Blandford Forum crows inundate Dorset Waste Partnership recycling roadshow

DORSET Waste Partnership (DWP) has been criticised for struggling to deal with the crowds of people at its Recycle for Dorset roadshow in Blandford Corn Exchange on Saturday.

It has been claimed that staff were too few and ill-equipped to properly inform the hundreds of people who wanted to find out more about the new waste collection service to be launched in June.

County Councillor Barrie Cooper said he had asked for a further presentation in Blandford because some residents left with their questions unanswered when they were extremely concerned about the proposals.

Bill Davidson, DWP's head of strategy, said: "Unfortunately, the five members of staff we had in Blandford - most of whom live in the town - were not enough to answer everyone's questions.

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"We have arranged an extra roadshow at Blandford Tesco between 10am and 1pm on Friday 15th February. Roadshows are also being held at Shaftesbury Town Hall between 5pm and 8pm on Monday 18th February and Shaftesbury Tesco between 10am and 1pm on Thursday 21st February."

He added that the roadshows were designed to make people aware of the changes, show the new bins and answer questions.

"If residents have specific questions about how the new service will work for their property, it may be difficult for us to give them a definitive answer at a busy road show," he said.

But town councillors on Monday reported that those contacting the phone number 01305 221040 to raise issues found staff unable to deal with their queries.

Individual households have until the end of February to notify DWP by phone or via dorsetforyou.com if they believe they will have difficulty storing or manoeuvring the bins and containers.

Service development manager Lisa Mounty said: "There has been a high level of interest, the main issues being people wanting to see the bins, people who have concerns about where they are going to store them, and people wanting to know what we will be able to recycle."

Nicci Brown