Overflowing bins on another new Banbury housing estate cause householder to call for observance of rules by 'cash-hungry' developers

The bins are situated to serve the residents of the new Banbury Rise development which is being built by Bloor Homes on land adjacent to Bretch Hill, off the Stratford Road.

The Banbury Guardian last week reported on a similar situation at a new-build extension to the the Hanwell Fields estate.

This week photos were sent to the newsdesk by a resident of George Parish Road who said plans for the estate, which was started four years ago, indicated that six dog waste and three general waste bins should have been provided.

"After endless emails to Bloor Homes from residents and the Neighbourhood Watch group there are currently five dog bins and no general waste bins. Phase two of the development began around three years ago and is now 90 per cent complete yet not a single dog bin (of the six shown on planning documents) has been installed," said the householder.

"Sadly this has resulted in overuse of the existing bins as the photos show. Residents have contacted Cherwell District Council (CDC), the planning department, Bloor Homes, and Meadfleet who are the management company for phase one, and nothing is getting done. As you can see, one of the overflowing bins is right beside the park. Bloor Homes have been aware of this for over a month, yet nothing has been done."

The resident said the situation was a combination of the company not fulfilling planning requirements and poor coordination between developers, management companies and the council's planning department.

He said: "The buck gets passed between them. The developers are happy to get the houses built and sold but they don't want to pay to build the infrastructure to support a better environment."

The Banbury Guardian has been trying to contact Bloor Homes and the town and district councils in a bid to discover where responsibility lies. All are away on the extended Christmas break but we will update this story when we are able.

It is understood the district and county councils are the 'adoption' authorities for new housing developments and only play areas and parkland are eventually passed to the town council - once adoption has taken place.

CDC and Oxfordshire County Council (the highways authority) can refuse to take on an area if it is not in acceptable condition. By doing this they avoid spending taxpayers’ money bringing the areas up to standard.

Managing waste bins remains with developers until the land is adopted and often developers pay waste collection companies to do this on their behalf.

People buying houses on new estates are not always given information about these responsibilities by the developers selling them. The Banbury Guardian is waiting for information from CDC on whether the planning control system might ensure these responsibilities are met at stages during the development process.