MIDDLESBROUGH Mayor Andy Preston has apologised to hundreds of residents over worries alleyway bin collections will be scrapped.

Campaigners in Linthorpe have written to the mayor after receiving letters announcing waste collections in alleyways would be halted.

Fears about rats gathering around dozens of bins at alley gate entrances and the effect they could have on Linthorpe Conservation area have been just some of the misgivings.

Mr Preston apologised to Linthorpe residents with alleys and promised a solution by the end of this week.

He added: “You might be feeling confused after receiving a letter from the council stating that bin collections were going to be done differently. This shouldn’t have happened on the scale it has.

“I’ve been speaking to the head of environmental services and we’re sorting this out.

“Please give me three days. ll come back and let you know exactly what is and isn’t happening by Friday at the latest – I think everyone will be happy.”

It is understood residents in Park and Linthorpe wards received the letters – with access trouble, uneven alleyways causing tripping hazards and fly tipping some of the reasons given for the proposed changes.

It sparked anxious householders to write to the council with counter arguments.

One letter read: “I understand that 75 per cent of the alleys affected by this change were adopted by the council when they installed alley gates.

“It is the council’s responsibility to ensure that alleys are safe and capable of taking an appropriate vehicle.

“Why has the alleyway suddenly become unsuitable for a refuse vehicle to travel down when this has happened weekly for decades?”

Cllr Philippa Storey, Labour member for Linthorpe, has been part of the campaign against halting bin collections.

“In certain areas with terraced houses there is no way to get a bin out the front,” she said.

“We have a little bin wagon which goes down to get the bins – but they want to stop that.

“It would mean residents would have to pull bins through houses and a lot of fronts have steps – and a lot of them have garages backing onto the alleys, and they’ll struggle if there’s about 75 bins.

“It’s crazy.”

Linthorpe homes with alleyways

Roman Road/Linden Grove; Linden Grove/Dorman Gardens; Cambridge Road/Baker Road; Baker Road/Oxford Road; Oxford Road/Hambledon Road; Hambledon Road/Westbourne Road; Rockcliffe Road/Aysgarth Road; Rockliffe Road/Dresser Lane; Ventnor Road/Lambth Road; Queens Road/Devonshire Road; Devonshire Road/St Barnabus Road; Windsor Road/The Avenue/The Crescent

Cllr Storey said 1,500 campaign letters had been delivered to homes in Linthorpe – and feared any changes to the collections would hit the vulnerable.

She added: “It’s absolutely awful. We have a resident with dementia who has a routine and if he has to go into the alley, the worry is he will get lost.”