THE council in York has apologised after bins weren't collected on the right day in a suburb where traffic restrictions have been put in place, because the lorries couldn’t get through.


Residents in Earle Street and Diamond Street and parts of Emerald Street in The Groves say their rubbish was collected on Tuesday with a message on City of York Council’s website saying: “We were unable to collect household waste from parts of The Groves (Layerthorpe) due to blocked access”. 


Philippa Toop, 32, of Emerald Street, said: “It’s both infuriating and amusing at the same time. When I got in touch with the council on the phone they said they weren’t aware the bins hadn’t been collected.


“As far as the road closures go, I’m in support of changes, but I feel it’s been rather ineffectively done. I would be fine with the roads reopening as I never thought it was a problem before.”


The council has apologised and said they collected all the rubbish was collected this morning and that smaller vehicles are now being used to get round parked cars.


As The Press reported yesterday, hundreds of people have already signed an online petition that now has 1,131 signatures calling for the streets through The Groves to be reopened to traffic.


The barriers, put up to try and stop traffic driving down Lowther Street in The Groves, have caused controversy.


York transport boss Cllr Andy D’Agorne was out last week to supervise the installation of concrete blocks, and was verbally abused by some drivers, as The Press reported at the time.


Cllr D’Agorne said it had been thought planters would be sufficient to prevent traffic cutting through the area - as part of a City of York Council trial road closure scheme aimed at improving air quality, reducing traffic and strengthening community spirit - until some were struck and damaged.


The road closure points have been introduced at the junction of Lowther Street/Brownlow Street, and on St Johns Crescent, Penleys Grove Street, Neville Terrace and Earle Street, while Brownlow Street and March Street have become one-way streets except for cyclists and Penleys Grove Street is now two-way to allow traffic to exit onto Monkgate from this part of The Groves.


The council is encouraging drivers to cycle or walk for local journeys where possible.


James Gilchrist, the council's assistant director of highways and Environment, City of York Council, said: “Mindful of the low-traffic trial, we changed the routes for the refuse crews and found that we needed to use a smaller vehicle which could manoeuvre around parked cars. We’d like to apologise for any inconvenience caused to residents who will have found that we collected all uncollected bins yesterday morning. Please continue to present your waste as usual and it will be collected.”

To sign the petition click here.