A war of words has broken out between a senior local councillor and community groups following a ‘dirty protest’ outside the council’s North Local Office in West Pilton this morning. TIE committee convener Lesley Hinds dismissed the protest as a poorly supported publicity stunt, but campaigners say they will escalate their activities if demands are not met.
Two local tenants groups – Tenants and Residents in Pilton (TRIP) and Tenants and Residents in Muirhouse (TRIM), supported by campaign group North Edinburgh Fights Back – urged local residents to support a campaign to get weekly bin collections restored by staging a publicity stunt at the local council office. Local people were encouraged to bring along their black bags and bins and ‘dump’ them on the council’s doorstep.
Speaking before the protest TRIP secretary Jon Black (pictured above) said: “The Council has mismanaged the changes to refuse collection, and its unacceptable. We shouldn’t have to be cleaning up our own streets, but this is what it has come to. Its a public health hazard, and the Council needs to sort it out. We are demanding that the Council re-introduce weekly collections, and we want adequate recycling facilities provided in the area. We also want the Council to clear up all the rubbish that has been missed.”
Around a dozen people supported the event, which attracted media attention – but Councillor Lesley Hinds, convener of the Transport, Infrastructure and Environment Committee, said the protest was a damp squib.
“This has been a poorly-attended publicity stunt that neither improves the situation nor accurately reflects the needs of the community. Of course I’d be happy to meet any of the protesters to have constructive discussions on how we can improve their waste collection service, but they have made no approaches to us so far. In fact I’m told there have been very few issues in the Muirhouse and West Pilton area – which may be why only a handful of people turned out on Monday morning.”
The protesters plan to have a public meeting next month as part of a continuing campaign to get the council to meet their demands. If those demands are not met, the campaigners plan to take further action and say that they will fly-tip rubbish at the City Chambers.
