Residents fume as bin collections missed across Southampton

Father Raymond Lyons is a Catholic priest who hosts online mass on a Sunday, and was the Waterside Catholic Parish priest for 11 years.

He lives on a private estate on Pacific Close in Ocean Village, and says that bin collection is the "only direct service" he pays for, since everything else is provided by the estate.

The bin room at Father Raymond Lyons' home. (Image: Father Raymond Lyons) "We don’t get street cleaning, lights, all of that like everyone else gets because we’re private land," he said. 

"We pay the same council tax we don’t get a reduction, and they can’t even do the only thing we pay them for."

Father Lyons did not have his bins collected for three weeks, leaving him no choice but to hound the council with emails and eventually turn to the Echo as a "last resort".

Father Raymond Lyons said a contractor had to jump on top of the bins to squash them down for collection. (Image: Newsquest) "It absolutely stank," he said.

"There’s three weeks of rotten food in there and it’s only getting worse. As I understand, the contractor had to jump on the bin to squash down all the rubbish when he took it."

Father Lyons threatened to "take the rubbish" and put it on the steps of the Civic Centre to "make a statement".

He also said he was told by a councillor that they were being "inundated" with bin collection problems over the last few weeks.

Father Lyons is not the only one affected by bin woes, as Donald Hedges in Bitterne has had "no collections" for at least two weeks.

Donald Hedges from Bitterne, who has also been facing bin collection woes. (Image: Donald Hedges) He said that a "load of black bags" were being left on the side of the road on MacArthur Crescent, making the "place look like a slum".

"The bags are increasing on a daily basis, I worry that we’re going to get rats around here before long."

Donald said that he has reached out to councillors and the council itself and had no reply.

Bin bags being left on the road on MacArthur Crescent. (Image: Donald Hedges) "The council don't speak to anyone," he said.

"This needs to be highlighted. The rubbish is piling up. Uncollected waste is a public health hazard."

Kenneth Brumpton also said that bins had been missed over the past five weeks where he works in Southampton city centre.

"When you phone they keep stating someone will collect it or phone back," he said.

He said that nobody apologises or explains why bins were not collected when you call back the next day.

'Heavily contaminated' bin - Southampton City Council response

Overflowing bins on MacArthur Crescent. (Image: Donald Hedges) A Southampton City Council spokesperson said that they had been notified of an instance at Pacific Close where a bin was found to be "heavily contaminated" with rubble, concrete blocks and soil.

"This contamination made the bin too heavy for standard mechanical lifting and posed a risk of damage to collection vehicles," a spokesperson said.

In response, Father Raymond Lyons said that regardless of this, the bins were "still rotting and stinking" and asks what residents are supposed to do about that.

"The fact that somebody, probably not from our block, did this, doesn't mean that we're not the ones still suffering. Nobody had told us this, but we're the ones who suffer consequences," he said.

On wider issues, a spokesperson from Southampton City Council continued: "We acknowledge that some residents may have experienced changes to their communal bin collection schedules.

"These adjustments are part of an ongoing route optimisation programme for communal flat bins.

"Residents are encouraged to check their updated bin collection calendars on the council's website or by contacting the waste services team to confirm new collection dates.

"Our hard working crews collect more than 110,000 bins each week. This significant volume is managed with exceptional efficiency, as demonstrated by a 99.6% success rate for bin collections in April.

"These figures underscore the dedication and hard work of the crews, who consistently strive to provide a high standard of service to the city."