The bizarre reason residents are facing fines for leaving bins out

Residents of a town on the edge of the Cotswolds could soon be fined for leaving their bins out – because they lower house prices.

The new rules could see households in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, punished if they fail to remove their wheelie bins from the street.

Tewkesbury Civic Society raised concerns about ‘bin blight’ in the town’s historic conservation area, arguing that the bins reduce property values, are unsightly and create obstacles for wheelchair and pram users.

It also said the bins stop tourists from taking pretty photos of the market town – prompting a six-month pilot scheme where written warnings are issued to households which repeatedly leave bins out after collection.

Tewkesbury Civic Society Chair Alan Purkiss said that the town’s conservation area is being ‘severely degraded’ by domestic bins.

He says he is ‘confident’ that property values, inward investment, business and tourism are all affected by it.

‘It’s a lovely old town. But if you’re disabled, in a wheelchair, or in a buggy, you can’t get past sometimes due to the bins,’ he said.

‘You can’t get past sometimes, particularly in the alleys, which are narrow. I know people actually threatened to leave the area, because they were sick and tired of coming out of the front door and the first thing they saw was bins outside.

‘Business people in the town say that their business is being affected by those bins outside their houses. People come to tell me that they’ve been approached by visitors saying, ‘It’s a pity about the bins’.

Purkiss said he’s referencing a ‘very small but visible’ minority of residents who need to keep their bins off the streets.

‘It would be the same as getting a fine for spitting, dog fouling, graffitiing, littering, all those things which are already on a fixed penalty notice,’ he said.

Local resident Angela Hanbury, 65, ‘Lots of people don’t collect them [bins] so they could be out there for days. They are horrible, especially in the summer; they stink. It just makes the town smell.’

‘It takes a minute to go up and get a bin and clear it away, doesn’t it? Make the town so much nicer and cleaner. We have lots and lots of visitors in the summer, and they’re horrible to look for them as well.’

Local Kamila Pavlova, 45, a doctor, said she believes the proposal is ‘nonsense’ as she doesn’t have anyone to take the bins out of the street when she is at work.

Councillor Murray Stewart, lead member for environmental services at Tewkesbury Borough Council, said: ‘We will be working with residents first to understand their specific challenges, which we can then take forward.

‘It’s proposed for a six-month trial and would need a dedicated resource to work directly with households where bins are not being taken in, with support and education.

‘Any enforcement measures could come later and only if agreed. They’re not part of the initial six-month phase.

‘It would be a last resort, but we’re making it clear to members of the public that it could be an avenue we explore.’

A final decision will be made once a fully costed plan is submitted to full council.

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