City wheels out plans for bins across the New Town

NEW plans to introduce wheelie bins into parts of the New Town to tackle the growing problem with ripped bin bags and vermin have been proposed by the council.

The drive would see special 'corrals' set up at street ends for clusters of large bins to prevent the growing population of seagulls from ripping up bin bags and showering rubbish onto pavements.

It is understood that Edinburgh City Council is currently conducting research to determine how far people living in the area would be willing to walk with their rubbish.

The move will reignite the war of the wheelie bins which New Town residents thought they had won.

Earlier plans for communal wheelie bins in the historic Georgian avenues prompted the intervention of were seen as a threat to the city's world heritage status. Though the problem with seagulls and vermin has reached new levels, many residents do not think the ugly, plastic bins are the answer.

Leading QC Gordon Coutts, of East Heriot Row Residents' Association, said: "The opposition will be as resolute as last time."

The country's most senior judge, Lord Hamilton, of the same street, previously protested with neighbours about the six-foot black bins along the street, and he said yesterday that most people would remain anti-wheelie bin.

Council officials have attempted to reach a compromise by limiting the number of bins and keeping them in cordoned areas. Councillor Robert Aldridge, the city's environment leader, today said other options would be considered in the quest to drive away pests.

He said: "We did some night time collections of rubbish along Princes Street and the West End during the tram works because seagulls were proving to be a problem. It meant they couldn't get to the bags in time, so this improved the situation when it came to businesses significantly. We would consider that.

"Large parts of the city now have wheelie bins so the ways in which they can get food are now restricted. We will not implement anything in the New Town without full consultation."

Around 9,500 households in the city centre use black bin bags for their rubbish. Many try to deter pests such as foxes by hanging them on railings.

Fettes Row, Cumberland Street, Great King Street, Northumberland Street, St Vincent Street and Heriot Row are among those regularly littered with household waste, including food, animal bones, letters, documents and sanitary products.

Local SNP councillor David Beckett said: "The New Town is split over whether or not the council should go down this avenue. As there is not a consensus from local residents, I have not supported containerisation as I believe there are other options available.

New Town resident Alan McIntosh said the streets were "routinely disgusting". He said: "For council workers to collect the rubbish twice - once to pick up bags, then again to pick up spilled contents of bags - makes no sense."

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