A THURROCK councillor has spoken of his frustration at the slowness in the change of performance of the borough's bin collection services.

Conservative Cllr Allen Mayes, whose ward covers Tilbury Riverside and Thurrock Park, has spoken up on social media, where he described the current level of service as 'ridiculous' and to Thurrock Nub News.

For several years the performance level of the borough's bin collections has been widely criticised by residents and, despite many pledges that it will improve, progress has been slow.

Things came to a head in September last year when the council said it was planning a 'refresh' of the system.

But it made little or no difference as complaints and missed collections mounted.

In October the environment portfolio Cllr Andrew Jefferies spoke openly about the problems and admitted that the council had got it wrong - a change in honesty that was welcomed by many after many repeated denials that the problems were as bad as critics made out.

Towards the end of last year there appeared to be a change of mindset at the head of the council towards tackling the problem, which announced the appointment of a new £100,000 a year 'interim director' to support the authority's 'new waste strategy' and oversee improvements.

However, it proved to be far from a quick fix and problems remained. And another £100,000 a year assistant director paid the price when it was announced that Daren Spring has been axed. 

The new assistant director was named as waste expert Anita Cacchioli and the council also brought in a new strategic lead for waste - Susan Reddick.

The duo made their first significant public appearance in January when they attended a meeting of the council's Cleaner, Greener and Safer Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Members were told that the council has recently recruited the required number of bin crews, many switching from agency roles to join the council staff, but there was still a shortage of drivers. Ms Reddick said: "We don't want to recruit people just because we are short, they need to be competent, safe and reliable."

Commenting on the state of the service, Ms Reddick said: "It's a work in progress. I couldn't tell you I am 100 per cent confident, it's really difficult."

Committee chair Cllr Redsell and other councillors welcomed the honest approach and said that the council should not over promise and should communicate better.

Cllr Redsell summed up: "You have started well, let's hope things get better and we have got to get better at communication. We need to let people know more, we need to get more messages out. People understand, they don't mind as long as they know.

There have been no obvious changes in communications policy and though collections appear to have improved in frequency and regularity, there are still many complaints – and Tilbury appears to be among the most badly affected.

That has been reflected in lots of social media comments which Cllr Mayes joined in.

However, he has also called for residents to show some patience and tolerance.

He says: "Like many Councillors across the borough, I have received many complaints from residents around the issue of missed bin collections. In Tilbury and Thurrock Park, I have had residents tell me about missed bin collections, with no collections for a number of weeks, which I believe is not good enough. . This isn't a new issue, it is an acute issue which has spanned a good few years now and it needs resolving.

"There have been acute issues with the waste collection service for some time now, with the brown bin collections being the most complained about.

"I have spoken to the portfolio holder, Cllr Andrew Jefferies, about this many times and I know he shares my and residents' frustration that the waste collection service is not working to the level we want it to be.

"The service has not been good enough. I do believe it is ridiculous that bins have been left for several weeks without collection. I am angry about it as a resident myself. Sorry isn't cutting it anymore. We need this service working to the levels councillors and residents expect and not left for weeks on end. I do believe that the significant changes that have been made will improve things.

"I know that Cllr Jefferies has made significant changes to the management structure of the service and it will take a period of time for those changes to get the service to the levels us as councillors and more importantly, what residents expect. I am confident that the significant changes being made will improve the waste collection service moving forward."

Having said that, I must add that we have good, hard working men and women in the waste collection service that have worked throughout the pandemic. It is the service outcome that is the source of frustration for everyone, not the workers on the ground."