Rat infestations on Leeds estate prompt council apology over missed bin collections

Residents in the Cottingley area say the problem has recurred over several months, with refuse collectors missing bins on certain streets on a regular basis. One local councillor reported there had been rat infestations on the Cottingley Hall estate as a result of the problems.

The local authority says the physical layout of the streets is partly to blame for the problems and that crews unfamiliar with Cottingley have missed some of the houses because of it. The issue is due to be discussed further at a residents’ meeting at Cottingley Community Centre on March 15 at 6.30pm.

At a council committee meeting this week, a representatives from the authority’s environmental services department said vehicle obstructions were the most common reason for missed bins across the city. But Beeston and Holbeck councillor Gohar Almass said the idea that obstructions were to blame in Cottingley was “disputed” by the residents.

“They say there are no obstructions and they say it’s consistently the same streets and the same houses being missed,” Coun Almass said. “It causes a lot of issues in terms of streets where there is a lot of food waste and so on. That leads to issues with rats getting into bins and properties. “It’s like a chain reaction, especially if the bins are still there the next day and so on. Even if less than one per cent of the bins are missed in a day, if it’s in one specific ward that can have a bad impact.”

Council data suggests around 0.2 per cent of bins were missed by collectors across Leeds last year, although in practice that works at around 130 a day.

Answering the concerns, environmental services representative John Woolmer said he was “well versed in the issues” and that he would be attending the residents’ meeting on March 15 to discuss them further. “We do apologise,” he said. “I do think personally things have improved a lot recently, in terms of identifying the causes.”

Mr Woolmer likened the layout of the Cottingley Hall estate to that of Holt Park and Beck Hill in north-west Leeds. He explained: “Because of the nature of the estate, it does require staff who know to go down a particular ginnel, alleyway or down a back street. Residents suffer when there’s an unfamiliar crew. We’ve done a lot of work over the last four weeks in particular in terms of giving the crews maps, and pointing out the specific houses that could be missed. So we’re doing some very practical things to try to improve the situation.”

Earlier this year, a Leeds councillor faced a backlash after he blamed missed bin collections on the rise of homeworking and an increase in cars being parked on residential streets throughout the day.