A PILE of rubbish that built up outside flats for older people has been cleared by the city council after the Derby Telegraph stepped in, the manager of the site has said.
Veronica Cornish said the rubbish built up around the bins for Heath Court, in Grampian Way, during the period between Christmas and New Year, when rubbish was not collected by the council.
And the authority has now revealed it expects not to run collections at the same time next year.
The move is to save £100,000 a year towards the millions it needs to trim from its budget each year in the face of cuts to its grant from the Government.
Mrs Cornish said refuse collectors came to pick up the rubbish yesterday but, at first, only emptied two of the site's large bins and not the other two or the rubbish around them.
She said: "There were about 60 or 70 bags piled up. I'm 5ft 2 ins and the pile was taller than me.
"Luckily, because of the time of year, it didn't smell too bad but foxes were getting in and there were sure to be rats."
Mrs Cornish said she had two calls from the council saying that rubbish collectors would be back to pick up the rest of the sacks on Monday. But, after the council had been asked about the situation by the Derby Telegraph, the rubbish was cleared.
She said: "I think it was a reaction to the paper asking questions.
"They said we've got to get another bin and that, if it happened again, they wouldn't be picking the rubbish up."
Mrs Cornish said she would now request another bin for the site from the council.
A council spokeswoman said: "The two weeks after Christmas are our busiest time of year. We run extra vehicles to clear up all the excess waste generated by the residents of Derby. However, we do not have an unlimited number of resources – men and vehicles – to facilitate this clear-up.
"We also have to ensure that the rounds are complete within the crews' working hours and the driver's legally-binding driving hours."
The spokeswoman agreed that Mrs Cornish had originally been told the rubbish would be collected on Monday.
She said: "We emptied two 1,100-litre bins this morning and collected approximately 30 bags of waste that had been thrown both on the floor and on top of these two bins. This took the crew approximately 40 minutes.
"The crew reported that they may not complete their scheduled work for the day if they spent another 40 minutes on site clearing the remainder of the waste. We contacted the scheme manager and explained the situation to her, assuring her that we would return on Monday.
"Due to receiving assistance from other crews, the regular collection round returned and cleared the remainder of the refuse within their working hours."
