A ROW has erupted over recycling collections in a Carlisle village - with one side of the street getting a better service than another.

Those living on the new Alders Edge estate in Scotby say it is unfair that the rest of the village gets cardboard, plastic and garden waste collected, while they they have to haul theirs to a recycling centre.

Local councillor Barry Earp says it is a now a year since Carlisle City Council said it hoped to introduce the service to Alders Edge - and he has now been told they may have to wait another 12 to 18 months.

The city council stressed that Alders Edge is part of its green box collection scheme, meaning glass, tins and paper is collected.

Funding is the issue, with the authority struggling to find the money to extend its full recycling service to all the new estates cropping up across the district.

But residents on the Story Homes estate say it is in unfair as they pay the same amount of council tax as everyone else – and the recycling wagons pass their homes to collect from other houses over the road. 

Mr Earp said residents have been complaining since the estate opened in 2014. 

He contacted Story Homes, which agreed to provide free compost bins to houses on the estate.

However despite repeated requests, the city council has still not extended its green bag cardboard and plastic collections.


Barry Earp Mr Earp, a Conservative city councillor and parish councillor for Scotby, said he has a letter from the city council dated a year ago, saying they were confident the service would be extended to Alders Edge in the “not too distant future”.

He told the News & Star : “People are a bit fed up that a year later still nothing has happened.

“You have a situation when houses on the right hand side of the road have their cardboard and plastic collected, while the houses on the left don’t. When you speak to people at the Civic Centre they say they haven’t got capacity because of Government austerity measures.

“Recently I contacted them again and was told it could be another 12 to 18 months. But people think they are paying the same rates, why don’t they get the same service. There are over 45 houses there paying band D council tax or above. They are not being treated fairly.

“It will affect other new developments too. It’s a big problem.”

A city council spokeswoman insisted they do plan to include Alders Edge in the green bag collections as soon as funding can be found.

She stressed that the estate does get some recycling services.

“Residents of Alders Edge are part of our kerbside green box recycling collection scheme,” she said.

“Given the current economic position of the council and recent cuts made to funding we are looking at ways in which we can expand the current level of services to include provision of other forms of recycling.

“Following a review of how we deliver these services, we are hopeful that we can extend the enhanced service to newly-built properties at some point in the future.”