'We haven't had our bins collected yet this year'

Residents of a village that has not had a bin collection since before Christmas have said the situation is "appalling".

Brown bins containing glass, plastic and garden waste have not been emptied since 23 December in Silkstone, near Barnsley, and household waste was only collected this week after six weeks.

The bins contained "rotten turkey carcasses" left over from the festive season and householders expressed fears about vermin.

A Barnsley Council spokesperson said they understood residents' frustration but that the cold snap in early January had had a "huge knock-on effect" on services.

The authority added that it had been unable to complete scheduled runs during the snow and ice, but that it was making "good progress" with the backlog and prioritising grey bins rather than recycling.

Andy Jones, 66, who lives in Silkstone, said: "There was definitely a reasonable fear of rats and crows eating out of bins.

"The rubbish was piling up in my garage."

He also said that despite the council telling residents to leave extra bin bags on the pavement, refuse collectors refused to remove them.

Mr Jones added that he did not blame the staff, but called on Barnsley Council to "manage things properly" because Christmas and cold weather "come very year".

Another resident, Diane Batty, said her 91-year-old mother's bin had also not been emptied since before Christmas.

She said: "The workers are supposed to go and get her bin as she's too frail to wheel it down her drive, but they can't be bothered and only ever empty it once a month.

"It's appalling especially given the astronomical council tax she pays."

Councillor James Higginbottom said: "The snow and extended period of freezing temperatures earlier this month meant we were unable to complete most scheduled collections during that week.

"This had a huge knock-on effect, due to the more than 115,000 scheduled collections each week, so it does take time for us to recover from delays."

He added: "We're still behind with recycling bin collections and have extra teams working to recover these collections as quickly as possible.

"We know it's frustrating for residents when their bin collections are disrupted and we apologise for the inconvenience this has caused.

"We ask residents to leave their bins out and we will get to them as soon as we can."

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