Missed bin collections prompt call for apology
A councillor says an apology and a refund is owed to residents affected by delays to garden waste collections.
Maidstone was one of many local authorities last year to partly suspend its service due to staff shortages and the ‘pingdemic’.
First put on hold in August last year, it struggled to keep up with demand and at one point, in October, fewer than 50% of garden bins were collected.
Since then the service has stabilised and 92% of collections were made in November and 100% in December 2021.
The service, run by Biffa, costs Maidstone residents £45 a year and around 32,500 are signed up to the collection.
Cllr Patrik Garten (Con) told the council’s housing, communities and environment committee that residents deserved an apology.
He said: “The waste collection service is discretionary, where our residents are paying a separate fee and are therefore in a type of contract with the council.
“I’m very concerned because it’ll take only a few disgruntled gardeners in my ward to take the council to a small claims court.
“It’s mainly a question of reputation to the council, and I think this committee should discuss a type of refund to paying members of the public or extend their time of service for which they’ve paid and not received.
“Everyone that was affected, particularly during September and October last year, should get a personal apology.”
While fellow councillors appreciated Cllr Garten’s concerns, they said the service was returning to normal and did not see that an apology was the way forward.
One of those against the idea was Cllr Derek Mortimer (Lib Dem) who said: “I’ve dealt with a number of cases in my ward
and outside, be that complaints or concerns their bins haven’t been collected.
“However the officers and Biffa were there on the spot and sorting it out.
“A lot of the time it was down to parking and the refuse truck not being able to get there.”
Cllr Denise Joy (Maidstone Group) added: “We all get the occasional complaint and I understand if you’re getting a lot of them.
“In my personal opinion if we were to start sending out letters of apology we’d have to be very careful how that would be phrased.”
Meanwhile, Cllr John Perry (Con) claimed other councils in Kent were struggling more with their waste collections.
“I understand where Cllr Garten is coming from but I must agree with others, from my own experience there were problems last year but it’s been pretty well
corrected,” he said.
“I get quite a lot of praise actually from people who are extremely satisfied.
“I’m a user of the service and we live in a very rural area on a farm in a difficult area and they drive all the way up there and collect the waste.
“We ought to ask our colleagues in our neighbouring districts. I’m extremely proud of our service compared to some of our neighbours.”