MSPs support city over wheelie bins

CITY campaigners’ hopes that the Scottish Parliament would step into the fight against wheelie bins have been dashed.

Angry residents from Comely Bank called on a committee of MSPs to investigate their claims that householders were not properly consulted before the bins were introduced.

If MSPs believed that residents’ opinions were not properly canvassed before the bins were brought in, new consultation guidelines could have been forced on the council, affecting future projects.

But after asking Edinburgh City Council to explain how it consulted with residents, the parliament has decided the process was fair and it will take no further action.

The move has left campaigners disappointed but they have vowed not to give up their fight. Iain MacPhail, who spearheaded the petition campaign, believes the committee missed the point of the campaigners’ petition. "This is really disappointing because our aim has always been for the council to do a better consultation," he said.

"The way the bins have been introduced was a total shambles. They are not user-friendly for a large number of people in society - the frail, elderly and infirm.

"The petitions committee have got far too much on their plates to look at the petition in the proper amount of detail. They should have been looking at how effective the consultation was, not whether there was a consultation or not."

He and fellow campaigners now plan to take their claims that the consultation was flawed to the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla) to see if it can intervene to make the city council review its procedures.

Mr MacPhail, 28, of Comely Bank Place, said: "They [Cosla] should take an interest because if the council doesn’t review its consultation process, the same mistakes will happen again.

Not having an adequate consultation leads to botched services, like putting the bins on yellow lines, having too many on the street and taking up too much parking space."

The bins have sparked outrage across the city. Opponents claim they are noisy, ugly, encourage fly-tipping and do nothing to keep streets cleaner.

The Comely Bank petition was signed by more than 20 residents. Householders are particularly disgruntled by the bins because they have extra containers in their street as they cannot be placed on Comely Bank Road, it being a main road.

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Parliament said: "The committee concluded that the response from the council adequately addressed the issues raised in the petition."

City environment leader Bob Cairns said: "We have always maintained that our consultation process was a robust one and we are pleased the Public Petitions Committee has decided that no further action is necessary. The council will continue to consult local people on the future of containerisation."