The removal of the bins at Darlington Wharf in Bath a month ago has inconvenienced boaters to such an extent that Julian House Travelling Community Support service met with Bath Waterspace Project Co-ordinator Cleo Newcombe-Jones today (15th February 2018) to discuss rubbish bins and overall facilities provision on the K&A within the BaNES Council area.
BaNES staff will visit the canal next week to assess what is provided. BaNES Council provide the bins on the waterway within their area but the service is paid for by CRT.
According to K&A Manager Mark Evans, BaNES Council told CRT to remove the bin compound because they did not have planning consent and would not be granted planning consent. Mr Evans said “We have therefore removed the bins completely and installed an extra bin at Bath Lock 11. From Darlington wharf it is around 10 to 15 minutes to the next nearest rubbish points at Bath Lock 11 and Bathampton. Both these locations have recycling facilities. Most of our Customer Service Facilities are 3 to 4 hours cruising apart, so having two within 10 to 15 minutes is reasonable, even for a busy location such as this”.
The K&A Manager added that the small amount of budget saved by removing bins at Darlington Wharf has been used to fund a new bin area at Newbury Wharf, outside the K&A Trust’s Stone Building, which would be signed and publicised in the coming months.
The bins at Darlington Wharf were hidden away behind the Sydney Gardens tunnel until the towpath was upgraded to form part of the “Two Tunnels” cycle route in 2013. The bins were moved to the gate in Beckford Rd to accommodate the works. Members of the public started to fly-tip into the bins which were now visible from the main A36. CRT built a lockable compound in an attempt to stop fly-tipping, but the compound was too small for the 1100 litre bins to be easily accessible, so these were replaced with domestic sized bins, making the problems of fly-tipping and boaters’ bulky waste worse. Because the bins were so visible, they were often pushed down the hill away from the canal, and into the canal twice.
See also
http://kanda.boatingcommunity.org.uk/crt-rubbish-collection-includes-recycling/
http://kanda.boatingcommunity.org.uk/your-opinion-on-ka-refuse-facilities-is-needed-2/
Tags: BANES Council, Bath, continuous cruising, facilities, Julian House, liveaboards, Mark Evans, Newbury, recycling, refuse disposal, refuse facilities, rubbish bins, Travelling Community Support Service