Three-mile round trip for bins

A new council recycling scheme has forced residents in North Yorkshire to take their bins on a one-and-a-half mile journey to be collected.

People in Litherskew, in the Yorkshire Dales National Park were told to take their wheelie bins to the main road by Richmondshire District Council.

Alternatively residents of the four houses, which are located down a track, must pay to build a waste compound.

Local councillor John Blackie said the scheme was "absolutely bonkers".

Teething problems

Mr Blackie, an independent councillor of the Hawes and High Abbotside ward, said the recycling initiative could not work in such a rural area.

He added: "We all support recycling in the upper Dales but not that sort of system.

"Nobody could possibly wheel their bins that sort of distance and then wheel them back again."

The councillor added that leaving the bins on a main road would mean passers-by would dump their rubbish in the bins.

As the houses are in a national park, if residents opted to build their own waste compound, it would have to comply with certain planning regulations and be made out of stone.

Melva Steckles, leader of the council, said officers were trying to solve any teething problems with the scheme, which was introduced six weeks ago.

Mrs Steckles added: "We're probably one of the most rural areas, it was never going to be easy for us.

"We have got to balance it with getting the collections right. And we will."