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Jack Cox says his complaints to the council have ‘fallen on deaf ears'
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Blue bin bags 'too far away' for car-less pensioner

By Becky Barnes
December 19, 2012

A pensioner has slammed Wokingham Borough Council for ignoring pleas to make the ‘bigger’ blue bin bags and green waste sacks available from Crowthorne Library.

Jack Cox, 83, who lives in a ‘remote’ part of Wokingham borough, was baffled when he found his nearest library would not be a pick-up point for the improved blue bin bags or the paper green waste sacks, as it is run by Bracknell Forest Council.

Mr Cox, of Larkswood Drive, Crowthorne, said: “We have been told better blue bags will be available from libraries on a voucher scheme if they are not delivered by April 1, yet we can’t get them from Crowthorne.

“Why can’t the two councils talk to one another?”

Mr Cox and his wife Betty, also in her 80s, do not have a car so feel they are at a disadvantage, as the scheme is not accessible to them.

He added: “The nearest point is the Pinewood Centre, but this is too far – it is a long walk from Crowthorne. You end up doing the job that you are paying the council to do.”

Mr Cox has complained to Wokingham council ‘more than once’ but feels his words have ‘fallen on deaf ears’. He said: “You complain and get nowhere.”

The couple are forced to rely on friends to pick up their bags as the Pinewood Centre, in Old Wokingham Road, would be around an hour’s round trip on foot. He said: “It’s typical of these jobsworth types – they don’t talk to one another.”

Mr Cox hopes Wokingham council will come to an arrangement with Bracknell Forest Council so Crowthorne families living in the Wokingham borough can pick up the bags at the library or somewhere more accessible.

Wokingham borough councillor Angus Ross, executive member for the environment, said: “We fully realise this issue – the Wokingham part of Crowthorne is quite remote from any place where the bags can currently be collected.

“We have to look at this and we hope we can find a more suitable place or it may be that we deliver.

“We have definitely been talking to Bracknell Forest Council and looking at this difficulty, which we are trying to overcome.

“It can be confusing, the different people needing different bags, but if we can find some way to do it at Crowthorne Library we will.

“I think it is evident that most people have settled down and the system works well – there are still issues with it though.”

Cllr Ross reminded people to store their bin bags in a dustbin or away from the reach of foxes and magpies, as they often rip the bags open.