Waste collection problems from 37 different residential accommodations in just four townhouses are continuing to cause a headache in Ryde.
Questions over ‘eyesore’ bins and gull sacks on a thoroughfare ‘blighted’ by garbage have been asked from the Isle of Wight Council’s public gallery.
Ryde mayor Diana Conyers probed into when County Hall will address the rubbish issues outside 68-74 George Street, at the Environment and Community Protection Committee (26th March 2026).
She said the current arrangements were causing a ‘health hazard’ and accused the local authority of being in breach of its own regulations.
County Hall in response said that if Ryde Town Council (RTC) secures the necessary planning approval and highway changes, and builds a compliant bin store, it will instruct the waste service provider to collect from it.
‘Health hazard’ claim
Councillor Conyers said,
“Bins and gull sacks are left on the pavement and railings all the time, causing an eyesore and health hazard. This is in breach of your own regulations, which say that they can only be left out on the day of collection and that landlords have a responsibility to provide adequate waste storage.
“There is a need either to enforce those regulations or to provide alternative storage facilities. RTC receives constant complaints about this from local residents, and we have been trying to get something done about it for many years.
“Following a consultation we did with landlords and tenants, we’ve suggested several alternative storage options and even offered to pay for these, but you have rejected our suggestions.”
Council’s position
Councillor Karen Lucioni, Alliance representative for Ryde Monktonmead, said,
“The council is aware of persistent issues with waste presentation at 68-74 George Street.
“These four former townhouses now contain 37 separate residential accommodations made up of leaseholds, private rentals and HMOs.
“The buildings were not designed for this intensity of occupation and have no viable internal communal space for storing waste and recycling between collections.
“This creates challenges for consistent compliance with the council’s waste presentation requirements.
“The local authority is not responsible for providing bin storage facilities on private land.”
Offers rejected
To support compliance, the council has offered internal bins to all properties at 68-74 George Street, but no landlord or agent has taken up this offer, Councillor Lucioni said.
These properties have animal proof re-usable sacks to present recycling and waste, and some keep these on railings due to a lack of internal storage, she continued.
County Hall has been clear that if RTC gains the necessary planning approval and highway changes, and constructs a compliant bin store, the local authority will instruct the waste service provider to collect from it, the chair added.
Following up, mayor Conyers said 66 George Street is the same “sort of property” and has landlord-provided storage to its rear, with compliance from residents.
She asked,
“I just want to know why the council can’t take more action to make the other landlords or the owners of the other buildings to do the same?”
Why enforcement is difficult
Natasha Dix, service director in waste, environment and planning at the Isle of Wight Council, said,
“The individual arrangements in the different buildings have different legal arrangements for ownership.
“So, if someone has the freehold of the whole building and the back garden, then they can make a bin store for all the tenants within it.
“But the different buildings have different ownership models within them and that isn’t always possible where only the ground floor owner owns the garden. It would be up to them to decide if they wanted to give up their personal land for the other tenants.
“So it isn’t, unfortunately, as simple as we would like it to be to insist on that provision.”
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which News OnTheWight is taking part in. Some alterations and additions may have been made by OnTheWight. Ed
