(249)  NEW TOWN PREFERS BLACK POLY BAGS

 

Through the summer of 2003 battle has been raging between City of Edinburgh Council and residents of the Edinburgh New Town area over the Council’s proposal to install giant wheelie bins in the area for the disposal and collection of domestic rubbish.  Similar wheelie bins have been installed over much of the rest of Edinburgh, including the author’s own residence of Morningside, and are apparently causing the starvation of urban foxes and seagulls no longer able to gain a repast by ripping open the black polythene bags previously used for putting out waste for collection.  But the New Town residents, who include numerous judges of the Court of Session, have succeeded in forcing the Council to defer putting in the bins, because apparently in a World Heritage site such as the New Town planning permission is required for such installations.  The objection was apparently first put by the judge Lord Hamilton at a meeting between the Council and New Town residents.  A spokesperson for the Regent, Royal and Calton Terraces Association was quoted in The Scotsman, 3 Sept 2003, as saying: [The bins] are a crass solution, which would clearly compromise the amenity, character and architectural integrity of the Old and New Towns.  For previous trouble with wheelie bins and judges, see No 101.