No bin collections for five months has people 'living in their own waste'

People are living among their "own waste" on a new housing development where the bins have not been collected in five months, a homeowner has said.

Nathan Long said living in their new home on the Hawthorn Meadows estate in Buckley, Flintshire, where a waste collection system was still not in place, had been a nightmare for his young family.

Developer Castle Green hired skips to try to help residents suffering with piled-up rubbish through the hottest summer on record and called Flintshire council the slowest it had worked with.

The council said it was "aware of concerns" and was "working to establish the position regarding the occupied properties at this development".

People began moving on to the Hawthorn Meadows site off Well Street in April.

Despite registering to pay council tax and in some cases paying extra for garden waste collections, they have not been issued wheelie bins or recycling bags and have had no waste collections from the local authority.

"We did all the things you are supposed to do," Long said.

"We have chased and chased. I have written to local councillors and MP Mark Tami, but nothing has changed.

"We accept we are living on a building site currently and that some services, like street lighting, are not fully operational yet.

"But we are getting none of the services we pay for through our council tax, including perhaps the most important one, bin collections.

"The council has offered no alternative, they were happy to just leave us living among our own waste."

"To add insult to injury, yesterday [Monday] I spotted a bin wagon pulling out of the junction opposite our development, so it's not like the council has to create a new collection route."

Hawthorn Meadows had not been included on collection routes yet, according to documents shown to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, because the roads were unadopted and had not yet undergone health and safety reviews.

But Castle Green stated that in other authority areas like Wrexham, Denbighshire and Conwy, the wait for residents was a couple of weeks.

It said Flintshire was typically longer and the Airfields site in Deeside was taking about a month to get bin collections in place.

But the five-month wait was "unprecedented", according to Castle Green director Eoin O'Donnell.

"Usually, the local authority issues bins to residents of new homes soon after they register for council tax and their homes are then added to the collection route.

"The first residents moved into Hawthorn Meadows at the end of March and there are now 61 homes occupied. None of them have received bins or had their waste collected by Flintshire County Council."

O'Donnell said Castle Green hired skips for residents to use and was paying for their disposal so they can live in dignity in their new homes.

"We could not leave our residents in such a dreadful predicament in the hottest summer on record.

"We've made multiple attempts to contact the council via phone and email to resolve the situation to no avail.

"We do not encounter this problem in Wrexham, Denbighshire or Conwy.

"Given that Flintshire can issue council tax demands in a swift and efficient manner, perhaps they might consider putting similar effort into providing a refuse collection service."

Katie Wilby, Flintshire council's chief officer for Streetscene and Transportation, said a process was under way to incorporate the development into collection.

"We appreciate that residents moving into a new home will understandably expect waste and recycling services to be available, and we are working to establish the position regarding the occupied properties at this development.

"A recycling officer can liaise with the development and residents to establish which properties are currently occupied, complete the necessary checks and site assessment, and ensure that eligible properties are incorporated into the council's waste and recycling collection service as quickly as reasonably practicable.

"The council would encourage developers to engage with us at the earliest possible stage before residents occupy new properties so that these arrangements can be made in advance and disruption to new residents can be avoided."