Wheelie bin delivery for rubbish strewn street

A street which has often been left covered in bin bags and rubbish has had a delivery of wheelie bins despite the road previously being deemed unsuitable for them.

Residents of Brookfield Road in Birmingham were not given bins previously because of the amount of terraced houses which lead off the road. It was thought bin lorries would not be able to access them.

Wednesday's black bin delivery came as a surprise to residents who had not been warned they were coming. Or given collection details.

Since the city's bin strike started more than a year ago the street has regularly been left with rubbish piled high as collections were missed. Birmingham City Council has been contacted for a comment.

Judith Whalley, a Brookfield Road resident who uses a mobility scooter, said she feared she would be going "from dodging bin bags to dodging bins".

She and other residents have regularly had to move over into the road as the bin bags covered all the pavement. Now she fears the extra bins, up to about 100 of them, could cause the same problem.

"The council communicated absolutely nothing, they just suddenly appeared but now my bin is outside my front door because it can't go anywhere," she said.

"I won't be able to move them and several of my neighbours won't be able to either, like the 89-year-old lady who lives a few minutes away from me.

"I presume that when the bin men come to collect them, they'll move them but we can't."

The bin strikes across the city are set to continue for several more months after workers voted to extend industrial action into September.

Residents have not had recycling collections for more than a year after Unite the Union members started a series of one-day strikes in January 2025. All-out strike action began weeks later, on 11 March.

The dispute began over pay and plans to downgrade some bin worker roles, which Unite said would leave many £8,000 per year worse off. The council has denied this figure.

The local authority has said it would be going ahead with a new waste collection regime in June, even if industrial action continued.

With the use of agency workers, household rubbish has mostly been collected albeit with disruptions and some streets getting missed.

"I have to say I do feel sad about this because the bins and piles of rubbish are an absolute eyesore," Whalley added.

"Are they going to use recycling bins to go with them, that's my next worry."

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