A GLASGOW councillor has blasted that the department tasked with keeping the streets clean after rubbish piled up.
Councillor Billy McAllister has said that the Land and Environmental services department is struggling to keep up with refuse collections due to a lack of staff and poor management.
Collections across the city are said to be running six weeks behind with the council being forced to bring in subcontractors to clean up the mess.
The issue came to a head over the festive period with entire streets being neglected by refuse collectors.
Councillor McAllister met with director of Land and Environmental services, George Gillespie, to discuss the issues.
He said: “I’ve been told that collections are currently running six weeks behind.
“The problem has been made worse over Christmas and New Year with staff going off but it has been happening for a lot longer than that.
“My workload on cleansing has increased ten fold.
“It’s because of the cuts, in my view, and also bad management because we have people who are trained up and human resources can’t even get them into the job.
“Concerns are falling on deaf ears. I had one constituent who complained 55 times but only had the problem solved when I got involved.
“I’m sick and tired of excuses.”
Residents in areas including the West End have been forced to ask their local councillors for help.
Alasdair Crawford, who lives in Speirs Wharf, said: “Since the summer we had ongoing issues with our refuse collection.
“They delivered us food waste buckets and bins at the start of the summer but did not start collecting until September, even when they started collecting the food, recycling bins pickups were inconsistent - a whole month could go pass without a collection.
“This inconsistency is not just limited to the food recycling collection but also in includes general waste and paper recycling.
“Just last Friday our paper collection was missed and prior to that the general waste collection was missed too.
“Whenever a collection is missed, around 150 flats worth of waste sits out on the street until it’s collected as we never know when it’s going to be picked up.
“We have complained directly to Glasgow City Council. We have been given repeated assurances that seem to not result in any action.”
On Wilton Street, Kelvinbridge, it was claimed the bins were not collected for at least 10 days.
The contents of the bins on neighbouring Jedburgh Gardens, including cat litter, nappies and sanitary products, were left strewn across the street.
Jan Colquhoun, a resident, said: “Complaints are made on an ongoing basis and nothing ever gets done.
“Our bins were not been emptied for two weeks, and there is now a serious Health and Safety issue, with overflowing rubbish and waste.
“If this was an exception it wouldn’t be the end of the world, but it has been an ongoing issue for years now.
“There have been numerous excuses made, and numerous sets of entrance keys to our property lost which is a security risk to owners and their properties.
“None of the complaints made on the council’s website have been answered or actions taken to resolve.”
A council spokeswoman denied the backlog was six weeks and said it was a few days.
She added: “While we appreciate there has been delays to some bin collections, the high volumes of waste presented by residents up to and during the festive period led to increased demand for the service. Additional resources including short term use of contractors have been deployed to minimise inconvenience to residents. However, the public have a role to play in making sure their waste is managed and presented appropriately.”
Councillor Billy McAllister has said that the Land and Environmental services department is struggling to keep up with refuse collections due to a lack of staff and poor management.
Collections across the city are said to be running six weeks behind with the council being forced to bring in subcontractors to clean up the mess.
The issue came to a head over the festive period with entire streets being neglected by refuse collectors.
Councillor McAllister met with director of Land and Environmental services, George Gillespie, to discuss the issues.
He said: “I’ve been told that collections are currently running six weeks behind.
“The problem has been made worse over Christmas and New Year with staff going off but it has been happening for a lot longer than that.
“My workload on cleansing has increased ten fold.
“It’s because of the cuts, in my view, and also bad management because we have people who are trained up and human resources can’t even get them into the job.
“Concerns are falling on deaf ears. I had one constituent who complained 55 times but only had the problem solved when I got involved.
“I’m sick and tired of excuses.”
Residents in areas including the West End have been forced to ask their local councillors for help.
Alasdair Crawford, who lives in Speirs Wharf, said: “Since the summer we had ongoing issues with our refuse collection.
“They delivered us food waste buckets and bins at the start of the summer but did not start collecting until September, even when they started collecting the food, recycling bins pickups were inconsistent - a whole month could go pass without a collection.
“This inconsistency is not just limited to the food recycling collection but also in includes general waste and paper recycling.
“Just last Friday our paper collection was missed and prior to that the general waste collection was missed too.
“Whenever a collection is missed, around 150 flats worth of waste sits out on the street until it’s collected as we never know when it’s going to be picked up.
“We have complained directly to Glasgow City Council. We have been given repeated assurances that seem to not result in any action.”
On Wilton Street, Kelvinbridge, it was claimed the bins were not collected for at least 10 days.
The contents of the bins on neighbouring Jedburgh Gardens, including cat litter, nappies and sanitary products, were left strewn across the street.
Jan Colquhoun, a resident, said: “Complaints are made on an ongoing basis and nothing ever gets done.
“Our bins were not been emptied for two weeks, and there is now a serious Health and Safety issue, with overflowing rubbish and waste.
“If this was an exception it wouldn’t be the end of the world, but it has been an ongoing issue for years now.
“There have been numerous excuses made, and numerous sets of entrance keys to our property lost which is a security risk to owners and their properties.
“None of the complaints made on the council’s website have been answered or actions taken to resolve.”
A council spokeswoman denied the backlog was six weeks and said it was a few days.
She added: “While we appreciate there has been delays to some bin collections, the high volumes of waste presented by residents up to and during the festive period led to increased demand for the service. Additional resources including short term use of contractors have been deployed to minimise inconvenience to residents. However, the public have a role to play in making sure their waste is managed and presented appropriately.”
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