More bins out on the streets than ever before, says resident

EASTWOOD’S streets are still strewn with left-out wheelie bins — but the council has yet to fine anyone under powers it granted itself two months ago.

RMBC tweaked its public spaces protection order (PSPO) in June to include the new measure after receiving 645 complaints about bins in the village since the start of 2018.

The concern is that the pavement clutter causes pest, fly-tipping and health issues — so fines can now be handed out where bins are not stowed away.

But one resident said: “I read about this in the Advertiser a few weeks back but I had to ask when it would become law because I think there’s more bins out now than ever before.

“You can see it round here any day you visit. I’ve been told that people need to be educated about it before the council starts handing out tickets.

“I mean, how much education do people need? It’s just more excuses. Some people have lived in Eastwood for years — with all this ‘education’ they should have a degree by now.”

Rotherham Council’s acting assistant director for community safety and street scene, Sam Barstow, said: “We can confirm that we’ve widely publicised the revised public spaces protection order including through social media, with every resident in Eastwood receiving information about the consultation or the new public spaces protection order.

“Currently, no fines have been issued regarding bins being left out on the street.

“In order to issue fines in relation to this, the council must have clear and sufficient evidence that a breach of the PSPO has occurred and that there is no reasonable mitigation for the bin being in the location.

“We are also focusing on working with individual residents initially to make sure they understand the requirements before taking more formal steps if the issues are not resolved.”

The new PSPO rule says that bins in Eastwood cannot be put out any earlier than the evening before collection day, and must be brought in when emptied.

But during the initial three years of the PSPO, there were about 600 reported incidents of anti-social behaviour but just over 60 fines handed out.