[C]OPELAND residents are being asked to keep their roads clear of parked vehicles on bin collection days.
Copeland Council has issued the plea to householders after its waste team was forced to miss almost 200 collections over the past two months after being unable to access a number of homes due to the arrangement of cars parked on the road.
The council has a policy to return a second time for household waste where access has not been possible, but on a number of occasions, the teams are still unable to access the bins on this return visit.
Councillor Mark Holliday, Portfolio Holder for Waste, said: “Our collection rate is excellent – over 99 per cent of all collections on the day planned during 2016/17 for around two-and-a-half million collections – and it’s incredibly frustrating for our crews when they are simply unable to get to a cluster of properties for access reasons.
“A number of our older estates weren’t built for the size or number of cars or modern day vehicles and navigation can be a real problem in some areas.
“We’re therefore urging householders, on collection days, to park their cars in their garages or on their drives if they have them, or tightly to the kerb with wing mirrors tucked in.”
Collections for a number of streets in Mirehouse, Parton, Bransty, Lowca, St Bees, Cleator Moor and Millom are regularly affected due to access problems.
“Through no fault of our own, there are some homes that we simply cannot get to on a regular basis.
“We need to be sure we can collect from all the properties in each area to avoid inconsistency and confusion, and we have time pressures in that we have to cover around 1,000 properties per round per day. We also have the safety of our crews to consider.
“When our route is blocked by cars, it isn’t an option for us to have collectors walk back and forth long distances dragging bins from the homes that the vehicle can’t get to.
“The cost of repeat visit due to a missed bin is high – in fuel and staffing costs – which ultimately impacts the taxpayer. Any assistance residents could offer to reduce the number of repeat visits would be greatly appreciated.”
