MORE than 1,500 residents who signed a petition calling for the return of litter bins controversially axed amid council cash cuts will find out next week whether their campaign has succeeded.

City of York Council launched a process to take away 349 bins in June – more than a third of the city’s total number – to save £40,000 a year on collection rounds. The decision sparked anger in communities over fears of an increase in rubbish being dropped in the streets.

Some of the bins which were originally removed have since been reinstated, but 1,530 people living in Fulford, Huntington and New Earswick have put their names to a demand for a reversal of the cull. They described it as “a false economy which will only lead to more litter”. The petition will go before Coun David Levene, cabinet member for environmental services, next Tuesday, where he will be asked to decide if all the bins should be restored or if changes to the original scheme should only be made “where appropriate”.

A report by Russell Stone, the council’s head of public realm, said about 320 litter bins were removed, with the criteria for deciding which should go being whether they were being misused for commercial and household waste, whether they were under-used and if they were in the wrong locations.

“Where members, residents or local businesses felt a particular bin should not have been removed, we have worked with them to agree reinstatement or relocation where possible,” said the report.

“This has resulted in the reinstatement of 12 bins and the relocation of 17 others across 14 wards.”

Areas where bins have been brought back include Beckfield Lane, Grosvenor Terrace, St Helen’s Road, the Cemetery Road play area in Fishergate, Main Street in Fulford, Poppleton Road, Huntington Road, Scarcroft Road, Askham Lane and Acomb Green, as well as in Osbaldwick and Stockton-on-the-Forest.

Mr Stone’s report said a separate 561-name petition had been submitted by Dunnington residents calling for some bins in the village to be replaced. It said an agreement had been reached that restoring one bin would meet their needs and two bins which were originally removed had been given to Dunnington’s sports club free of charge.