The big bins have landed

Local businesses and Transform, the Neighbourhood Management Programme, have clubbed together to buy four new bins for the sea front in Ilfracombe and one bin for the sea front in Combe Martin.

When Neighbourhood Manager Gary Smith asked local businesses what the top issues were for the area he heard two words repeated over and over again: “rubbish” and “sea-gulls”.

The existing bins can’t cope with the extra rubbish in the summer months so the Transform team worked with North Devon District Council to come up with the best solution: more and bigger bins. Three local businesses, All the M’s, Maddy’s Chip Shop and RB Leisure, owner of the Crazy Golf, offered to help cover the cost, and the Neighbourhood Management Programme made up the balance needed to buy the bins.

North Devon District Council installed the bins during October 2004 and will be covering the extra cost of emptying the bins on a regular basis. A little extra has been spent on “sea-gull proof flaps” for the bins that will prevent the rubbish from being evenly strewn across the street.

Keeping the area clean and tidy has been highlighted by local people as one of the key priorities for the Neighbourhood Management Programme to address over the next six years.