RESIDENTS who miss their bin collection could go without them being emptied for a month, the York Labour party claim.

Current City of York Council policy states that refuse collectors are not required to return to streets for missed bins where individual properties have been missed.

Cllr Danny Myers, Labour’s shadow environment spokesperson, said he had been contacted by residents unhappy with the policy, and who were not aware of it.

He said: “There are not many basic frontline services that every resident of this city relies upon, but this is definitely one of them. It’s disgraceful that where the council fails to collect people’s bins, that it is residents themselves who have to suffer the consequences. This is something that could affect anyone.”

Simon Wilson is a resident of Acomb, and said several residents had contacted their ward councillors recently after their bins were not collected.

He said: “On contacting the waste department at York Council, I was informed that they would not come back out to empty my bin as it was policy to only return if the whole street had been missed and this wasn’t the case so it wouldn’t be emptied. I asked what I was paying my council tax for then if the council can’t deliver the basic services that I’ve paid for?”

Councillor Andrew Waller is executive member with responsibility for waste management, and said the policy had not been changed in years,

He said: “The police has not changed, and where bins are missed, we seek to collect them as soon as we can.

“If a bin has been missed it wouldn’t be left uncollected for weeks. If our crew has gone out and missed a bin, it’s not as they described. Certainly, the policy hasn’t changed.”