An opposition councillor has hit out over a town's new bins that they claim some people with disabilities struggle to operate.
Oldham Liberal Democrat Councillor Louie Hamblett says that residents in wheelchairs find it difficult to use newly installed rubbish bins in the town centre.
The council has invested more than half a million pounds to replace old waste bins across the borough as part of its ‘Don’t Trash Oldham’ campaign.
The new bins have a pull-down hatch at the top to deposit rubbish, which can also be operated with a foot pedal at the bottom of the bin.
However Coun Louie Hamblett says he organised a visit with council staff and resident Shona Farnworth – who has multiple disabilities – to demonstrate the problems she had operating them from a wheelchair.
Coun Hamblett believes an equality impact assessment should have been carried out ahead of the new bins being installed.
However the council states that the comply with all disability discrimination legislation and can be accessed by all users.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service asked the council to clarify how Ms Farnworth could operate the bins from her wheelchair.
In response they said that when her wheelchair was positioned sideways next to the flap she was able to open it.
However an officer has also confirmed to Ms Farnworth that he would arrange to have the opening of the flap lowered to create better access.
Coun Hamblett said: “If the council were as resident focused as they say they are, then an equality impact assessment should have been carried out. Everyone should be able to use the bins easily.”
There are around 1,170 public street bins in the borough spread across district centres, main roads, and housing estates.
This doesn’t include bins located in parks, cemeteries and countryside areas.
Signing off on a replacement programme for bigger in March, chiefs said that the existing street bins were ‘coming to the end of their working life’ and were in need of ‘urgent replacement’.
Cabinet members agreed to grant a contract to replace 928 street bins at a cost of around £531,000 from the capital programme.
A council spokesperson said: “Residents regularly raise concerns about litter and bin capacity.
“To address both of these challenges, the new bins were introduced which are an industry-standard design, with over 10,000 installed across the UK, and the manufacturer has confirmed that the bin design is DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) compliant, and that no issues have been reported elsewhere.
“Concerns were raised by local members regarding access to the bins by wheelchair users. However, a site visit showed that this was not the case and the bin could indeed be accessed by all users.’’
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