Bins chaos strikes Soroba again

OVERFLOWING bins are causing chaos in Soroba again, as residents fear that rats will plague the area, writes David McPhee.

The problem was raised at the Oban Community Council meeting this week.

‘Soroba is a disgrace,’ the community council’s chairwoman, Marri Malloy, said. ‘It is disgusting, to put it mildly.’

‘Remember the kick-up last time?’ said community councillor Andy Harper. ‘We are back to that and potentially worse. Soroba is in a terrible state.’

Community councillor George Berry said: ‘People are parking their cars not knowing the bin lorries are coming that day. It is chaos. So many bins were not emptied because the lorries had to go away.

‘It’s absolutely shocking. It’s back to the way it was.’

There have been a number of issues with overflowing rubbish bins and even rats in Soroba since Argyll and Bute Council moved from a fortnightly waste bins uplift to three-weekly collections in November last year.

On one occasion a couple were left surprised after their dog captured a rat outside their close in Colonsay Terrace.

On another occasion , a mound of bin bags in Scalpay Terrace was ransacked by seagulls.

One concerned resident, who asked to remain anonymous, called The Oban Times to complain about the situation in Colonsay Terrace and McCaig Road. ‘We are having to keep things in the house because the bins are full,’ she said. ‘It is beginning to smell.’

The woman said that if they put the bins outside the house, seagulls would open the bin bags apart spreading rubbish all over the road.

‘People are holding on to some of their rubbish,’ she added.

‘[The bins] are overflowing and they are not picking them up for three weeks.

‘We are going to get rats.

‘The day they were emptied they were filled again, and now we are waiting. Those bins have been full for a week now. They have been full more or less all of the time. It is squalid.

‘They are not putting in any extra bins to take account of the extended collection times.’

A spokesperson for Argyll and Bute Council said: ‘The waste in this area has now been uplifted.

‘There was a delay in the most recent collection and we thank local residents for their patience.

‘We know it’s important for everyone to have their communities waste-free and our teams will be working to ensure this is the case.’