Bins being 'temporarily' stored at Lees cemetery - Council

The litter bins being housed in a storage area at Lees cemetery

Residents have expressed concerns at old litter bins being housed in a storage area at Lees cemetery.

Oldham Council's decisión has been challenged by Councilllor Sam Al-Hamdani after residents said the bins were visible from gravesides in one section of the cemetery. 

The team have agreed to clear the site as soon as possible.

Cll Al-Hamdani said: “The bins are clearly visible through a gap in the hedges - not what someone wants to see when they are visiting the graves of relatives or friends.

“The team have agreed they will assess the bins as soon as possible, and get any that are not usable scrapped as quickly as they can.

"While that part of the cemetery is a storage area, the hedge around it is incomplete, which means it intrudes too much on the main part of the site.”

The bins are being assessed to see if any are reusable, and any that are in good enough condition will be made available for community groups, on the proviso that they are clearly branded as the community groups, and the group takes responsibility for clearing and maintaining them.

Cllr Al-Hamdani added: “The principle of reusing as many of the bins as possible is absolutely the correct one; we just want to make sure it is done as quickly as possible to minimise their impact on what should be a calm and beautiful place of rest.

“If any groups are interested in taking responsibility for a bin, please get in touch, and we can let you know what you would have to do, and if enough are in a good condition - we can work together to keep the area clean.”

An Oldham Council spokesman said: “The bins are being temporarily stored in the old Lees Cemetery Depot, which for many years had been used as a storage yard for bins, skips and waste vehicles, as well as our Saddleworth and Lees grounds maintenance depot.

“Ordinarily we would have looked to have put the old bins at the depot in Alexandra Park, but redevelopment to turn that into an a environmentally friendly centre is underway.

“As part of the Don’t Trash Oldham campaign we are looking to create a cleaner and greener borough and the council is currently replacing all the street bins across the borough, with bigger ones, an investment of more than £500,000.

"People have told us they want bigger bins so we have acted.

“Councillor Al-Hamdani is correct in that we are looking to recycle the bins as much as possible, and that includes for community usage.”

Do you have a story for us? Want to tell us about something going on in and around Oldham? Let us know by emailing news@oldham-chronicle.co.uk , calling our Oldham-based newsroom on 0161 633 2121 , tweeting us @oldhamchronicle or messaging us through our Facebook page. All contact will be treated in confidence.