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Footdee residents outraged as individual wheelie bins to be taken away

'Eyesore' on-street communal bins will be installed in the historic fishing village.

Footdee bin.
Houses like this one in Fittie will have their wheelie bins taken away. Image: DC Thomson.

Footdee residents have hit out after Aberdeen City Council announced plans to scrap individual bins in the village.

On November 20, Fittie wheelie bins will be emptied and taken away for good.

Communal bins for general waste as well as recycling and food will be installed as a replacement.

These will be based at New Pier Road and Pocra Quay, with the council saying the changes will help local residents with recycling and will “bring the area up to date with bin collections in the rest of the city”.

Fittie wheelie bins to be scrapped

At the moment, Footdee residents only have black general waste wheelie bins.

Residents are forced to recycle at the communal bins on the Esplanade, which are located next to the public toilets.

One resident, Greg Stewart, who lives in the area with his wife Tatiana Shingurova and young child, said the move has “caused great upset” among the Fittie residents.

Tatiana Shingurova and Greg Stewart with their young child.
Tatiana Shingurova and Greg Stewart are against the changes. Image: Greg Stewart.

He is worried the changes will lead to environmental issues, with a potential increase in foxes, gulls and rats.

There are also concerns the change could “ruin the aesthetics of the village”.

Greg said the new bins will “leave villagers with a worse waste collection service than comparable parts of Aberdeen”.

He continued: “The current provision of wheeled bins allows residents to discretely store their bins on private ground out of sight, often behind their sheds, and an extension of this to include a wheeled recycling bin would not change this.

“Instead, on-street bins will cause an eyesore in an official conservation area, an environmental and noise hazard, and difficulties to residents in parking.”

No council consultation on Footdee bins

Residents have also said that there was no consultation from the council, with a letter – dated October 21 – to inform households of the upcoming changes.

Footdee resident Margaret Cameron said the “main grumble” most people have is how the new bins will affect parking.

A sufferer of arthritis, she believes the changes will have a negative effect on her, saying: “The changes mean I have to go over there and as there’s no snow clearing, I’ve fell a lot of times, that means I could need to go over there two or three times in a week.”

One woman, who did not want to be named, said she had “no big objection” to the changes.

Footdee bin changes.
A map of where the new bins will be located. Image: Greg Stewart.

Martin Downing said the plans are “not very worked out”, adding: “We’re stuck for parking as it is, it’s massively limited.

“They haven’t consulted us at all.”

As well as residents not being consulted, neither were the area’s councillors.

Footdee bin changes ‘should be paused’

Councillor Sandra Macdonald, who represents George Street/Harbour, told The P&J: “I had never had such a busy surgery as last week, there was a queue out the door.

Sandra Macdonald.
Councillor Sandra Macdonald wants the council to put the changes on “pause”. Image: Darrell Benns/DC Thomson.

Councillor Macdonald first heard about the changes last week from a constituent.

She has contacted the relevant council service and other ward councillors.

The Labour group raised it at today’s net zero, environment and transport committee.

“The council are saying it’s a done deal and I’m saying, ‘no, it’s not’,” she said.

Councillor: ‘Put this on pause’

The former Labour group leader on Aberdeen City Council is asking the authority to stall the changes.

She said: “Put it on pause and include elected members and the residents of the city who are more than up for coming together to get a compromised solution.

“To impose this on the community is not going to work.

“You have to take people with you when you change waste collection in this way.”

Liberal Democrat councillor Desmond Bouse was also not consulted on the changes.

He said: “Fittie is a unique part of our city and much-cherished community.

“I back the views of residents.

“Any drastic change which has the potential to impact on the character of Fittie must come with thorough consultation.”

Footdee.
Footdee is one of 11 conservation areas in Aberdeen. Image: DC Thomson.

Council says communal bins widely used across the city

An Aberdeen City Council spokeswoman said: “We are introducing a new bin service to Footdee to provide a consistent service with the rest of the city.

“The change will help residents recycle by providing separate bins for general waste, food waste and mixed recyclables, which they don’t currently have.

“Residents have been advised by letters issued on October 21.

“They have been invited to submit their feedback in advance of the change for consideration.

The council also said that the “special nature” of the area had been taken into consideration, saying adding more wheelie bins could be a problem for residents with limited space to store them.

They also stressed the bins have lockable lids and are widely used across the city.

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