Speed cleaning
In all the arguments over whether central Swindon should or should not have wheelie bins, one issue seems to have been consistently overlooked. As seen again in the council’s response to the latest protests in the Broadgreen area, the only concern seems to be whether wheelie bins can be fitted into the space in front of the houses. They do not seem to be thinking about how much slower the collections in central Swindon might become with wheelie bins.
At the moment, the dustmen can quickly and easily hoist a black bag straight over my front wall, without coming in through the gate. It takes no more than a couple of seconds. Come November they’ll have to come through my (sprung) gate, manœuvre the bin out through the gate (which by now will have closed), between the parked cars to the dustcart. Then repeat the action in reverse once the bin is empty. In the more spacious suburbs, where the manœuvring will be much easier, this might be quite quick. In the Victorian terraces it will not. I get the impression that nobody has thought at all about how much more this will cost in time and hence money.