An Oldham councillor has criticised the council for installing bins that cannot be used by wheelchair users.

The local authority says it has now replaced two bins in the town centre, but added that the new ones conform to equality legislation.

Cllr Louie Hamblett, who represents Crompton for the Lib Dems, met with the head of the council’s environmental services team to demonstrate an issue.

Now, two of the old bins have been reinstated, but Cllr Hamblett says he has written to the council leader, Cllr Amanda Chadderton, to ask why no equality impact assessment was carried out, and to ask what the council plans to do about the rest of the bins. 

At the site meeting, Cllr Hamblett asked resident Shona Farnworth – who has multiple disabilities – to demonstrate the impossibility of using the bin from her wheelchair.

The bins can only be operated by either a footplate which cannot be reached by most in a wheelchair, or by a pull-down door which is impossible to reach over from a sitting position.

The 240 litre bins are said to have the capacity of a commercial 1,100 litre bin due to the use of a solar powered rubbish compactor – and are able to alert the council when they are getting full.

Older street bins could only hold 90 litres of waste.

Cllr Hamblett said: “If the council were as resident focused as they say, then an equality impact assessment should have been carried out.

“Everyone should be able to use the bins easily. That no-one realised that they were inaccessible until after they had been installed says everything about the failure of the council to do its job properly.”

The council have now ensured that two bins without the footplate or pull-down door have been installed in the town centre, but Cllr Hamblett says he wants universal accessibility, and to know why the equality impact assessment was missed in the first place. 

He added: “I am grateful to the officer who immediately put forward a practical solution to improve the situation. However, it should not be the case that most of the bins remain unusable for people in wheelchairs. 

“The council continually fail to include equality impact assessments in their reports despite it being raised on numerous occasions.

"This is what happens if you fail to do this – thousands of pounds spent on bins that residents can’t use.”

ALSO READ: Plans for new and bigger street bins – and some are solar powered.

In response, a council spokesperson said: “Oldham Council is investing more than £520,000 to replace old bins across the borough as part of our Don’t Trash Oldham work.

“Residents told us they wanted bigger bins and we have listened and put them in place.

“The new bins are used by councils across the country and are an industry-standard design.

“The manufacturers confirmed that they meet Equality Act requirements and thousands have been installed globally.

“As Cllr Hamblett points out, an officer did meet with the resident and listened to their concerns.

“Following this discussion we’ll be replacing two bins in the town centre with units that are being used across the borough.”