VILLAGES around Darlington cannot have wheelie bins to stop animals from picking at their rubbish, a meeting was told.

Members of parish councils met at the town hall to discuss matters of concern to people living in the borough’s villages.

Brian Graham, head of Street Scene at Darlington Borough Council, listened to issues surrounding rubbish collection and grounds maintenance.

During a discussion about animals tearing into black bags before collection day, Coun Gill Hepplewhite, of Hurworth Parish Council, asked: “Why don’t we have wheelie bins?”

Mr Graham said there had been a review as part of the change of waste contract, but that it would cost about £1.5m to buy wheelie bins. “And that’s before you look at adapting vehicles which pick up the rubbish,”

he said.

“The system works fine with black sacks, but it is constantly under review. Who knows what is around the corner.”

The council’s new 11-year waste contract deals with recycling and collections. Further recycling services were added to collections and the civic recycling centre in Whessoe Road was revamped.

The service, run by John Wade Group, is designed to increase recycling rates from 22 per cent of household waste to 50 per cent.

At the meeting of the Association of Parish Councils and Parish Meetings, Coun Hepplewhite also asked about the possibility of a green waste pick-up service.

Mr Graham replied: “Again, it is a resources issue, we just don’t have the resources for that. We do take green waste at the civic amenity site free of charge. We are not in a position to implement a green waste collection system at the moment.

“There are pros and cons to this. I live in an area that has wheelie bins. Some people like them, some people really don’t.”