A FURNESS councillor has complained that bin collections are ‘still being missed’.

Councillor Ben Shirley (Dalton North, Conservative) raised concerns over waste collection services at a Westmorland and Furness Council meeting on September 26.

Council chiefs said £500,000 has been allocated to increase the number of rounds, to hire more staff and to buy additional vehicles.

Cllr Shirley told the council he had received a written response from the council in response to his question regarding waste collections at a previous meeting, which said collections had returned to normal on the weekend of July 5.

However, Cllr Shirley said: “That is not the case. Bin collections are still being missed, recyclable waste is not being collected and building up, so people are disregarding the recycling efforts and putting it into the black bins.

“The legacy for the local area for Barrow is that Barrow is the second worst authority in the country for recycling rates and it’s doing nothing to address that and turn that around.

“We want to know when our bins are going to be collected, will they improve communication channels rather than just relying on people going on the council website which is impossible to use as it is, and will they keep members informed with what’s happening.”

The cabinet member for climate, biodiversity and environmental services councillor Giles Archibald told the council chamber ‘we are not happy with the current level of service’.

He added: “We have allocated an additional half a million pounds for trying to remediate the situation we find ourselves in.

“We are using that money at the moment to increase the number of rounds, to hire additional members of staff and to buy additional vehicles. We are also investigating thoroughly the reasons for the sickness absence.”

The cabinet member added an email has been set up for all councillors and town/parish council clerks to report any waste enquiries.

He added: “We are attempting to ensure that all missed rounds are reported to the relevant members and that on the website there is information about all missed rounds and what members of the public should do in terms of leaving their bins out if there’s a missed round

“I am not going to stand here and say that the service is perfect, I have said to anyone who’s asked me that we still have work to do. We are of course working on trying to ensure we come up with a harmonised service.”