crescent all you can see is wheelie bins. They are like a load of daleks all sat up there. It does not look nice at all. All the gardens are neat and tidy up here," said Mrs Hodge.

Residents are unhappy about having to put the bins in their front gardens in full view when they look out of their sitting room window.

Jayne Northcott said everyone was unhappy about it.

"We have to put them in the front garden because you can't put them in the porch because it would get a bit smelly. They are in view all the time and everyone has really nice gardens and takes a lot of pride in them. People don't want the bins here," she said.

Mrs Hodge said five residents had decided to put their bins on a grass area down the road.

"My husband said he is not going to use it," she said.

Residents were so incensed by the invasion of bins they contacted their local MP James Gray, who agreed to write a letter to the district council.

Mr Gray believes the road should be treated as an exception to the rules because it is terraced.

In his letter to the chief executive of the council he said: "While I fully support the principle of recycling, the wheelie bins really are extremely unsightly and there is nowhere at all for them to be stored during the week. Surely Barley Close is the sort of place where the option of continuing use of black bin bags would be a sensible thing to do?"

Before the launch of the wheelie bin scheme the council said in the case of blocks of flats, terraced houses with no suitable access and homes on slopes or with steps, the district council would provide a supply of black sacks and a maximum of three a week would be collected.

District councillor for Barley Close John Thomson said he fully supported the residents.

He said: "I think they are bloody awful. They are totally unsuitable for Malmesbury. They are green monstrosities all over the towns. I don't want a bloody wheelie bin, I want to keep what I have got."

A spokesman for the district council said: "I can confirm that Bob Marshall has received a letter from James Gray. Cleansing and amenities is going to have a look at Barley Close this afternoon.

"We do take residents' views into account. If it is felt that it is not appropriate or workable we give them the option of using black bags. Where possible we try to use wheeled bins."