REFUSE collecting includes the emptying of wheelie bins, litter bins, dog waste bins, and the roadside sorting of glass bottles. It can be very unpleasant and not without risks to the health and safety of those who do this essential and invaluable task in all weathers on behalf of our local residents.

Richmondshire District Council (RDC) has been brilliantly served over the years by our fine team of refuse collectors, whose hard work and commitment has been very highly valued by our local communities. The approval rating of the service they provide has stayed around 97 per cent for years, an indication of the high esteem they are held in locally. Their loyalty has been given a very poor reward. The extended working being proposed has not been the subject of any formal consultation with the team, just Director of RDC Colin Dales telling them they would have “to like it or lump it” because the Conservatives now in charge of the council would approve the change (D& S Times, July 10). Listening without an ultimatum being issued from the outset was desperately needed to be a pre-requisite to see if any plans for change could accommodate their concerns.

Sure enough the seven Conservative councillors on the RDC Corporate Board – Cllrs Peacock, Thompson, Grose, Wilson-Petch, Threlfall, Duff and Glover – thought it a jolly good idea which provides a financial saving, never even mentioning the understandable concerns of the refuse collectors, and simply voted it through en bloc.

Our local communities will also suffer because every round will be disrupted, and there will be no consultation on these changes – I guess we will all have to like it or lump it. For example, Hawes has never been the same since the collection day, sensibly for years a Monday, appropriate for a tourist destination, was arbitrarily changed to a Thursday when the era of the wheelie bin arrived. The decision could be rubber stamped at the council on July 21. Our excellent refuse collection team deserves something better than this. The Conservatives inherited very sound finances in May that would allow the current staffing arrangements to continue, plus the additional recycling opportunities to be introduced. In their race to the bottom, are they going to put pounds before people?

Councillor John Blackie, Hawes.