£50 charge to return containers
Four-hour slots for collection
GIANT bins left on the streets by shops and bars are to be seized by council officials when they are left out at the wrong time.
Businesses face having to pay £50 to get the
ir bins back under the new crackdown on "obstacles" being left on city pavements and roads.
City leaders say they have had enough of businesses "extending their premises" by storing their waste containers outside day and night.
They have ordered officials to take a get-tough approach after getting fed-up telling many shops, bars and restaurants to keep their bins indoors.
Businesses are to be given specific four-hour time slots when can put their bins outside for collection.
Anyone leaving the containers on the streets outside their allocated hours faces losing their bin and having to pay £50 to get it back.
The crackdown - based on the system used in the London borough of Westminster - has upset business leaders who were already unhappy at being told they must use wheelie bins instead of black bags.
The row follows controversy over the council’s crackdown on advertising boards on the Royal Mile.
Shops there are limited to one board each and must pay £25 for a licence before leaving it on the street. Council officials have been seizing any boards which break these rules and charging £50 to return them.
A similar system is now to be used for trade waste containers after council leader Donald Anderson said it was "unacceptable" for roads and pavements to be used as ad-hoc storage facilities.
Councillor Anderson said: "It is not acceptable for roads and pavements to be used for the permanent storage of trade waste.
"In cases where traders do so, the council will remove the containers."
City environment leader Bob Cairns added: "I recently visited Westminster to see how they manage trade waste collection, which is carried out within a two-hour time window and is very strictly regulated.
"That’s exactly the kind of system I want to see in Edinburgh, although initially we would allow businesses a bigger time frame.
"The problem at the moment is that these containers are just being plonked on the public highway 24 hours, seven days a week, by some businesses and there is just no control over them.
"Some businesses are pretty reasonable about where they store their containers, and it’s acceptable to have them outside if they have a back yard, but it’s not on to leave them on the road or pavement."
However Tim Steward, chairman of the Edinburgh branch of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: "It was the council that forced us to give black bags up in the first place in favour of these bins, now they’re threatening to fine us for having them.
"This is going to cause an awful lot of disquiet and is just typical of the attitude of the council towards businesses.
"They just seem to be trying to drive us out of Edinburgh to a more friendly city."
Brian Smillie, head of the George Street Association, said: "The council has a fair point when it comes to main roads and pavements, but they’ve just gone over the top by trying to stop people storing bins in the back lanes around here.
"There’s just nowhere else to put a wheelie bin, especially if you’ve got more than one."
