Beauty laid waste?

IT'S one of the perennial aspects of life in the New Town: Georgian terraces, cobbled streets - and arguing over rubbish collections.

The rest of Edinburgh has been hurling its rubbish into big black street bins for a decade, but high-powered residents of the New Town, including a phalanx of judges and bankers, have argued vehemently against their introduction for years.

They say the bins would ruin the appearance of the area, which is part of the Capital's Unesco World Heritage site. But the current alternative - leaving out bin bags on collection day - results in voracious sea gulls tearing them apart and scattering the contents across the pavements.

It's long been a political hot potato, but the city council is looking again for a solution. While it stresses that it will consult with local residents to find solutions they are happy with, the council insists that things will have to change.

City environment leader Councillor Robert Aldridge said: "The status quo isn't an option, not just because of the cost in collecting rubbish twice, but because it's not good for the appearance of the New Town or the city as a whole.

"The city centre does pose a particular challenge and there won't be a single solution, which is why we're looking at various options. Introducing wheelie bins and food waste collections are just two areas that we're considering, although we are at an early stage in bringing forward specific proposals.

"Part of our work at the moment is speaking to local groups and representatives about how we can move forward and avoid the problems that everyone wants to avoid. We will continue that process of consultation and involvement with the residents and others affected."

Unsurprisingly, even the hint of change is enough to rile the residents of Edinburgh's most prestigious district.

Gordon Coutts, QC, chairman of East Heriot Row Residents' Association, said the problem could be easily solved if black bags were used properly: "The difficulty is that people are putting these wretched bags out at the wrong time. There's almost no trouble in Heriot Row, because everybody puts their bags out and hangs them on the railings or on the steps and the sea gulls can't get at them.

"But if people put them on the pavement, that's asking for trouble. A bit of enforcement of that, and a bit of enforcement about not putting these wretched things out at the wrong time would help."

He remains vehemently opposed to the introduction of black bins into his street: "We will oppose tooth and nail these big unsightly bins in Heriot Row. The only place to have them is right in the middle of the street and it's awful. We can't leave these monstrous things sitting exuding foul air in the street."

In the interests of avoiding conflict, Adam Wilkinson, director of Edinburgh World Heritage, which protects the Unesco World Heritage Site, is keen to take a consensual approach, rather than enforcing black bins against the will of residents: "What's needed is a careful approach, thinking about what's most appropriate for different areas - what's right for one street won't be right for another street.

"There's a range of different solutions around the world we should have a look at, like in the Grassmarket, where they've got the buried bins, which was a really good experiment, really worth looking at.

"But it's a question of how we respect the really exceptional streetscape that we've got. We'd like to sit down with all the community groups and residents' associations, and work out a 10 or 15-year plan to see how we can sort all this out. Given the current climate and spending constraints, that also seems realistic in terms of putting solutions in place."

One suggestion that has been mooted is the use of "corrals" of bins in certain areas, rather than having them in plain sight on every street. Mr Wilkinson agrees that might be an option in some places: "We have a World Heritage site that's at the heart of a living community. How you service that is tremendously challenging - I think you've got to explore all solutions. There are some areas where a large bin might be an appropriate solution, but there are ways of working with that. You might be able to build some beautiful enclosures in areas where you've got garden railings, for example, and work within that.

"We're talking to the council about this all the time. It's an important issue, although it's ‘just dustbins'."

However, for others, it's a lot of fuss about nothing.

Francesca Contini, who runs VinCaffe on Multrees Walk, lives on the corner of Barony Street and Broughton Street, and says she sees nothing wrong with a straightforward black bin: "In Barony Street, they've just introduced the big black bins, which has been working really well. We've not had any problems and round the corner the rubbish is still a problem. They're nice and black and shiny, and they look very smart.

"When you're living in a tenement building, it means you don't have to keep your rubbish inside your house until bin day, so it's much more hygienic and pleasant and the streets are much cleaner. That's been really positive, and I think it should be standard across the New Town."

So, while Mr Wilkinson's idea of a 10-year plan might seem to be taking rather a long-term view, taking it slowly might be the only way to bring a peaceful end to the battle of the bins.

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