Concerns raised over missed bin collections in Lisburn

Councillors were told of recent council collection delays in Lisburn, with concerns of a public holiday pattern developing.

At the recent environment committee, Councillor Gary Hynds said: "There were bin collections missed unfortunately on the recent bank holiday.

“I mentioned it the last time and there was potentially a figure that was quite low on missed collections, but there does seem to be a pattern developing when it comes to bank holidays.

“I would ask is there a management or staffing issue we need to be aware of and can I propose a report comes back on the bank holiday matter as I do think it needs to be addressed.

“I would like to see the situation in black and white because there is a pattern and I am just commenting as people are coming to me about it.”

A Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council officer responded: "Collections are done on the public holiday itself or on an alternative day, which can be a Saturday, which falls outside the normal working week, that requires staff to volunteer to be available.

“We are seeing a greater trend of staff availing of the holiday opportunity.

“So to overcome those situations we have advised residents to continue to leave their bins out. We recognise that presents an inconvenience.

“The solutions are not immediately available to us and would require significant negotiations of contracts.

“But often we don’t know until the day comes round what commitment we have so it makes planning very difficult.

“It is when we have two days together such as at Easter and July is when we face our greater challenges.

“When there are single day holidays such a May or August bank holidays or the 17th of March (St Patrick’s Day) we seem to find a greater level of commitment to working those days.

“It is understandable that our staff may want to have the same days off as their family due to school holidays or whatever that may be.”