Latest news with #bincollections
BBC News
5 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Worker caught in bin lorry mechanism by bungee cord in Scottish Borders
A refuse worker in the Scottish Borders has been injured after being caught and dropped by a bin lorry's lifting man was taken to hospital after becoming tangled in a bungee cord attached to a household wheelie bin on a rural Borders Council said the man was later discharged and a full health and safety investigation would be held into the incident on Friday said the use of automated lifting mechanisms would be suspended during the investigation, with bin collections disrupted across the region. It warned of a "significant impact" on waste services due to additional time needed for workers to operate the mechanism council said in a statement: "The extra time required and will most likely result in disruptions and missed collections. "We would like to stress to householders the seriousness of this issue and the importance of not using bungee cords, or any other type of restraint, on their wheelie bin which may put the health and safety of staff in danger."Scottish Borders Council said further updates would be provided when the investigation is complete.
BBC News
23-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
£1.8m Barnsley bins boost in bid to cut delays and improve safety
Waste services in Barnsley could be in line for a funding boost of nearly £2m to avoid a repetition of problems earlier this year which saw 100,000 bin collections missed and others seriously were badly hit by poor weather in January and did not fully recover until April after the council spent £40,000 on more agency crews and hire proposed £1.8m of extra cash would pay for a further six crews per week and ensure rounds were finished each day, according to Barnsley Higginbottom, cabinet spokesperson for environment, said the plan, to be considered by councillors, "recognises we can't return to the level of disruption we saw earlier this year". According to the council, catching up took much longer than had been hoped due to changes to the waste service as part of the authority's recent safety was prompted by a coroner's recommendations following the death of a waste operative in another part of the the last three years, 70 collisions in Barnsley had involved waste vehicles, a spokesperson for the authority Be Safe, Work Safe, Target Zero initiative had made crews work slower, but had reduced the number of avoidable accidents, they added. 'Build resilience' Higginbottom said the council must remain "absolutely focused and committed" to health and safety."It's absolutely heartbreaking that elsewhere in the country people have lost their lives working in waste and recycling," Mr Higginbottom added."We won't be complacent or risk the welfare of our employees or the public."Meanwhile, the council said it was investing in technology in waste vehicles which would supply "real-time data and insights" on missed collections, blocked roads and other said it had also proposed that new brown and blue bins be supplied to residents in an effort to save individuals money on upsizing or replacing old would also result in additional income for the council from the government's recycling incentive schemes, the spokesperson members would be asked at a meeting on 28 May to approve the £1.8m investment to "support, rebalance and build resilience into the service so rounds can be completed at the end of each day", they said: "I'm delighted to support this investment which will help make sure our staff remain safe at work while also making sure residents receive the waste collection service they expect and deserve." Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North
BBC News
15-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Five takeaways from Brighton & Hove City Council leader in hotseat
Brighton & Hove City Council leader Bella Sankey has been in the hotseat on BBC Radio being elected in December 2022, Ms Sankey took on the leadership of the council just six months later after Labour won control in a historic victory. She has a background as a lawyer and human rights campaigner, including working to criminalise modern day slavery and support asylum a wide-ranging interview, she spoke about her pride that her father helped to build the maternity unit at the Royal Sussex County Hospital and that she and her two children had all been born there. Here are five takeaways from what she had to say… 1. Bin collections Council figures show a 140% rise in missed bin collection in the city in the past six 2023, an independent report found a toxic culture mired in racism, sexism, homophobia and threatening behaviour at Brighton and Hove's Cityclean waste service provider, including an alleged death Sankey said while there had been "massive improvements" in service reliability, she apologised for recent said toxic behaviours had prevented adequate investment in bin lorries, and while other services around the country had moved to digital services, Brighton and Hove was still operating a paper system."There are still some incredibly bad behaviours, criminal behaviours, being undertaken by a very small group of individuals. It's absolutely despicable," she said."We are working with the police. We will not be held to ransom anymore in the city."Weekly collections of food waste, which make up a third of household waste, are to start in the city in the autumn. 2. Housing conditions Social housing in the city has been criticised for serious failings in fire safety and a huge backlog of 10 blocks of flats, fire chiefs have insisted on a 24-hour 'walking watch' to keep residents Sankey admitted it was "unacceptable" that the city's housing stock had got into such a poor state, but that historic tower blocks built in the 1950s and 1960s were posing a challenge to meet current said the council was "absolutely committed to being the best possible social housing landlord we can be" and was investing millions in remediation work and considering complete redevelopment and refurbishment in some said: "There's a whole series of measure now that we are undertaking to ensure that we improve safety, that we get on top of repairs."When things go this badly wrong, I think it's really important to get to the root cause of why it's gone wrong and ensure that it can't happen again in the future." 3. The i360 deal After Brighton's i360 viewing tower went into administration, the council agreed to write off £51m of debt to facilitate the attraction being sold to hospitality company Nightcap for £150, Sankey said it was "the best thing to do in a really difficult set of circumstances", because the attraction was "destined to fail" under the old model."Business rates can now come back to the council, ensuring people are going to that area of the seafront for the other traders there and the poor staff that lost their jobs when the i360 went bust, many of them have now been reemployed."She said the council had not granted a 75% discount in business rates requested by the new owners and had negotiated a 1% share of revenue from ticket sales to be shared with the council. 4. Royal Albion Hotel demolition costs Since a fire destroyed the 200-year-old Royal Albion Hotel on Brighton seafront in July 2023, the council has spent £1.2m on safety and demolition work at the Sankey said because the council had "ultimate responsibility" for the safety of residents, it needed to "come in almost like an emergency service" to ensure the building was made owners, Britannia Hotels, have so far paid back £500,000 to the Sankey said: "You invoice in stages. We've invoiced for the first bit, we will then invoice for the rest and we will get that money back."She said court proceedings were not being considered. 5. 'I won't be mayor' Ms Sankey said plans for devolution, including elected mayor and a complete reorganisation of local councils, would see "central government giving more power and money to regions".Asked whether devolution would suit Sussex with its mix of a city, towns and villages in rural and coastal areas, she said Greater Manchester – a city surrounded by towns that has had a mayor since 2015 – was "not dissimilar".She proposed creating five new unitary authorities, each serving 300,000 to 500,000 people, which goes against the government recommendation of populations of at least half a said: "We run a unitary authority, we provide 700 services. I think there is an optimum amount of people to provide those services to, so you make sure that you're doing a good job."Having unitary authorities that are quite tied to place and communities, coastal authorities and more rural ones, I think will allow the different identities we have in Sussex to be expressed."Asked if she would be standing for election as the first mayor of Sussex, she said: "That's not something that I am going for or interested in."I'm delivery for our city and I'm going to carry on doing that."
BBC News
15-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Brighton & Hove City Council leader to be on BBC Radio Sussex
Brighton & Hove City Council leader Bella Sankey will be grilled about issues affecting the city as part of BBC Radio Sussex's hotseat Sankey is set to be questioned about topics including bin collections and fire safety in city flats and will have the opportunity to respond to concerns from listeners in a wide-ranging interview on Sankey will be on BBC Radio Sussex with presenter Danny Pike from 09:00-10:00 Love, executive producer of BBC Radio Sussex, said: "The hotseat is a fantastic opportunity to connect our listeners directly with local decision-makers and allow them to ask questions that matter to them and their community." Elected as a Labour councillor for Wish Ward in December 2022, Ms Sankey became council leader after her party won a majority in the 2023 local elections, ousting the then Green-led minority then the council has overseen a culture review at Brighton and Hove's CityClean service as well as dealing with the administration and subsequent sale of the Brighton interview is the latest in a series of interviews questioning the bosses of some of Sussex's biggest organisations including Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne and chief executive of the South Downs National Park Authority Siôn will also have the opportunity to ask their own can listen to BBC Radio Sussex live here.
BBC News
11-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Birmingham bin collections not back to normal, politicians say
Opposition politicians have rejected claims that Birmingham's bin collections are mostly back to normal, as industrial action continues across the city. Refuse workers from the Unite union started an all-out strike in March due to a dispute with the city council over changes to roles and has attracted worldwide coverage with images of large waste piles and claims of rats as big as cats, but the council said it had cleared the vast majority of rubbish. However, speaking on the BBC's Politics Midlands programme, Birmingham's Conservative leader councillor Robert Alden and Independent MP Ayoub Khan both denied this was the case. Delayed collections during the initial weeks of the strike were down partly to picket lines blocking trucks from leaving waste facilities. Striking workers insisted they were only stopping lorries if they had safety concerns, but ugly scenes prompted Labour council leader John Cotton to condemn what he called "violence". Speaking on Friday - as a "mega picket" of union members was present at Lifford Lane depot in Kings Norton - Alden said he believed bin lorries had stalled again. He said: "What we've seen sadly over the last two weeks, since national support from the army has been withdrawn, [is that] bin lorries have not been going out again. "Indeed by the end of the week, barely any bin lorries were going out and that's leading to more rubbish starting to build up on the streets." Khan, who is a Birmingham councillor as well MP for Perry Barr, also claimed many thousands of tonnes of rubbish were still on the streets. "You see the frustration across the whole city," he said. "Recyclable material hasn't been collected."What [striking bin workers] are saying is very simple: 'We've got mortgages to pay, we've got children to raise. The cost of living is going through the roof and we just want a fair deal.'" Rachel Taylor, the Labour MP for North Warwickshire and Bedworth, accused the pair of trying to score political points. "The government [has] stepped in and put their weight behind the city council to get bin lorries out and rubbish collected," she said. "There's a reasonable offer on the table and it is in the interests of all the people in Birmingham that all parties get around the table and get this sorted." Birmingham City Council said it had cleared 100% of the large piles of waste in the hot spot areas and 85% across the rest of the city. While recycling collections remain suspended, it has urged residents to continue putting out household waste bins for collection. "Before industrial action began, our crews were collecting about 1,000 to 1,100 tonnes of waste per day," the local authority's website reads. "However, in recent weeks, our crews have collected 1,500 to 1,700 tonnes of waste each day, with a reduced team."This highlights the need for transformation in the service we provide to residents." Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
