DUP councillor defends idea of fines for people who consistently leave bins out on the pavement when it isn't bin day
A councillor who wants to introduce fines for people who repeatedly leave their bin out when it isn't bin day has said his idea has been “misunderstood”.
Councillor Alistair Cathcart of the DUP was speaking after councillors on Newry, Mourne and Down District Council voted to reject such a proposal.
Councillor Cathcart - the current mayor of North Down and Ards Borough Council – stressed to the News Letter that fines would only be a matter of last resort.
The idea originated with councillor Cathcart over a year ago.
A letter then went to DAERA, asking it to consider legislation that would give councils the power to fine people in such circumstances.
Councillor Cathcart said that DAERA then replied that it wanted to hear the opinion of other councils.
The notion was put before Newry, Mourne and Down's environment committee last week – but met with opposition from across party lines.
Rowallane SDLP councillor Terry Andrews told the meeting: “I have a number of points of concern. There have been instances when bins have not been emptied in my constituency for six weeks due to parking issues where bin lorries couldn’t get through.
“Also, there are many houses that the only access for them is to actually take the bin through the backyard into the living room and onto the street.
“So, many residents will leave the bin out to save the hassle of bringing bins through the house every time it has to be collected.”
Councillor Cathcart told the News Letter that he has had a number of complaints about bins "blocking people with wheelchairs and prams," adding that "if you were to block that permanently there's nothing to prevent you doing that, there's no teeth at all".
He does not have a level of fine in mind he said, but noted that such fines are already in force in England.
Councillor Cathcart said "I think people just had a misunderstanding of what this is”.
He said: "All the sort of problems those councillors were saying, I imagine those people would be exempt. If you've got no other place to put it, fair enough. There's a reasonableness with it.
"You just need the power to have it there in your back pocket in case all other options fail."
He observed that people are often fined for littering, "and to me this is a version of littering – but you can't do anything about it".
"It's a power you'd use very little but you just want to have it as a final last resort after multiple warning letters, and you've got no reasonable excuse not to put it back into your property.
"I suspect the power is you'd never use it – or, like, one or two times.
"It's perfectly fine in the suburbs where you've got proper driveways and footpaths are big enough.
"It's in areas I represent in Bangor Central and city centres where they've no front garden, they've got alleyways they can put the bins back to – but they don't.
"They just leave it permanently out on the footpath then it blocks pedestrians walking by and they're forced out onto the road."