TEN years ago, this week The Northern Echo revealed that public money was being thrown away because political rows at a council have stalled a rubbish collection service.

Thousands of wheelie bins have been held in storage since the year before – at a cost to taxpayers of £1,000 a week – while councillors decide what to do with them.

The 15,000 bins were the first half of an order placed by Wear Valley District Council, in County Durham, after it reviewed its waste collection and recycling schemes.

The council agreed a £560,000 deal with Otto Environmental Systems for 30,000 twin wheelie bins, nicknamed tweelies.

The twin bin scheme included proposals to switch from weekly to fortnightly rounds – collecting landfill waste one week and recyclables the next.

Labour councillors, who were then in the majority, said they had the full backing of all members when they agreed the move at a succession of meetings between 2005 and last year.

But Liberal Democrats and Independent councillors withdrew their support for the scheme ahead of 2009's district elections.

The authority the became a hung council, so the plans were put on hold.

As officers had already ordered 15,000 twin bins, they had to take delivery of them and they went into storage on farmland near Crook.

The bins were understood to have been in storage for about a year as the parties have failed to agree what to do with them.

Also, that week, a lucky couple were celebrating winning the lottery for the second time.

Mark and Julie Weir, from Darlington, scooped £2.7m in the Lotto draw.

Mr Weir, 45, realised the couple had won the jackpot when he checked the lucky dip Teletext before leaving for work.

Mr Weir, a machine operator at a plastic extrusion factory in Newton Aycliffe, said: "Julie was getting ready for work and I was sat on the bed, and I thought I would check the Lottery numbers.

"I thought I had won a tenner, then I had four numbers and then all six numbers came up – it was unbelievable.

"Waiting for the National Lottery office to open at 9am felt like the longest half-hour of our lives."

About eight years before, the pair beat odds of 54,000-1 to match five numbers, winning £1,800.

Meanwhile the Tees Barrage was preparing to host the opening round of the Jet Sport British Championship, a six-race series which involved competitors aged ten to 50.

Among the competitors was Lisa Barsby, the then reigning women's world champion. She said: "It rankles every now and then when people don't even realise the sport exists.

"It would be nice for more people to take in an interest in what we're doing, but the British Championship grows bigger every year and this weekend's event provides a great opportunity for people who have never seen the sport before to find out what it's all about."