DISABILITY campaigners have raised concerns about plans to introduce wheelie bins to Darlington as they argued the current system for helping elderly and disabled people with waste collections does not work and could be made worse.

The issue was raised at a meeting of Darlington Borough Council’s cabinet where members agreed to start the process of bringing wheelie bins to the town for the first time.

Council leader Bill Dixon urged the authority’s scrutiny committee to carry out a thorough review of the plans and said solutions would be found for potential problems raised by Darlington residents.

Gordon Pybus, chairman of Darlington Association on Disability, said: “If people leave their bin bags by the boundary of their property, rather than by the kerb as they are supposed to, someone like me or someone who is visually-impaired has huge problems getting down the street. Wheelie bins will be just as bad if people have nowhere to keep them.

“The equalities impact assessment in the report before the cabinet today for wheelie bins works off the way things are done now with black bags. If the system doesn’t work work now, what assurances have we got for the future?

“Officers are meant to visit people who are having trouble with putting out their waste but it does not happen.”

Coun Heather Scott, leader of the Conservative group, echoed Mr Pybus’ concerns about the help available for vulnerable people.

She said: “We have older people in my ward who are supposed to have specific arrangements but that does not happen.

“We will always get different views about wheelie bins, some in my group are happy about bringing them in, others are not.”

Coun Dixon said: “This is just the start of a huge piece of work. There are 360 local authorities in the country who use wheelie bins - we’ve hung out for as long as we could but its no longer safe or advisable to do so.

“Solutions to wheelie bin issues have been found in other areas but this will vary from town to town. We have to find what will work for Darlington. What works elsewhere might not work here.”