BIN HUBs – Council new policy shows mercy to residents at last
Do you have a bin hub right in front of your property or a window? Have you tried to get it moved before and failed due to the Council’s rigid policy on siting bin hubs?
A new opportunity to get a bin hub moved into a better location for residents has arrived, as last November the Council agreed a number of changes to their bin hub location policy which it will apply for all new bin hubs being installed in some parts of the City. It will also now review existing bin hub locations, on request, against the new policy.
Our area had bin hubs installed as part of Phase 1, the first, and there was no prior consultation or engagement with residents and a very intransigent and inflexible policy on location of bin hubs at that time.
Exciting new changes to the policy include that the impact of a bin hub on resident amenity will be/should be considered and that bin hubs can be located across the road from the residents who use it if certain cnditions are met. This all seems to have happened with the roll out of bin hubs to the New Town areas to the south of the City where there seem to be much more vocal and well organised residents groups.
If there are bin hubs locally that you want added to the list for priority review now, please let the Community Council know or by emailing the Council on waste@edinburgh.gov.uk before Monday 2nd June. The Community Council will be resubmitting its requests for reviews of bin hubs located in Links Gardens, Links Place and Mitchell Street which have previously been turned down but should be looked at again on the grounds of resident amenity and where a solution would be to re-site the bin hub across the road from properties or in a position where it is not immediately in front of any person’s windows, harming their amenity visually, noise and odour.
We are keen to hear of any other locations that we can advocate for – get in touch! contact@leithlinkscc.org.uk
The Council say they only require the location to add the hub to the list for priority review, but you might want to spell out why the hub should be reviewed, e.g. to explain the impact it is having on you as a resident in its present location. The Council also say they do not need a suggestion of an alternative location (although this is welcome).
For reference here is an extract from the new, November 2024, Bin Hub location policy:-
‘bin hubs can be placed on opposite side of the road/pavement if: –
- it is a 20mph road
- road width does not exceed 10.5mtr except where the street is a cul-de sac, no through road or there is a safe crossing (zebra, toucan or pelican) or other safety measure such as a pavement build-out or a pedestrian island within 120 meters; (Max unprotected walking crossing distance as per ESDG) (See guidance note 3)
- clear 25mtr lines of sight maintained based on derived sight stopping distances (SSD)
- No accident history within 25m radius from proposed location except where adequate mitigating improvements have been made since the incident(s)
- Safe space to use bins – minimum pavement or other hard-standing or grass/park area with width of 1.5 metres (ESDG). However, where this is not possible, a hub can be sited across a road on a ‘non-residential’ side of a residential street with bins arranged in such a way that allows a resident to stand in the safe space between two bins
‘Resident amenity: Bin hubs should be sited in locations which minimise any negative impacts on resident amenity (if at all possible), meaning specifically the impacts of noise and odours and the impacts on privacy and outlook.’
The Council’s policy note on Resident Amenity says ‘Consideration should be given to residents’ amenity (immediate outlook, noise, privacy) and whether the hub can be sensitively integrated into the streetscape without incurring disproportionate cost; any perceived impact being transferred to another property should be evaluated.
