By Duncan Bick

Last updated at 14:28, Friday, 23 November 2012

Brampton could have had new bins paid for by its councillors – but officials refused to empty them.

Steve Layden

The town’s two representatives on Carlisle City Council offered to buy the town new rubbish bins, which they would pay for with funds from their ward allowances.

But the idea has fallen foul of the authority’s rules on how this money can be spent.

Councillors Stephen Layden and Mike Mitchelson offered to combine their allowances to buy the bins.

This was to address a need for them, identified by the town’s parish council.

Its members have said the town does not have a serious litter problem but has some problem areas, many of which do not have bins.

Mr Layden told The Cumberland News that the combined allowances would amount to between £1,600 to £1,700, which would have paid for about four new bins.

“We have got the money to buy them but there is not enough money in the budget to empty them,” he said.

“The point was that this seemed a small way of encouraging people to be more mindful of litter and dog fouling.”

He added: “Most of the parish councils in this area and groups of people in the community would like more rubbish bins.”

Mr Layden also said the bins would likely have been placed on or near routes collection lorries already travel along to empty Brampton’s existing bins.

Alison Riddell, the town’s parish clerk, added that calls have already been made for public bins in the town to be reorganised to deal with litter problems.

A city council spokeswoman said: “The small-scale community projects grants are available to city councillors to help them improve the quality of the local environment in their wards.

“Each councillor is assigned an individual budget for their ward which has to meet certain criteria. This can be spent on one-off items of expenditure, but cannot have an ongoing revenue implication, for example grit bins and litter bins.

“We are, however, reviewing the provision and location of litter bins and if the total provision is considered insufficient, any increase in the numbers would go forward as a growth bid in the normal budget processes.”

First published at 14:25, Friday, 23 November 2012
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk