Councillor slams waste fiasco

THE fortnightly refuse collection scheme has been an 'embarrassment' for Rother.

That's the view of district councillor Kevin Dixon who said they they were 'fed up' with the service provided by contractors Verdant.

Speaking at the Battle Town Council meeting, he said: "The last month has been a bit of a disaster, including the day they (Verdant) went on unofficial strike."

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Over the last few weeks, angry residents from across Rother have contacted the Observer about their collection issues.

Battle, Sedlescombe, Staplecross, Cripps Corner and Bodiam have had problems including rubbish not collected for several weeks, contractors throwing recycling in with household waste and issues over where bins are left.

The waste collection fiasco drove one Mountfield resident to dump his waste on the town hall doorstep and a Robertsbridge man to cancel his council tax standing order.

Cllr Dixon said: "I think the worrying thing I have noticed is mistakes are happening, being solved, and happening again. Harold Terrace is a classic example. It gets picked up sometimes and they miss it again."

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Cllr Dixon went on: "It's a management issue from what I can see and the patience of the staff at Rother is starting to run out, I think."

He told councillors Rother faced financial penalties for every missed collection, but he did not know how much.

Cllr Dixon said: "I cannot see how they can get Verdant to do the job they are employed to do. We are now eight weeks into this and it's not getting better. It's an embarrassment."

Several Battle Town Councillors have also experienced problems with rubbish collection.

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Richard Bye said: "Where I live, near The Chequers, we agreed with Rother that they would pick the bins up where there's a right of way. The first week they picked it up and left it in the road.

"The next time they put stickers on there and said they were in the wrong place and would not collect them."

Cllr Paula Fisher said: "We had to put out black bins by 7am but people are putting them out overnight and foxes are getting to them."

Cllr Dixon stressed there was an important message being lost because of the negative publicity surrounding the collections.

Cllr Dixon said: "The point that has been lost, because of the inefficiencies, is we have got to change our lifestyles."

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