Council urged to review litter bins plan in rural areas

Council urged to review litter bins plan in rural areas

27 November 2024

NEWRY, Mourne and Down Council is to review its policy of not providing litter bins between neighbouring villages.

The move was agreed at last week’s meeting of the local authority’s  Cleansing and Refuse Taskforce.

Set up only recently, the taskforce is currently being used as a platform to discuss the organisation’s ongoing review of its cleansing and refuse services throughout the district.

Rowallane councillor, Callum Bowsie, has asked for the current policy that prevents new bins from being installed between adjacent villages to be amended.

While pleased with the effort to provide new litter bins across Rowallane over recent years, he says more needs to be done.

“There are certain, obvious places where new bins should be installed but cannot due to what I believe is flawed policy,” Cllr Bowsie explained. “Currently, the council will not install bins outside town boundaries, which makes sense until it doesn’t.”

The Rowallane councillor said on footpaths between neighbouring villages, such as Killyleagh and Shrigley, or Crossgar and Kilmore, there is a clear need to have bins between these popular connecting routes. 

“Only a field separates Killyleagh and Shrigley and as this ‘rural area’ between these two villages is technically outside two town boundaries, as it stands, a litter bin cannot be placed between them. There is a clear link between littering and the absence of bins along long stretches of footpath,” he said.

“Litter bins should be placed where there is steady footfall in or between urban areas, which contain convenience stores.”

Cllr Bowsie has asked the council’s Director of Sustainability and Environment to review the policy around new bin requests in public spaces.