WHILE it is always entertaining to read lurid conspiracy theories in the pages of The Northern Echo, I feel I have to respond to the letter from Ian White about the introduction of wheelie bins to Darlington (HAS, May 30).

While employee health and safety concerns were central to the decision to follow the 93 per cent of councils that have already switched to this method of domestic waste collection, Darlington Borough Council is determined that householders otherwise will experience as little change as possible to their service.

So bins will still be collected weekly, and paper, card and glass fortnightly as now.

The bins will be industrystandard, and substantial enough for most families. Larger households will be able to request bigger bins, however.

Each property will receive a wheelie bin which they will keep in their property until collection day when we expect it to be put outside, or in the back lane, for collection and at the end of the day return the bin back inside the property.

The council has always tried to minimise fines while dealing firmly with fly-tipping, which can be a perennial problem in some back lanes.

There will be assisted collection for those residents who are unable to put their bin out themselves.

The council has no intention of putting chips in wheelie bins to collect information on volumes of waste.

The operation of wheelie bins may be different from street to street, and we want to make sure we get the implementation right.

The council’s Place Scrutiny committee is overseeing this and has begun to tackle many of the detailed issues raised by members of the public.

Finally, the council is determined to bring this scheme in on time and on budget, as we do for the hundreds of projects we undertake each year.

Councillor Nick Wallis Cabinet member for Leisure and the Local Environment Darlington Borough Council.