Challenges Arise in Belfast's Bin Lorry Street Access Pilot Program
A Sinn Féin councillor is pointing the finger of blame at Stormont for mixed success in a bin awareness pilot in Belfast. The party at City Hall has said there are concerns over the success of a pilot to stop parking which prevents bin lorries going down certain streets across the city and leaving bins unemptied.
The council’s own data has shown a mixed picture in rates of bin lorries gaining access to streets. The small streets pilot was launched in May 2024, with an overall plan to have three cycles of activity in areas across the city over an 18 month period. The phased areas in play include Stranmillis, the Village Area, Loopland, Springfield Road, Lower Ormeau Road, and Iveagh.
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Plan Gone Awry
The plan was for council staff to send letters to residents’ addresses and make social media postings on the pilot, while from week two the PSNI would patrol and letter windscreens of poorly parked vehicles with leaflets. From weeks three to six it was planned there would be an increased presence of joint PSNI/DFI neighbourhood officers and traffic attendants.
But almost from the start things did not go to plan. Last August Sinn Féin criticised police for not clearing streets for bin lorries in the pilot. In phase one of the pilot letter drops by council officers were carried out as planned, and some patrolling was carried out by Stormont officials.
While police initially leafleted windscreens, they later said they did not have the resources to clear the streets “due to other prioritised operational pressures during this period.” And now almost a year into the initiative, Sinn Féin at City Hall are saying there is no joint-up thinking, with bad communication coming from the Stormont Department, which is led by a Sinn Féin Minister, the MLA Liz Kimmins.
At the May meeting at City Hall of the Belfast City Council People and Communities Committee Sinn Féin Councillor Claire Canavan said: “Regarding the DfI/PSNI pilot on Springfield Road, there are concerns about the drop in residents reporting. That could just be frustration.
“I ask for more detail (about the pilot), particularly from DfI. The fact that it is called the DfI/PSNI pilot, when it is the council who are basically carrying the can. But it is their data we are using.
“We know the PSNI have said they can’t commit any resources. (We need more) information on exactly what DfI are doing.
“I know at the start of each phase of the pilot there were letters sent out. But is that all that is happening? Is that why we are not really seeing the numbers we would like to see?
Lack of Coordination
Part of this was about education, about raising awareness, with the PSNI and DfI on the ground. The PSNI have said they do not have the resources to be on the ground. But is DfI there? Because I have never seen them.
“How many times have they been out? What are they doing when they are out? Leafleting was part of the pilot, but how many are they leafleting? Are they seeing reoffenders and are they giving fixed penalties?”
She added: “I know in an area that I represent, the Springfield Road area, at the start of this, I know a few residents got fixed penalties, but that is not being fed through to this committee.
We need to get a bigger picture on this. It shouldn’t just be left to the council, we should see what the other organizations are doing.”
She asked for information from council officers in the June Committee meeting regarding how much Stormont officials are on the ground, what observations they are making, and the number of fixed penalties they are giving.
A council officer said: “It was the PSNI’s role to put leaflets on windscreens. I have asked DfI on several occasions if they can produce some statistics, other than ours, in terms of enforcement.