Pickles turns focus to unsightly bin clutter

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has today (August 16) pledged to tackle unsightly bin clutter and ugly wheelie bins- with forthcoming planning guidance to encourage developers to make provision for waste storage in new homes.

Responding to the announcement, councils, planning authorities and home builders have argued that this is already a key consideration when planning new properties, with one group branding the guidance ‘unnecessary’.

Mr Pickles said that the guidance, due to be issued in the coming weeks, will reinforce the governments commitment to tackle bin blight, alongside its 250 million fund to support weekly waste collections, first instalments of which were paid to councils in spring 2013 (see letsrecycle.com story).

In a press statement published today, DCLG claims that the guidance will end the daily obstacle course of wheelie bins and recycling boxes clogging up front yards, gardens and driveways which it describes as the neighbourhood scourge of middle England.

Storage

Recommendations to be included in the guidance include covert storage units for residents bins and ensuring that there is sufficient space for containers to be stored in back yards.

Announcing the plans, Mr Pickles said: This government is standing up for hard-working people and getting rid of barmy bin policies which made families lives hell. I want to make sure families get a proper rubbish and recycling collection service for the large amount of money they have to pay in council tax.

For years badly-placed wheelie bins and the proliferation of multiple bins have created a blot on the landscape. In streets up and down the country, ugly bin clutter has ruined the street scene and the look of peoples homes and gardens.

By ensuring that developers create appropriate waste storage areas when designing new homes, we can tackle the ghastly gauntlet of bin blighted streets and driveways.

Planning practice guidance on good design to be published shortly will tell house builders and council planners that carefully planned bin storage is important and will suggest that each dwelling has enough storage space for all of the different types of bin used in the local authority area.

‘In streets up and down the country, ugly bin clutter has ruined the street scene and the look of peoples homes and gardens.’

Eric Pickles, Communities Secretary

A forthcoming consultation on housing standards will also seek to address the issue and will outline how technical building regulations could be updated to tackle bin blight.

‘Unecessary’

But, according to the Planning Officers’ Society (POS) which represents local authority planning officers, the guidance is ‘unecessary’.

John Silvester, spokesman for the Society, said: “There is absolutely no need for national guidance on this issue, it flies in the face of localism.

“Whilst POS supports the removal of clutter from the street scene LPAs already negotiate provision for bin storage in new housing developments If there is to be new national guidance it can only be advisory and unlikely to impose obligatory requirements on developers; and in any event would only affect new developments.”

Also responding to Mr Pickles comments councillor Mike Jones, chair of the Environment and Housing board of the Local Government Association (LGA), said that councils are already working with developers to ensure that storage for waste bins is among the issues considered for new homes.

He said: Councils are on the side of local people who want the areas in which they live to have decent facilities. That is why they already work with developers to ensure planning applications for new housing include storage space for bins.

Nine out ten people say they are happy with the job their council does to keep their streets clean and tidy and we are constantly looking for ways to improve how we deal with the mountain waste this country creates every year.

Developers

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Home Builders Federation said that while firm details of the guidance and housing consultation may provide further information, waste management is already a very important aspect to consider for developers of new homes.

Speaking to letsrecycle.com, he said: Our feeling is that local authorities and developers are already discussing this. We dont have a problem with the government saying something about it and we wouldnt want to comment further until the consultation is published but waste management is a very important consideration when building new homes.

‘Obvious’

Labours Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and former Environment Secretary Hilary Benn was critical of the comments, describing the proposed guidance as obvious.

He said: “Of course new homes should build in bin storage space, but a much bigger problem is that Eric Pickles has presided over the lowest level of house building since the 1920s.

Rather than giving obvious advice to housebuilders, Eric Pickles would do better to explain why he spent an eye-watering quarter of a billion pounds on a failed scheme to persuade councils to change their bin collection arrangements that resulted in just one council changing their policy.

Commenting on the proposals Stephen Freeland, policy executive at the Environmental Services Association (ESA), which represents waste management firms, said: “The ESA has consistently called for waste management provision to be more fully considered and designed into new housing and retail developments and there is evidence to suggest that the planning system is already responding positively.

“ESA Members offer a full range of household waste collection services, with each local service tailored to meet the specifications set out by local authority partners.”